Big Test Awaits Kirby Smart as Georgia Insider’s Blunt Exposé Piles Pressure on Looming Gunner Stockton Woes

Kirby Smart continues to receive red flags ahead of a new college football season, more specifically, a brand new chance to work on the persisting issues and make it a better year at Athens altogether. But the tough SEC schedule isn’t aligning well with this purpose. Someone once stated that SEC schools shouldn’t worry about carrying extra burdens; instead, they should gracefully represent the ‘toughest path’, the conference’s most iconic identity.

However, keeping aside the lofty ideals, in reality, the next year’s schedule is a doozy. They must overcome formidable opponents such as Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, and so on. Insider Brandon Adams believes that if they successfully overcome the initial challenges and remain undefeated until September, they may have a chance, but it won’t be easy.

Georgia’s 2025 ride raises huge concern 

Georgia won the SEC Championship in 2024. Despite that, the season was iffy, culminating in an embarrassing loss against the Fighting Irish. If you think the 2024 schedule was hard, just look at their 2025 schedule. However, they’s a key to overpower SEC defenses.

‘‘It’s going to probably take a pretty good offensive performance to get that done in both those situations, so if you want to quiet down the Bobo chatter, the Stacy SEL chatter, the coaches that are sort of most on the kind of hot you know I want to say holy but within the crosshairs, for fans, just go out and play well at Tennessee, go out and play well at home in Alabama, and put a point total up against both those teams,” said Adams in the February 20th episode of the DawgNation podcast. Despite Sabam’s departure, the Tide remains the headlining opponent in the Bulldogs 2025 schedule, given the Bulldogs’ 1-6 record against the Crimson Tide under coach Kirby Smart.

Last year, they managed to take an early lead but failed to live up to the end. After a hopeful 34-33 lead, Jalen Milroe’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Williams derailed the momentum and took it to a 41-34 loss at Alabama. However, this year’s contest will be outright different than the previous seven, as it marks the first home game for the Dawgs. The last time Alabama visited Athens was in 2015, when Smart was serving as Alabama’s defensive coordinator. The Tide managed to get away with a 38-10 that time. Would it be a second home win against the Tide for Georgia?

Whether the answer is yes or no. Georgia needs to avoid another big mishap to avoid another slump in 2025. There is a popular saying that goes, A day that starts well is usually spent well. The same goes for the Bulldogs. Adams said, ”They just get off to better and faster starts. It’s going to make wins a little easier to come by; it’s going to make upsets a little easier to avoid. But this is not just it.

The early matchups, like the one against Marshal, hold a negligible significance in the entire schedule chart. Then why is the early pace-up deemed crucial? ‘‘For Georgia, in the first two weeks of the season, it’s going to be a chance to debut a brand new starting quarterback. We believe it’ll be Gunner Stockton,” Adams divulged. Now, it begs the question: is he worth the Carson Beck-like hype?

Gunner Stockton and Georgia receive strong wake-up call from Paul Finebaum 

Gunner Stockton! The name has been at the center of attention ever since Carson Beck stepped out. He came up with a grand career start (accounted for 13,562 passing yards and 177 touchdowns through the air in his high school years) in Georgia and splashed some serious signs of elite plays against Texas after Beck left the field. Kirby Smart, despite being dead loyal to Beck till the very last moment, has to pick Gunner up as the next-to-be guy at Athens. In a breathtaking Super Bowl against giant Notre Dame, Gunner doubled the hope. But it seems Paul Finebaum is still not convinced.

Finebaum didn’t mince his words while throwing shades at the new Georgia QB. He said everybody was enthralled about Stockton after the Super Bowl, but he didn’t see a point. “Georgia lost a better quarterback than the guy they have,” Paul noted, placing Beck higher than his replacement.

And if Georgia’s offensive line doesn’t get consolidated and work on its loopholes, the young gun might be too heavy to risk with. “There’s no other way around it,” a UGA insider told Dawg Post. “Georgia’s offensive line has got to do better in 2025. They took a step backward last year from 2023.” Gunner Stockton, being an inexperienced center, will head to a phenomenal stint of his career with a bullet in his back.

We will see if he can carry that well and end up getting burst midway down the stretch.