Okay, so it’s a whole new era for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. After losing their former QB Carson Beck to Miami, it’s time for their 2024 backup QB Gunner Stockton to turn the spotlight toward him. The redshirt sophomore had made his first start for Smart’s squad against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoffs quarterfinals at Sugar Bowl. Ever since then the former 4-star has been the talk of the town. 

However, he now has big shoes to fill with just the experience of 10 CFB games so far. Will Stockton’s 2025 chapter bear fruits for Georgia? Analyst Greg McElroy shared his take on it. While Smart’s QB room takes shape, the program lands in choppy waters with change in the NIL.

Can Gunner Stockton live up to the Bulldogs QB hype? 

Did you know that Stockton hasn’t started for a team since his days at Rabun County High School in 2021? In that way, the Sugar Bowl came off as a big break for him. The nation’s No. 7 ranked quarterback in 2021 first committed to the South Carolina Gamecocks. However, when their HC Will Muschamp was fired, Stockton decommitted and committed to Georgia within 16 days. Entering his redshirt freshman season, he remained third on the depth chart behind Beck and Brock Vandagriff. It was only in 2023, that he got the starter’s role after entering the portal. Now that Beck is gone, all eyes are on him. On that note, McElroy had good things to say about Smart’s QB. 

On the ESPN College Football podcast, the analyst started with, “Well if you look at Gunner Stockton compared to what they had the last two years with Carson Beck, you have a little bit more mobility at the quarterback spot.” Stockton appeared in three games in 2024. However, his best feat came with the SEC title game. During the three appearances, he completed 25-of-32 passing attempts (78.1%) for 206 yards and one interception. While his ball throwing still needs some polishing, he “has plenty of arm talent in his own right,” per McElroy. Stockton’s gameplay also reminded the analyst of someone special.

“He models his game after Connor Shaw from a few years back at South Carolina,” the analyst sounded all nostalgic thinking of the good ol’ days. Shaw ranks as the winningest quarterback in the Gamecocks history. McElroy could not stop praising the great QB, “His god-given ability was not outrageous but man he was just a grinder. He just continued to find ways to win games, he was athletic, he was accurate, he was decisive.” So, Stockton now has caught Shaw’s vibes. And wait! There is one more strange similarity. Both of them wear the #14 jersey. Coincidence much? Well, only time can tell that. Now let’s shift to Georgia’s part where trouble lies.

Changing NIL strategy might land Kirby Smart in a dilemma

While Kirby Smart and Bulldogs’ future looks bright for the upcoming days, shadows of uncertainty loom in the NIL front despite the program being mindful of their NIL game. They don’t just throw away cash. In that way they hardly overspend. However, some shifts are incoming as the Georgia insider and analyst Dean Legge sounded an alarm. And guess what?

It’s going to directly affect Kirby Smart’s position in the recruiting race.“Then you also have NIL deals that are going to be sort of tied together with the school,” Legge sounded underconfident about Georgia’s future. He continued, “What has yet to be seen, and what I think will happen over in the near future, is there is the possibility that transfers will slow down as a result of that. There being hooks in some of these NIL deals.” 

Now come on. College football now stands at a time when climbing the NIL ladder is often the main reason why players consider a program. In that way, no player would want to be in a program that demands to be committed season after season. They would likely consider bouncing out for a better opportunity. Already they had seen enough with Carson Beck packing bags for Miami snapping all the strings attached. And what about Gunner Stockton? The quarterback is an “old-school guy” who does not have much interest in NIL.