Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton is set to make the first start of his career after primary starter Carson Beck suffered a likely season-ending elbow injury in the SEC Championship Game win over Texas. The Bulldogs open the College Football Playoff in the Sugar Bowl against the winner of the first-round matchup between 7-seed Notre Dame vs. 10-seed Indiana.
Stockton was a member of the Class of 2022 and is in his third year on campus after backing up Beck and Stetson Bennett IV during his collegiate career. In eight appearances, Stockton has completed 72.5% of his passes for 354 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Here's what you need to know about Georgia's likely new starting quarterback, including his record-setting career at the Georgia high school level.
SEC champion
When Stockton was inserted into the SEC Championship Game against then-No. 2 Texas, the Bulldogs were losing 6-3 and mustered a paltry 54 yards in the first half, including negative rushing yardage. When Stockton entered the game, the offense came to life.
Stockton led a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive headlined by passes of 18 and 19 yards to Arian Smith and Lawson Luckie. His final line didn't jump off the page: 12 of 16 for 71 yards, 8 yards rushing and an interception. That said, four of his six drives ended in points, including a game-winning touchdown drive in overtime.
In his only other extended time against an FBS opponent, Stockton came off the bench in a 63-3 beatdown of Florida State and threw for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Record-breaking star
Stockton played high school ball at Rabun County High School in Tiger, Georgia. Rabun County is the farthest northeast county in the state, near the Tennessee border. The entire county has a population of less than 17,000 and played in Class 2A, the second-smallest classification of Georgia high school football. Former Georgia and active Falcons tight end Charlie Woerner also played at Rabun County.
Stockton torched the Georgia high school record book, setting all-time records for passing touchdowns (177), passing yards (13,652) and rushing touchdowns (77). He passed Clemson legends Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence to capture the state records.
After his legendary run, Stockton was rated the No. 7 quarterback and No. 110 overall player in the Class of 2022 Top247. The top two quarterbacks in the class -- Penn State's Drew Allar and Clemson's Cade Klubnik -- are also leading College Football Playoff teams.
Baseball background
Stockton's legendary high school career was not limited to the gridiron. In fact, he was a standout baseball player who earned two All-America nods from MaxPreps as a sophomore and junior for his performance before enrolling at Georgia.
In his lone full season as a sophomore, Stockton hit .344 with 17 runs and 12 RBIs in 23 games. He slammed three homers in only six games and 22 plate appearances before his junior season was cut short by the pandemic. His football ability was too much, though, and he focused on perfecting his quarterback ability instead.
Longtime ties
Despite growing up in the state of Georgia and catching the attention of All-America games as a freshman in high school, Stockton didn't originally pick Georgia. In fact, Stockton originally committed to South Carolina out of high school. When Will Muschamp and his staff were fired, he reopened his process and ended up at Georgia.
Luckily, the transition to Georgia was not hard for him. The offensive coordinator that he committed to at South Carolina, Mike Bobo, now holds the same position at Georgia. Even more amusing, Muschamp eventually landed at Georgia, where he now works as a defensive analyst.
Stockton's connection to the Bobos actually goes even further back. Mike's dad, George, was an assistant coach at Rabun County until 2005 and was around the Stockton family through Gunner's high school career.
