Georgia Football's Gunner Stockton is Being Misevaluated by the National Media

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton is being misevaluated by the national media.

The Georgia Bulldogs have received their fair questioning from the national media this offseason. The 2024 season didn't go as planned for Georgia, and sometimes, it didn't even look like the same Georgia team fans had become accustomed to seeing. However, the questions heading into this season are likely in part due to the Bulldogs having a new starting quarterback.

Gunner Stockton is expected to be the starter this season and there isn't too much offseason hype around Stockton's name. He helped lead Georgia to an SEC title against Texas and played solid against Notre Dame in the college football playoffs, but nobody is pushing the Stockton bandwagon right now. And there is a reason why.

People look at Stockton and they see a quarterback from Rabun County, Georgia, who waited his turn and is now set to be the starting quarterback. What they don't see is a quarterback with 1% traits or one who has loads of NFL potential. That's what sells a quarterback in the offseason. It's the traits, it's the wow factor and it's the ceiling. People don't see that with Stockton.

They see a quarterback who got a job in the SEC title game and a quarterback who played solid against the Irish. And you can't sell people on a quarterback during the offseason because they played "solid" and lost.

There's an argument that Stockton does have a 1% trait and it's one that nobody is aware of yet, but those who watched him take over for Carson Beck in Atlanta caught a glimpse of it. People play harder for Stockton.

In the very first series against the Longhorns coming out of halftime, Stockton scrambled out of the pocket, angled for the out of bounds line and right before he steps out he lowers his shoulder and looks down at the Texas defender he just knocked down while walking by. The sidelines went nuts and there was a spark of energy that Georgia didn't have for the entire first half of that game.

The team goes as Stockton goes. So don't blame the media for misevaluating Stockton. They just don't know yet.

Stockton can rip a 15-yard dig with the best of them and he's athletic enough to keep a defense honest in the run game. But the headlining trait for Stockton is something you will never be able to see in a box score. People will have to discover it on their own during the fall this year.