{"id":78867,"date":"2024-12-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/all-eyes-on-gunner-stockton-for-georgia-notre-dame-sugar-bowl\/"},"modified":"2024-12-23T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T13:00:00","slug":"all-eyes-on-gunner-stockton-for-georgia-notre-dame-sugar-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/all-eyes-on-gunner-stockton-for-georgia-notre-dame-sugar-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"All eyes on Gunner Stockton for Georgia-Notre Dame Sugar Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

All eyes are on Gunner Stockton<\/a><\/strong> for Georgia\u2019s Sugar Bowl matchup against Notre Dame. The redshirt sophomore quarterback is anticipated to be making his first career start with Carson Beck expected out due to an injury he suffered in the SEC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

Stockton, who has been with the Bulldogs the entirety of his career after setting numerous records in the Georgia high school ranks, had played in just seven career contests prior to coming into the conference title game against Texas. It was the first time he stepped foot on the field without a lead or larger than 21 points \u2013 actually doing so with the Dawgs down 6-3 at the half. He guided a scoring drive to start the third quarter, one that ended with UGA\u2019s first touchdown of the game, and came through with heroics that helped hoist a trophy when all was said and done.<\/p>\n

Now, with weeks to prepare for the Playoff and adjust to differences in the offense with Stockton under center, attention is squarely on him for Georgia\u2019s game against Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to Georgia on offense, look, how is Gunner Stockton going to be with three weeks of preparation? It\u2019s one thing to come into a game like he did in the SEC Championship, spark the offense, get a drive going, get a touchdown, everybody\u2019s rallying around him to support the young guy. It\u2019s another thing to know that you\u2019re the man and to know that you have all the pressure and that you have to execute a game plan,\u201d Ben Watson said. \u201cThat\u2019s a totally different thing. And so it remains to be seen how he does it. He has the skill set to do so, but it\u2019ll interesting to see how Coach Mike Bobo, Kirby Smart, prepare him for a big game against Notre Dame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in terms of the way we talk about Gunner\u2019s utilization, he is a guy that likes to run the football as well. I think you\u2019re going to see Gunner Stockton\u2019s involvement in the game plan, as Mike Bobo showed us a little bit of what he wants to do with him at the beginning of the second half in the SEC title game,\u201d Chris Doering added. \u201cYou can look at it two ways, right? There\u2019s more tape on Gunner Stockton than Notre Dame can look at, but there\u2019s also a lot more prep time that Mike Bobo can game plan around Gunner Stockton instead of having to change things up on the fly. So I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a distinct advantage one way or another. I do know this, though. What a great opportunity it was to see the way that the players rallied around Gunner Stockton. When he came in the ballgame, you saw the other 10 guys in that huddle elevate their play. And I think the challenge is going to be for them to do that again in this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson, who played tight end for Georgia in the early 2000s and went on to a career in the NFL, pointed to Lawson Luckie and Oscar Delp, the offensive line and the run game as potential beneficiaries of the move to Stockton. They\u2019ll be challenged to help out the inexperienced signal caller. Because of that, and the skillset Stockton brings to the table as well, he\u2019s not ruling out his alma mater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a guy that was highly recruited, a guy that\u2019s been very successful in high school and also coming into college. So I think that Georgia fans, myself included, aren\u2019t totally deflated by the fact that we\u2019ve got a guy coming in that we know has the skill set,\u201d Watson. \u201cNow can he do it on the big stage? Because that\u2019s the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson isn\u2019t the only one that still believes the Bulldogs are capable of winning it all with Stockton at the helm. Paul Finebaum shared on Friday morning\u2019s episode of \u2018Get Up\u2019 that the absence of Beck doesn\u2019t change how he thinks about Georgia. The extra time to prepare with backup-turned-starter Stockton is huge. Former Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel and Auburn Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton agree too, thinking that Kirby Smart and Georgia might go back to the roots of being a team that relies on the foundation of its defense. <\/p>\n

\u201cGeorgia still has a great opportunity. They have an excellent defense, man. Going all the way back to little league? Defense still wins championships,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cSo, ultimately, look, you bring in your backup quarterback in Gunner Stockton, who is not a scrub by any, means of the word. He\u2019s a good football player, but he\u2019s inexperienced. But I think the defense will still carry this football team, help them win, and have a good opportunity to get to that championship game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m left with the question: Are they going to be better without Beck? Which forces the role players to play better. The receivers have to play better. The passing game has to get better. And coming in with Gunner, that\u2019s going to force guys to stand up and make plays,\u201d Newton added. \u201cDefensively, we know what Georgia\u2019s going to be. We know what Kirby is going to get out of those guys, they\u2019re going to attack and stay relentless throughout the whole game. That\u2019s a proven fact. But it goes back to guys standing up and stepping up to the task at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia-Notre Dame is set for New Year\u2019s Day in New Orleans at 8:45 p.m. ET. The winner of the Sugar Bowl will play the winner of the Penn State-Boise State Fiesta Bowl matchup in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Orange Bowl January 9th with a spot in the National Championship Game on January 20th in Atlanta on the line.<\/p>\n

The post All eyes on Gunner Stockton for Georgia-Notre Dame Sugar Bowl<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All eyes are on Gunner Stockton for Georgia\u2019s Sugar Bowl matchup against Notre Dame. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}