Kirby Smart strongly defends Gunner Stockton following lackluster passing performance for Georgia Bulldogs against Austin Peay
Gunner Stockton struggled to create big plays for Georgia, but Kirby Smart isn’t worried
The Georgia Bulldogs did defeat Austin Peay 28-6 on Saturday, but it wasn’t pretty. Beyond just the weather delays, Georgia couldn’t maintain any momentum on offense for much of the game, scoring just 14 points against a terrible FCS team before halftime.
The offensive line perhaps struggled a bit early on, but most of the blame clearly rested on the shoulders of Gunner Stockton and his complete unwillingness to throw the ball hardly beyond the line of scrimmage. Regardless of Stockton’s lackluster passing performance, Kirby Smart strongly defended his quarterback following the game.
Kirby Smart still confident in Gunner Stockton and wants to see practice translate to the game
Stockton put up a measly 227 yards on 34 pass attempts, good for just 6.7 yards per attempt. He targeted his receivers on average an embarrassingly low 3.2 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That might cut it against Austin Peay, but it won’t once Georgia begins SEC play. Kirby Smart was asked about Stockton’s lack of down field passing and he had this to say:
“Well, I actually need to see what he does in practice in the game. That’s the biggest thing, because we took a lot of periods last week to do throwing periods with rush, and do pressure pass periods–where you have to play in the pocket and win [from] the pocket. We did a lot of that last week in practice–a lot of play action shots…He did a really nice job of those things all week. He’s just got to continue to grow and get better, and get comfortable with it.”
Apparently Georgia’s been practicing plenty of vertical passing and drills against pressure (where he struggled on Saturday again), but it’s not translating in the game. Stockton was clearly playing uncomfortable and it was noted by a handful of media members in the press conference following the game. Coach Smart expanded on a specific area where would like to see Gunner improve, but also addressed the fact that Stockton was simply taking what the defenses were giving him this week and last:
“We’ve got to find a ways to be explosive. You’ve got to be able to throw the ball down field and take shots and that’s probably the toughest thing that I’m most disappointed in…[Gunner] does a great job in practice. It’s more about how people are playing us right now. There’s been two weeks in a row that there’s just a ton of cushion. When people play you like that you’ve got to take what they give you. We had some really easy throws–and we call them an extension of the run game. When you play in our league, those aren’t there. Nobody’s giving you that. So when they don’t give you that, then you’ve got a chance to hit your shots. It’ll be interesting to see as [defenders] creep up in our league if are we able to throw it beyond them.”
This marks two weeks now that Gunner Stockton is not seeing the field well. Kirby Smart can defend him all he wants, but there objectively have been at least a handful of occasions where a huge passing play was there to make down the field and Stockton just took an easy underneath pass instead.
The on-site media continued to press on how “rattled” Stockton looked, as they put it, but Smart insisted that was not the case. There were a couple drops coach Smart noted, and a few other miscues that contributed to Stockton’s less than perfect performance as well, but the truth is Georgia just needs more out of their quarterback.
Hopefully Stockton continues adding layers to his passing game so coach Smart doesn’t have to keep defending his quarterback, but the Bulldogs don’t have any time to wait. They play Tennessee next week and Stockton will have to pass the ball down the field against the Vols, for sure.
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