Georgia QB Gunner Stockton Has Had a Unique Introduction to College Football

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton has had a unique introduction to college football.

Gunner Stockton will be making his seventh career start this weekend against the Auburn Tigers on the road. Typically for a first year starting quarterback, that would be a daunting task, and the question of how Stockton will perform this weekend still remains. However, Stockton's unique introduction to college football likely eases the nerves heading into this one.

In his career thus far, Stockton has had to play in the SEC Championship against Texas, the college football playoff against Notre Dame, Tennessee on the road, Alabama at home and Auburn on the road will soon be added to the list. Including the conference title game, Stockton is 6-2 as the quarterback for Georgia.

It's not often you see a quarterback in this sport have to mature as quickly as Stockton has had to over the last calendar year. Most importantly though, it's not often a first time starting quarterback at the college level produces the results that Stockton has this early into their career.

Many quarterbacks get to ease their way into their career. They get a couple of games at the start of the season to get their feet wet and then they ramp up towards conference games, the situations where you really learn what a quarterback is made of. Even in the losses though, the takeaway from those games has not been Stockton isn't ready to handle these moments.

In his first ever start, Stockton threw for the second-most yards that Notre Dame's defense allowed all season. In his first ever road start, he threw for over 300 yards and helped lead a comeback win against the Volunteers. Against Alabama, his efforts may not have been enough to win, but Stockton helped put Georgia in a position to ultimately win that game in the fourth quarter.

Stockton is still learning and developing as a starting quarterback in the SEC, but as Georgia heads into a big-time road matchup against a rival this weekend, his accelerated maturation should have Dawg fans feeling pretty good.