Kirby Smart ‘proud’ of Gunner Stockton after Georgia’s win over Marshall
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Gunner Stockton is settling into being Georgia‘s new QB1, and Kirby Smart liked what he saw from the Bulldog signal-caller.
“Proud of Gunner,” Smart told reporters after Saturday’s season-opening over Marshall. “Great leader, great competitor. Just does it the right way. Got us out of some negative plays. Had too many times that we could have been sacked, that he escaped. He took care of the ball well, made good decisions, made good reads on his pulls. Continues to distribute the ball and did a nice job.”
Stockton was 14-of-24 passing for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns and also UGA’s leading rusher with 10 carries for 73 yards and 2 scores. Saturday, Smart rattled off a long list of things he likes about Stockton’s game.
“He scrambles, makes plays. He extends plays,” Smart said. “He does a great job navigating the pocket, understands where he has to go with the ball. Certainly think he could improve as a running quarterback, a boot-naked quarterback, a play-action quarterback, and a drop-back quarterback. But he distributed the ball well today, and that will be a measure of decision-making he has to do all year.”
Next up for Georgia is Austin Peay in Week 2, a tune-up before traveling to Tennessee in Week 3 to open SEC play. We’ll see if Stockton continues to get high marks from Smart.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
