Something doesn’t sit right in Athens. You’ve got Gunner Stockton balling out in spring, throwing dimes like he’s already got Saturdays on lock, but the Bulldogs still had cold feet in January. Despite balling out against the Irish, according to a big-time Dawgs insider, the Bulldogs were side-eyeing Gunner Stockton and even Ryan Puglisi. And fast forward to now. Just when Gunner thought he was that guy, the SEC pulled a slick one, ranking him near the bottom of the QB pile. Man, it’s messy under those hedges.
Let’s set the stage real quick. After Carson Beck dipped for Miami following an injury in the SEC title game, the keys to the Dawgs’ ride got handed to Stockton. And no cap, the man handled business. Boy, did he throw. In that Notre Dame showdown, Gunner dropped 234 yards and a tuddy, going 20-of-32 with zero picks. Clean. Steady. Gritty. But apparently, Georgia still got cold feet, because according to Rusty Mansell from On3 Sports and DawgsHQ, the Dawgs went portal-hopping twice this January for a QB.
On the May 10th episode of the That SEC Football Podcast, Rusty spilled the tea: “Interesting, you know, we’ll talk more about quarterbacks, but Ryan Puglisi is a kid that a lot of people ask me about. And I think the fact that Georgia tried to get a portal quarterback in January—twice—but this window after spring practice, they didn’t do that. They didn’t try that. So it tells me, I think, with Gunner and Puglisi, they feel comfortable.”
Now that right there? That’s a mic drop. Georgia clearly wasn’t all in on Gunner back in January. But post-spring? Different story. The Dawgs hit pause on the transfer hunt. Why? Because Gunner and Ryan Puglisi clearly put on a clinic in those spring reps. Coaches probably peeked the tape and said, ‘Aight, maybe we do got Dawgs here.’
Still, the disrespect is loud. 247Sports came out swinging with their post-spring SEC QB rankings—and Gunner Stockton isn’t even in the top 10. What even? The man’s ranked No. 12, behind Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, who threw up a big old donut against Texas last season. Zero offensive points. And somehow he’s above Stockton? Make it make sense.
Brad Crawford from 247 tried to justify it: “Stockton has not shown enough yet to push him into the upper crust of SEC quarterbacking… He won’t be asked to play Superman, but it’s vital to Georgia’s production that Stockton is better than Carson Beck was from a consistency standpoint.”
But hold up—Stockton didn’t flop when the lights came on. Against two powerhouses, Texas and Notre Dame, he held it down. He might not have made ESPN’s Top 10, but he played with big-dawg energy. That alone should put him above Bama’s Ty Simpson or Ole Miss’ Austin Simmons. No way Stockton deserves that 12th spot. That disrespect level is crazy.
And here’s the kicker. Georgia isn’t the only squad retooling, even though they lost 13 players to the league. 2025 is going to be chaotic. Everybody is losing vets. Everybody’s rebuilding. The College Football Playoff door is wide open, and Gunner’s got a shot to lead the Dawgs back into that four-team promised land. Now he just needs the SEC media to wake up and stop sleeping on his name.
Will Bulldogs wideout still be a problem for Kirby Smart in 2025?
It’s always defense this, defense that with Kirby Smart. And rightfully so—the man builds defenses like they’re Fort Knox. But when it comes to receivers? That’s been Georgia’s Achilles heel. No wideout has crossed the 1,000-yard line under Smart’s watch. In fact, last year’s top wideout, Arian Smith, barely cracked 800 yards. And let’s be real, he was dropping passes like they were hot potatoes.
Look, the Bulldogs never had OG wide-outs (George Pickens and Brock Bowers are exceptions here) and pass-catcher under Kirby Smart. And now with a new QB in town—either Gunner or Puglisi—Kirby knew he had to do something. So what’s the move? Hit the portal and go shopping.
Kirby didn’t just grab bodies—he grabbed dogs. He brought in USC’s Zachariah Branch and A&M’s Noah Thomas. Now that’s some real-deal firepower. Branch, a five-star burner, pulled in 47 catches for 503 yards last season out in Cali. And Thomas? Man’s a red zone menace. Eight tuddies and 574 yards for the Aggies. These two are low-key expected to plug in now and start catching bullets from Gunner. But wait, there’s more….
NCAA, College League, USA Football: Clemson at Georgia Aug 31, 2024 Atlanta, Georgia, USA Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart talks with players during the fourth quarter of the 2024 Aflac Kickoff Game against the Clemson Tigers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium Georgia USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKenxRuinardx 20240831_gma_usa_0228
Georgia still got Dillon Bell coming back—Mr. Reliable. And five-star freshman Talyn Taylor is lurking, ready to pounce. He’s the No. 23 overall recruit in the country, and the buzz is he might force his way into the rotation early. That’s four legit weapons for the Bulldogs.
The tight ends aren’t gone either. Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie are still in town, combining for 596 yards and 7 scores last year. That’s tight end depth any OC would kill for. And yes, the O-line took a hit, losing three top-100 draft picks, and Trevor Etienne isn’t light. But the Georgia pipeline is deep. The replacements aren’t scrubs. They’re just untested.
Still, the hands got to be better. Georgia led the nation in dropped passes in 2024. No lie. Arian Smith alone looked like he was wearing oven mitts out there. That won’t fly with new quarterbacks. If Gunner Stockton is going to cook, he needs WRs who can catch a pass without bobbling it like a beach ball. Bottom line: Kirby went shopping because he had to. The days of running the damn ball and winning with defense only? They’re fading. In today’s game, you need weapons. Real ones. And for the first time in years, Georgia’s wideout room might actually be… dangerous. Like scary.
So now we wait. Will Gunner Stockton silence the haters and torch the SEC? Will Branch and Thomas revive Georgia’s receiver rep? Or will Kirby Smart’s passing game crash back to reality? Either way, Athens is about to find out if the Dawgs can finally bark through the air, not just on the ground.
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