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Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer shares thoughts on Georgia QB Gunner Stockton

On3 imageby: Jake Rowe09/18/25JakeMRowe
Gunner Stockton Georgia
Sep 13, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton (14) jumps over Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Edrees Farooq (15) during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alan Poizner-Imagn Images

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer will have his second opportunity to coach against Georgia on September 27. Both The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide are currently enjoying a bye week, but they’ll lock horns in eight days inside Sanford Stadium.

When DeBoer leads his one-loss team into Athens, he’ll be seeing a different quarterback than when Georgia came to Tuscaloosa last season. Carson Beck was behind center last September as the Bulldogs fell behind 28-0, battled back to take a 34-33 lead with 19 points in the fourth quarter, and eventually fell 41-34.

It’s Gunner Stockton‘s offense now, especially after the redshirt junior completed 23 of 31 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns, plus one rushing score, in a 44-41 win at Tennessee. DeBoer sees a guy who has more big-game experience than most signal callers who’ve started just four games, and one who bigs some different things to the table.

“He’s played in some big games in just a short amount of time,” DeBoer said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference. “When you look at the end of last year, and this last week in particular, he’s done a nice job just managing the offense and then making plays when he needs to, throwing the ball down the field, finding his matchups and then keeping plays alive with his feet. He really, I think, adds a dimension to their offense because of that. 

“So, I think they’re doing a good job utilizing his skill set and the offensive personnel that are around him, and that’s a credit to Georgia’s staff.”

If you look beyond the numbers, what Stockton did in Knoxville is even more impressive. After Tennessee took a 7-0 lead with an impressive eight-play, 75-yard yard drive to start the game, Stockton took the snap on Georgia’s first play and delivered a perfect ball to Colbie Young for a 45-yard pickup to silence raucous crowd.

Near the end of the first quarter, with UGA trailing 21-7, Kirby Smart elected to go for it on 4th and 3 from his own 48-yard line, and Stockton connected with Zachariah Branch for a 13-yard gain to keep the sticks moving. Those two players linked up again two plays later for a 36-yard touchdown.

Then there was the play that many are talking about this week, a perfectly thrown 28-yard touchdown to London Humphreys on 4th and 6 in the fourth quarter that pulled the Bulldogs to within two points of Tennessee at 38-36. Georgia tied the game at 38 with the two-point try and won the game in the first overtime.

Stockton did all of that while playing behind two different right guards and three different right tackles, battling a turnstile situation at the latter position for the first three-plus quarters. The matchup will be Georgia’s eighth with Alabama since Kirby Smart took over as head coach. It’ll be the first to take place in Athens.

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