Georgia Football's Gunner Stockton Completely Misidentified by ESPN

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton has been completely misidentified by ESPN.

The Georgia Bulldogs have an intriguing roster heading into the 2026 college football season. They have a good number of returning players from last year's team, and one of those players is quarterback Gunner Stockton. Many are interested to see how big a step forward Stockton takes this season, as that will be a determining factor in how far the Bulldogs go this season, but that's not to say he was a bad quarterback in 2025 either.

Despite some of the shining moments Stockton had last season, he still continues to be misidentified by the national media. The latest example of this was ESPN's article on ranking every FBS quarterback situation.

David Hale placed Stockton in tier 3. Which doesn't sound bad and it especially doesn't sound bad when you find out that the tier consists of Josh Hoover, John Mateer, Rocco Becht, Marcel Reed and Devon Dampier. It's not the actual ranking that is somewhat disrespectful to Stockton, though. It's how he is labeled.

Hale labeled this the "Sean Clifford Zone". A former quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions who won a lot of games but had a losing record against ranked teams.

"Against teams that finished the year ranked, however, [Clifford] was a woeful 4-11," Hale wrote. "This, of course, was the story for nearly every quarterback under James Franklin at Penn State, but it's also true for a lot of others and this presents a delicate situation for schools like those Nittany Lions teams. They have legitimate national championship hopes. They have QBs good enough to get them close -- but maybe not close enough."

Hale then proceeds to bring up the fact that Stockton, Mateer and Reed are a combined 0-4 in the college football playoff. That, of course, includes Stockton's start against Notre Dame in the 2024 Sugar Bowl, which was the first start of his career. Stockton proceeded to throw for 234 yards, the third-most yards against a Notre Dame defense that ranked 4th against the pass that season.

But even that wasn't where Stockton was completely misidentified. It was with this sentence right here.

"There's a short list of quarterbacks you'd rather have than these guys," Hale wrote. "The problem is, when it comes to crunch time, it's that short list -- not these QBs -- who've come up big."

If there was one word many would use to describe Stockton's game play last season, it would be clutch.

Why Gunner Stockton is One of the Most Clutch QBs in College Football

Jan 1, 2026; New Orleans, LA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton (14) passes the ball against the Mississippi Rebels in the second quarter during the 2026 Sugar Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

In 2025, Stockton had the highest completion percentage in the country in the 4th quarter at 83.6 percent. He was also one of two quarterbacks last season to have at least seven touchdowns thrown in the fourth quarter and zero interceptions. Trinidad Chambliss is the other.

In Stockton's first road trip of his career, at Tennessee nonetheless, he threw for 304 yards and had three total touchdowns, completed a touchdown pass to London Humphreys in a do-or-die situation on 4th and 6 and led his team back from down 21-7 in Neyland Stadium.

In a shootout against Ole Miss in the regular season, Stockton threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions and rushed for another touchdown. He erased a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter and didn't have a single incomplete pass in the fourth quarter.

Down 10-0 on the road against the Auburn Tigers, Stockton threw for 217 yards, zero interceptions and had a rushing touchdown to win 20-10. It was the night the program retired Cam Newton's jersey number as well.

Against the Texas Longhorns last season, Stockton threw for 229 yards, four touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown on top of that. He also had an 82 percent completion percentage that night.

Let's also not forget perhaps the most famous incident of his career. Stockton checked into the SEC Championship game for an injured Carson Beck after halftime, down 6-3 to Longhorns, and proceeded to help lead his team to an overtime victory over the Longhorns and be crowned SEC Champions.

There are certainly some aspects of Stockton's game that are open for criticism. Him not showing up in crunch time is certainly not one of them. Sure, he is winless in the college football playoff. But are we saying that Stockton throwing for 203 yards, having zero turnovers and three total touchdowns against Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, is him not showing up in crunch time?

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