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Georgia is entering the 2026 season as the two-time defending SEC Champions. But based on how SEC Media Days is going so far this week no one would be able to tell that Georgia is the top dog in the conference.
Texas is once again getting all the hype entering this season, and many of Georgia’s players are being severely overlooked. This includes quarterback Gunner Stockton who much of the media is hesitant to list as one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC this season.
But Matt Hayes is one member of the media who is high on Stockton compared to the other quarterbacks in the conference, so much so that he thinks he could be the best QB in the SEC this season.
Gunner Stockton deserves more credit compared to his SEC counterparts
Arch Manning, John Mateer and Trinidad Chambliss are the three quarterbacks in the SEC that are getting the most hype. They definitely deserve the praise they are all getting, but Stockton deserves to be in that conversation too.
Manning still hasn’t proven that he’s better than Stockton. He however is being crowned as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, but his stats aren’t better than Stockton’s and he hasn’t been able to beat him either.
Oklahoma’s star in Mateer is a good player too, but just like Manning he did nothing last season to prove he’s better than Stockton. To be fair he did play much of last year injured, but he still has to prove how good he can be this year now that he is no longer injured.
Then there is Chambliss who dominated Georgia’s defense twice last season and is the only quarterback who has proven so far to be better than Stockton.
All Stockton has done is win the SEC two times and finish seventh in Heisman Trophy voting last year. Sure he hasn’t played that great in the College Football Playoff, but he certainly has done enough to be put in the same category as these other quarterbacks.
Gunner Stockton is the SEC’s best kept secret
Stockton likely is just fine with being the forgotten QB in the SEC. He has never been someone to care about media attention anyway, and he doesn’t care about individual awards either, so he is probably more than okay with hiding in the shadows.
This may cause some teams to overlook him throughout the season as well. That would be insanely silly considering how good Georgia has been with him under center, but if he isn’t getting talked about in the media then some defenses may not respect him as much as they should.
Stockton’s plan all along has been to focus on himself and improve this offseason. The media straight up ignoring him is certainly helping him accomplish that goal, but maybe this will give him a chip on his shoulder this year to prove them all wrong.
And better yet, maybe this will help motivate the rest of Georgia’s team because they want to see their leader get the respect he deserves too.
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This article was originally published on dawnofthedawg.com as The SEC media is blindly ignoring Gunner Stockton - and Georgia prefers it that way.
