When Georgia football’s pregame warmups end and the team heads to the locker room, radio sideline reporter DJ Shockley does a quick interview with coach Kirby Smart.
Before the game against Austin Peay, Smart told Shockley: “I want to see us attack our shots, hit some of our shots down the field off of play-action.”
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Georgia fans are still waiting for that to happen for Gunner Stockton and the No. 3 Bulldogs heading into Saturday’s game at No. 15 Tennessee.
Stockton is averaging 7.2 yards per pass attempt — tied for 71st nationally and 13th in the SEC, according to CFBstats.com
He has just one pass play of 30 or more yards, tied for 13th in the SEC. That came on a short pass that Zachariah Branch turned into a 47-yard touchdown against Marshall.
“All Tennessee is going to have to work with is inside zone, some gap scheme running and some bubble screens on tape from Georgia today,” former Missouri and NFL quarterback Chase Daniel said in the fourth quarter on ESPN+ during the 28-6 win over Austin Peay on Saturday Sept. 6.
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Smart said after Saturday’s game that Georgia and Stockton did a lot of throwing work in practice periods with pass rush and pressure.
“I actually need to see what he does in practice in the game,” Smart said. “You know, where you have to play in the pocket and win things in the pocket. So we did a lot of that last week in practice. A lot of play-action shots, working — we’re trying to add up and do things. So he did a really nice job of those things all week. He’s just got to continue to grow, get better at that, and get comfortable with it.”
Stockton is 40 of 58 for 417 yards with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions this season.
Stockton’s average depth of target is 5.1 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
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Austin Peay made throwing short passes hard to resist.
On a screen pass to Colbie Young, there was no defender within five yards of him and he took it for 13 yards.
On a quick pass to Zachariah Branch, there was nobody within 4 yards and he went 17 yards on the reception.
When Stockton threw to Sacovie White-Helton in the flat, the closest unblocked defender was 7 yards away and the play went for 8.
Still, there were plays that could have been made.
Daniel highlighted plays when Talyn Taylor and Colbie Young were open downfield but no throws came.
On a Stockton film breakdown posted to YouTube, former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray pointed out three plays where Stockton was late and not accurate with the football.
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He noted how Stockton was late to Branch at end of the second quarter on a completion that was stopped at the 1-yard line.
“The ball’s got to get out of your hands, especially in the red zone,” Murray said. “Got to be faster there.”
Georgia sputtered from there and came away with no points.
Stockton this season has no “big time throws,” a measure that PFF describes as “a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.”
By comparison, Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has three big time throws.
“I think our identity is we can run the ball and taking our shots and being able to throw the ball,” Stockton said after Saturday’s game.
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He said that identity is shown throughout the season.
Stockton has been pressured 17 times with an offensive line again battling injuries compared to 13 for Aguilar.
“Success comes through throwing and catching it and getting opportunities to do that,” Smart said Monday. “We didn’t protect long enough in some of our opportunities to get a chance to do that. First thing is, what can we do? We ran the ball successfully and ran it down their throats for the most part. When we do take shots, we want to keep a clean pocket and he was able to do a lot of good things for us in terms of when the pockets not clean. Not being second-and-20 or second-and-15 and instead we’re second-and-eight, avoiding some really long situations or giving up sacks, but certainly we want to be able to improve the downfield passing game.”
Former Georgia quarterback Eric Zeier, now co-host of the “Bulldog Brunch,” on radio on Sunday mornings, said of Stockton to a caller: “He is not a pure passer of the football. He is a leader of men though that can bring this team together and take us to unbelievable heights. Now, he does have to have the ability to throw the football down field. He does, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have the skill set to make all of the throws. We haven’t seen it yet. We haven’t shown it. I think a lot of that is by design.”
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Young said with defenses trying not to give up the deep ball and making it advantageous to run, Georgia has leaned on its backs and line.
“When they play up, we’ll take our shots when we can,” he said.
He said Stockton is explosive in practice and has shown he can make “next-level plays. …I like to say he’s like a Russell Wilson-type the way he puts the ball in the air and just drops it in the bucket.”
Stockton went 26 of 34 for 227 yards without a TD pass against Austin Peay.
“Overall assessment for Gunner, I thought it was just OK,” Murray said in his film breakdown. “Man, let’s be honest. Timing was indecisive at times. Got through his reads too fast. I think that’s something that carried over from a week ago to this week of not playing with the offense, but the offensive line has to play better at times.”
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Murray wondered who can be the deep threat in the Georgia offense “to take the top off the defense.”
“More shots have to be called, no doubt about it,” Murray said. “But right now this offense, they’re just OK. Let’s be honest.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: What former standout college QBs are saying on Georgia’s Gunner Stockton
