There is No Consensus on Georgia Quarterback Gunner Stockton
Real Georgia Fans Don’t Miss the Dawg Post Newsletter - Sign up now!
ATHENS - There is only one sportsbook out there that has Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton slated in the top-10 for odds to win the Heisman Trophy this season.
DraftKings gives Stockton the 10th-best chance to win college football’s most coveted individual award with +2500 odds. The rest of the sportsbooks have Stockton with +3300 odds or longer.
Stockton is ranked right behind Georgia’s most recent starting quarterback and now Miami gunslinger Carson Beck. A year ago, Beck was firmly in the top-3 in odds to win this award heading into the 2024 season. He and Georgia ended up regressing on the offensive side of the ball.
All of this is to say that there is not a consensus on Stockton and how good of a season he will have for the Dawgs. He has not been officially named as Georgia’s starting quarterback by Kirby Smart yet, but he was clearly the top signal-caller during spring practice and has the leg up on the younger Ryan Puglisi.
LIMITED TIME: Get Dawg Post coverage for $1 RIGHT NOW
If you ask FOX’s lead college football analyst Joel Klatt, he would tell you that he is not really sure about Stockton, and that is why he does not think Georgia is a top-5 team in the sport. If you ask former ESPN analyst David Pollack, he will tell you that he thinks Stockton will play better than Beck did for Georgia in 2024.
Winning the Heisman is likely not at the top of Stockton’s award wish list for this season, and it is certainly not something that Smart is thinking about at all. A national title is far more important to this program.
Stetson Bennett is the only finalist that Georgia has produced this century when he finished fourth in voting in 2022. Heading into the ceremony, Bennett led Georgia to a 13-0 record and was coming off of a huge performance in the SEC Championship win over LSU. His numbers at the time he was announced as a finalist were 3,425 passing yards and 20 passing touchdowns along with seven rushing touchdowns. He threw for just six interceptions heading into the College Football Playoff.
Forget the Heisman for this conversation. Those numbers would be really good for Stockton in his first year as the starter. Those numbers would likely mean success.
Stockton brings more to the tabel than Beck did in terms of the rushing ability. While he is not as speedy or shifty as Bennett was, he is a tough and powerful runner whom offensive coordinator Mike Bobo is going to scheme plays up for.
Winning a Heisman might not be Georgia’s primary goal, but if Stockton is playin well and is in the mix for the award, that likely means the Dawgs are having a very successful season.
JUNKYARD DAWGS TRI-BLEND T-SHIRT
