TIGER, Ga. — Georgia‘s former beginning quarterback, Carson Beck, rolled by means of campus in a smooth Lamborghini, reportedly valued at greater than $300,000. The head-turning sportscar was a part of a reputation, picture and likeness (NIL) take care of a high-end automotive group.
In stark distinction, the Bulldogs’ new beginning quarterback, Gunner Stockton, cruises by means of city in a 1984 Ford F-150. With a four-speed transmission and odometer that clicked previous 300,000 miles way back, the two-tone truck lacks fashionable conveniences equivalent to air con, energy locks and energy home windows.
For Stockton’s household and buddies within the tiny mountain city of Tiger, Georgia (about 90 minutes north of Athens), the outdated pickup looks like an acceptable alternative.
“I feel that sums him up,” stated Stockton’s uncle, Allyn Stockton. “He’s simply form of a plain-wrapper man. He’s actually a easy man.”
On Dec. 7, school soccer followers had been launched to Stockton within the second half of Georgia’s 22-19 additional time victory towards Texas within the SEC championship sport. After Beck was injured on the ultimate play of the primary half, Stockton got here off the bench to rally the Bulldogs from a 6-3 deficit.
With Beck present process season-ending surgical procedure this week to restore the elbow on his throwing arm, the No. 2 Bulldogs’ hopes within the College Football Playoff now relaxation partly on Stockton’s proper arm and legs.
The third-year sophomore is predicted to make his first profession begin towards No. 7 Notre Dame in a CFP quarterfinal on the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year’s Day (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).
Stockton’s household and buddies say he has been making ready for this second for a lot of his life.
“The folks that watched him play in Rabun County aren’t stunned in any respect,” Allyn Stockton stated. “They knew this was coming.”
IT WOULDN’T TAKE somebody lengthy to satisfy all of Tiger’s residents; its inhabitants was 422 in the newest U.S. Census. The one-stoplight city has a still-operating drive-in theater. The roadside attraction Goats on the Roof on Highway 441 used to promote all the pieces from Amish meals and furnishings to home made fudge and ice cream. And, sure, guests might feed goats that keep the garden on the roof.
The Stockton household settled in Rabun County in 1956 and opened a automobile dealership; Stockton’s dad, Rob, nonetheless works there. Gunner was named after his paternal great-grandfather, V.D. Stockton, who was shot down twice whereas serving as an aerial gunner aboard B-17s throughout World War II and was recognized to his buddies as “Gunner.”
Both of Rob’s mother and father attended Georgia and his late father, Lawrence, additionally graduated from the college’s pharmacy college. Lawrence was an avid Bulldogs soccer fan and took his sons to many residence video games and some on the street over time.
Rob and Allyn weren’t with their father when Georgia knocked off No. 8 Auburn 20-16 on the street on Nov. 16, 1985. The aftermath of that upset win turned probably the most weird moments within the historical past of the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” as a result of Auburn police used water cannons on Georgia followers who had rushed the sector. The police additionally ultimately turned the hoses on Bulldogs followers within the stands.
Jack Walton, the Auburn University police chief on the time, informed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he did not second-guess what his officers did. “My solely remorse is that we did not get each considered one of them,” he stated.
Lawrence Stockton was amongst 38 individuals who had been arrested that night time. He informed the AJC that he by no means went onto the sector. According to Lawrence, he was handcuffed and brought to a holding space for asking a police officer why they had been spraying the stands. He spent 4 hours in jail till his spouse bailed him out.
“Maybe I should not have gone down and requested why they had been spraying within the stands,” Lawrence Stockton informed the AJC. “But you’ll be able to solely watch and take a lot earlier than you turn into a involved citizen.”
Three days later, Allyn Stockton was sitting in homeroom at Rabun County High when a good friend confirmed him the newspaper article. He did not know his dad had been arrested.
“Dad’s rendition of it was in all probability totally different from actuality,” stated Allyn Stockton, an legal professional in Rabun County. “His factor was, ‘Hey, it is one factor to show the hoses on the folks on the sector. They turned them up on the folks within the stands. There had been aged folks up there they usually could not get out of the best way.'”
V.D. Stockton had been the realm’s district legal professional for greater than a decade, and his son’s cost of disturbing the peace was quickly dropped.
Many years later, a stepbrother despatched Allyn Stockton one other article that included a photograph historical past of the 1986 Auburn-Georgia sport, which continues to be remembered because the “Game Between the Hoses.” He noticed his dad on the sector in one of many images.
“I imply, he is on the sector,” Allyn Stockton stated. “One man’s acquired a billy stick and there is about three or 4 [cops] on him. My understanding was Dad wasn’t on the sector, however he is clearly getting the hell beat out of him on the sector.”
On Oct. 30, 2010, Lawrence Stockton died after watching Georgia lose to Florida 34-31 in additional time in Jacksonville, Florida. He walked again to a tailgating space exterior the stadium with buddies and collapsed from a coronary heart assault. He was 63.
ALLYN AND ROB shared their father’s love of soccer. Rob was an All-American security at Georgia Southern and is a member of the college’s athletics corridor of fame. Gunner’s mom, Sherrie, a counselor at Rabun County High, was among the many all-time scoring leaders in basketball at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina. Gunner’s sister, Georgia, performed basketball at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.
But Gunner is the perfect athlete within the household. When Gunner was about 6 years outdated, Rob requested Rabun County High assistant coach George Bobo if he’d begin working together with his son. Bobo had been a longtime highschool soccer coach in Thomasville, Georgia. His son, Mike, is at the moment Georgia’s offensive coordinator.
George Bobo moved to the north Georgia mountains on the urging of then-Rabun County High coach Sonny Smart, who’s Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart’s father.
When George Bobo noticed Gunner throw a soccer the primary time, he stated, “Holy crap, you’ll want to make him a quarterback.”
Stockton was the quarterback on groups that went 65-0 within the North Georgia Youth Football League. He did not lose a sport till the seventh grade at Rabun County Middle School. The subsequent season, he performed quarterback for the highschool JV crew as an eighth grader.
Stockton was a four-year starter at Rabun County High. As a senior in 2021, he accomplished 71.3% of his move makes an attempt for 4,134 yards with 55 touchdowns and one interception. He additionally ran for 956 yards with 15 scores. In 4 seasons, Stockton amassed 13,652 passing yards with 177 touchdowns and 4,372 dashing yards with 77 scores.
Stockton broke Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence‘s state report for profession landing passes and Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s state mark for profession complete yardage.
Stockton ran for seven extra touchdowns than present Detroit Lions tailback Jahmyr Gibbs, who had 70 at Dalton High School from 2017 to 2019.
When Stockton wasn’t enjoying sports activities, he tended to cattle, hunted deer and bears, and fished for trout in mountain streams. He fished and water skied at close by Lake Rabun, the place former Alabama coach Nick Saban and different coaches had trip properties. Just earlier than Stockton turned 16, he requested his mother and father for cows to placed on his grandmother’s farm. They gave him 4 cows and a bull for Christmas.
“The outdated farm had horrible fencing,” Rob Stockton stated. “Everybody within the county helped him and knew that they had been his once they acquired out of the fence. We would get 911 calls they usually’d say, ‘Your cows are out, put them up.’ Or folks would cease and simply put them up.”
Stockton as soon as went gator searching with a nuisance trapper in Florida, alongside together with his uncle Allyn, Bulldogs security Dan Jackson and former tight finish Cade Brock. He informed his household he wished to beat the Gators in Jacksonville as a result of that is the place his grandfather died.
BEFORE HIS JUNIOR season of highschool, Stockton dedicated to play at South Carolina, the place Mike Bobo was working as offensive coordinator. After Bobo left for Auburn, Stockton flipped to Georgia. By the time he enrolled, Bobo was working as an analyst for the Bulldogs.
Stockton redshirted at Georgia in 2022, then tried 19 passes in 4 video games final season. He had taken the sector in solely three video games earlier than he was thrust into motion towards the Longhorns.
“He has by no means stood on the sidelines in his total life,” Rob Stockton stated. “His objective this 12 months was to be the best backup and best supporter of Carson Beck that he might presumably be.”
Stockton’s time lastly got here towards Texas within the second half of the SEC championship. He led the Bulldogs on a 75-yard landing drive on his first possession, then threw a foul interception that helped the Longhorns tie the rating at 16 on Bert Auburn‘s 37-yard discipline objective with 18 seconds left in regulation.
With the Bulldogs trailing 19-16 in additional time, Stockton lowered his shoulder pads on the finish of a run on the Texas 4. He was met by Longhorns security Andrew Mukuba, whose jarring deal with despatched Stockton’s helmet flying.
Stockton held on to the ball for a primary down, and Trevor Etienne bumped into the top zone on the following play to provide the Bulldogs a victory.
“It was brutal to look at,” Rob Stockton stated. “Watching the replay of it on the scoreboard was worse than watching it stay. But seeing him pop again up, it did not trouble me a lot.”
Sherrie Stockton hasn’t watched a replay of the hit and “would not intend to.”
The Bulldogs may have had greater than three weeks to get Stockton able to play the Fighting Irish. Regardless of what occurs on the Sugar Bowl, his mother and father do not anticipate him to stray removed from his roots.
Stockton will nonetheless make the 74-mile drive from Athens again to Tiger in the identical 40-year-old truck his grandfather as soon as owned. He may even want a number of neighbors to push it off when it would not crank.
