Kirby Smart on Gunner Stockton making first road start at Tennessee: ‘He’s gonna be great’
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton will get his first SEC road test when he guides the Bulldogs into Tennessee during Week 3. However, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is confident the junior will pass with flying colors.
Georgia is 2-0 so far under Stockton this season with home victories vs. Marshall and Austin Peay. Smart believes Georgia’s preparation during the offseason will place Stockton at ease in the rowdy environment.
“He’s gonna be great. I mean, it’s something that we practice for all year round. I don’t believe in waiting until the week of the game. You know we do it in spring. We do it all preseason camp. We put a lot of pressure on the players in practice to communicate,” Smart said. “A lot of the times it’s to keep both sides of the ball from hearing each other talk. So we want there to be, I don’t want them to hear their coaches talk so you got to crank it up and it almost becomes the norm to do that.”
Stockton has passed for 417 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions while rushing for 86 yards and 2 scores this season. Smart has a ton of respect for Tennessee’s defense and the challenges they’ll pose. Yet, he has faith in Stockton to execute the game plan.
“But there’s also a defense over there that you’re trying to simulate and that’s hard to simulate because they are very good defensively. They create a lot of issues. Very intelligent with their defensive staff in terms of protections,” Smart said. “They know what you’re thinking and they try to counter that so that’s the hurdle for us offensively that we all have to get over is making sure we understand what they’re trying to do and understand what we’re trying to do and do it better.”
No. 6 Georgia at No. 15 Tennessee is slated to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC).
