Moving into the 2025 season, Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs are blessed with enough motivation to fuel their 2025 run. First things first, ESPN released a list, ‘Ranking the best coaches in college football for 2025.’ In that list, they placed Smart at No.1. Secondly, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum came up with some bold predictions for the Bulldogs. But there was one catch in his statement.
“I believe they’ll be fighting to be in the Playoffs. And we all respect Kirby Smart, I think he’s the best coach in college football. But that doesn’t mean anything if you lose players like they have lost over the last couple of years,” said Finebaum. No matter how Smart tries to whitewash Georgia’s image, its dark past comes back to haunt it. Thanks to their former quarterback, Carson Beck. Now, Gunner Stockton got to make up for this, and here came the warning.
On the August 9 episode of the UGA Football on Dawg Post podcast, analyst Ryan Kerley shared, “Limiting mistakes, limiting big time mistakes. Kirby said catastrophic mistakes… But look, with Gunner, he hasn’t been in a lot of different situations outside of practice, right? They do as much as they can to simulate. Kirby talked about how this spring, this fall, this offseason in general has been really good for simulating situations and decision-making processes.” Smart’s former quarterback, Beck, threw an SEC-high 12 interceptions while also having some critical fumbles and misses along the way.
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There have been cracks in Smart’s offense. After all, no program had more drops than Georgia this past season, which finished with 36. But again, the quarterbacks are always the ones to carry the blame. As per Clark Brooks of On3, Beck lost 665 passing yards because of those drops. Smart held high hopes for Beck, who gifted them 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2023. But things fell apart in 2024, as he struggled with inconsistency, throwing 12 interceptions.
Being a backup, Stockton never had to face dire circumstances. In 2024, he played five games and four in 2023. As Dean Legge pointed out, “Mike Lobo was talking about, well, if you have the run game, you know, that changes almost everything. And it was Kirby that said, he’s not faced a lot of third and sevens.” An improved run game means a third-and-7 to 10 every down, and there too, Stockton’s experience runs thin. His ability and toughness are only assumed. But the quarterback is going to face yet another ghost from the past.
As Legge pointed out, “Georgia is going to have to take advantage of what they’ve got, Ryan. I mean, they’ve got a lot. And when you think about Gunner Stockton’s ability to run, that adds to the run game. But yeah, he can’t have catastrophic errors. Flashback. Stetson Bennett national championship game. Bro just fumbled out of the blue. Yep. Remember that?” Officials ruled quarterback Stetson Bennett fumbled on this play as he was sacked, and Alabama recovered during the 4th quarter. While Stockton lacks the experience that Beck had, he still has an edge compared to his predecessor.
Gunner Stockton’s USP that puts him at an edge above Carson Beck
That’s leadership. In Smart’s squad, there have been leaders like Jake Fromm, who went 35-7 as Georgia’s starter and led them to three straight SEC title games. He shared, “Jake Fromm, kind of built like me, 6’1” 6’2”. Not super athletic, average arm strength, but guess what dude worked his b— off. And I once again, I’m not saying that he didn’t do any of these things. I’m just saying Jake Fromm did these to the extreme, was an incredible teammate, and made guys around him better. Did the right things on and off the field, was the first one in the last one out. Always studying the film.”
Analyst Aaron Murray, in conversation with J.D.PicKell shed light on Beck and the disconnect with his teammates. “There wasn’t this guy that was a true locker room guy,” Murray came up with the bold take. But in that case, Stockton came off with flying colors, as he pointed out, “Guys kind of rallied around Gunner Stockton. They had a little bit more of belief in him as maybe person, just a human being.” The focus was missing in Beck’s case because of the relationship hoopla with Hanna Cavinder and the social media drama that followed. As Connor O’Gara pointed out that more than athletic skills, the team leadership is what matters.
Already, Stockton is on the edge of being in Fromm’s shadow, focusing on team bonding. But what makes him a better player than Fromm? To the analyst, Gunner Stockton is “more athletic than Jake Fromm was. Has a good arm, maybe not like first-round caliber arm talent, but still a good arm, but can bring a locker room together.” So, now the question remains. Will Kirby Smart finally get over the Carson Beck trauma?
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