ATHENS — Gunner Stockton and Carson Beck are different quarterbacks. Beck, who has displayed some athleticism this year, is much more of a traditional pocket passer. He would take off as only a last resort.
Stockton in his limited experience has shown he’s much more willing to use his legs as a rusher. Even if that sometimes means his helmet goes flying after taking a monster hit.
But if you’re expecting an overhauled offense from Georgia showed against Texas in the SEC Championship game to what it could put on the field against Notre Dame, head coach Kirby Smart tempered those beliefs.
“You know, I think we are who we are in regards to that. I mean, we’ve played an entire season offensively,” Smart said in a Zoom press conference ahead of the Sugar Bowl. “You know, Gunner’s a good athlete. I think Carson’s a good athlete. So, it’s one of those deals that I don’t know how much that changes things.”
Stockton had eight rushing attempts in the game against Texas, including a critical 8-yard rush that picked a first down in overtime. Stockton did have 16 pass attempts for Georgia, but those netted the Bulldogs just 71 yards of offense.
At halftime of the game, Georgia had just 13 non-sack rushing yards. With Stockton inserted into the game, the Bulldogs finished with 141 rushing yards on the afternoon.
While Smart has kept the state of the offense close to his vest with regards to the changes in going from Beck to Stockton, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman knows things will be different with Stockton at quarterback.
“You evaluate obviously schematically what they’ve done all season, and then you have a separate tape of what Stockton, the new quarterback has done,” Freeman said. “You know, I think we have 80-something plays of him playing quarterback. You know, he can run their offense. He does some things a little bit differently. He’s got, you know, he can extend plays with his legs. He’s a good athlete. The thing I probably noticed most about any, probably noticed more than anything in watching those 80 plays is he’s an ultra-competitive individual. You can just tell, you know, by the way he celebrates, by the way, you know, he goes and finishes plays. He’s a competitor. I don’t see it being tremendously different than what they’ve done all season. But we’ll prepare or anything.”
Notre Dame will be without one of its best defenders as it attempts to slow Stockton. Freeman announced that defensive tackle Rylie Mills would miss the rest of the College Football Playoffs after he sustained a knee injury in the win over Indiana.
Mills is Notre Dame’s top defensive lineman, as the senior captain leads the Fighting Irish in sacks and tackles for loss.
Stockton has seen stout defensive linemen before, as he worked as Georgia’s scout team quarterback during the 2022 season when the Bulldogs had Jalen Carter on the roster.
But doing so as a starter will be a new test for Stockton. Especially against a Notre Dame pass defense that is incredibly sticky.
“Well, they play great defense,” Smart said. “They have a great pass rush. They’re physical up front. They affect the pass rush with how hard they play, and they got really good defensive backs. I mean, they play man-to-man. You know, they get up on you, put their hands on you. You can tell it’s a great brand of football between Coach (Al) Golden and Coach (Marcus) Freeman have done a great job. So, they play really good football.”
Experience is the best teacher, a point that both Smart and Freeman echoed during their respective press conferences on Monday.
Stockton has gotten more reps in practice as Beck is still away from the team as he contemplates his future regarding his elbow injury. Smart has liked what he’s seen from Stockton and how the offense has looked thus far, especially with Georgia only just beginning to really dive into preparing for Notre Dame.
But it’ll look different when Stockton takes the field on Jan. 1. Even if the base structure of the offense does not.
“He got lots of reps prior to these practices ‚but he’s getting much more now. I do think knowing that, you know, when you get ready for a, opponent like Notre Dame, you need time,” Smart said. “There’s certainly a lot of time in prep you can do to prepare for that. We prepared for some of that prior to that because we knew it would be within two opponents. But I think the biggest thing is just the competition at practice. You know, the situations we put him in, all those things allow him to get better as a quarterback.”
