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TAMPA, FL ― Here’s the problem with the nonstop drone of never-ending structural change within college football.
It overshadows what’s real and what works.
“It eats the air from what actually wins football games,” says Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
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Which fits perfectly with the story of Gunner Stockton.
Nothing flashy, nothing loud. And certainly not grabbing headlines as Georgia’s star quarterback.
Doesn’t have a legendary family name, and Vanity Fair isn’t chasing him down for a rags to riches profile. Just a country boy from the mountains of Northeast Georgia, who still drives a beat up pickup because it feels good and it works.
Doesn’t look pretty, but it sure as hell gets the job done.
“Just show up and do your work,” Stockton says.
Welcome, everyone, to what’s real and what works. To the one quarterback no one talks about, and the one player that could change everything.
The one player who can carry Georgia — which hasn’t won a College Football Playoff game since 2022 — back to the top of the game. And maybe restore faith in the actual game on the field in the process.
“He doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t have to,” said Georgia center Drew Bobo. “You know exactly where he stands.”
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Like earlier this summer, when Smart decided to take Georgia’s leadership group on a bonding trip to the mountains of North Carolina. The man at the front of the boat, their guide told them, is in the crosshairs.
If the rapids grab the boat and don’t let go, the man at the front is going in first. Life jacket or not, be ready for troubled waters.
Stockton immediately chose the position. At the front of the boat, the tip of the spear.
“That’s who he is, he wants to be in that position. He wants to be where the pressure is,” Bobo said.
Like the fourth quarter last season, when Stockton completed an astounding 84 percent of his passes, and had seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
Or the five times last season when Georgia trailed by 8-14 points, and Stockton responded by completing 73 percent of his passes for six touchdowns and no interceptions.
Or Georgia’s trips inside the red zone, where the field shrinks and the defense attacks and scoring in the SEC is a premium. All he did there was complete 66 percent of his passes with 17 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Or when the legend of Stockton first showed up at Georgia, with the SEC championship on the line at the end of the 2024 season, and Carson Beck injured his elbow on the last play of the first half and Georgia needed help. So Stockton did what was needed.
All the way to sacrificing his body at the goal line late in the game to set up the game-winning touchdown to beat Texas.
“Doesn’t get near the credit he deserves,” said Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson. “He does whatever it takes.”
We’re not talking about a career overachiever, or a player Georgia stumbled upon. Stockton broke all of Trevor Lawrence’s high school passing records in Georgia, and had more than 18,000 career passing and rushing yards.
A bluechip recruit, he originally committed to South Carolina to play for Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who was working at South Carolina under then-Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp. It was George Bobo, Mike’s father and longtime legendary Georgia high school coach, who taught Stockton how to play the position.
No chance he wasn’t following Mike Bobo to Georgia, where he dreamed of playing while growing up in Rabun, but instead felt loyalty to George Bobo and his original commitment to South Carolina.
Then Bobo was hired by Smart, and Stockton arrived at Georgia and joined a quarterback room that included Stetson Bennett, Carson Beck and five-star recruit Brock Vandagriff.
And a few. years later, what’s forgotten is what wins games.
Stockton battled and found a way to lift Georgia over Tennessee last year in a wild environment. He brought Georgia back from a nine-point deficit against Ole Miss in the regular season, and led a rout of Texas. In both Georgia losses, he did enough for Georgia’s offense to win the game — but the defense couldn’t get off the field.
Yet there he is, in his own conference, overshadowed by the next in the sport. The next big name, the next big recruit, the next big transfer.
Until you look around and what’s forgotten is what wins games.
“Recognition is the last thing I care about,” Stockton said. “I don’t need the attention.”
Which fits perfectly outside the nonsense currently sucking the air from college football.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia QB Gunner Stockton fueled by winning is leader of boat for CFP title hopes
