In Gunner Stockton’s first season as Georgia football’s starting quarterback, hitting big plays downfield dropped off significantly from what the Bulldogs produced in 2024 and even more from 2023.
The offense’s top priority gearing up for the 2026 season is to be more explosive.
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“Spring ball is a great time to just take those shots,” wide receiver London Humphrey said. “The more practice you have, the more comfortable quarterbacks, receivers feel with that stuff.”
Georgia’s offense had 58 plays of 20 or more yards in 2025, down from 69 in 2024 and 85 in 2023, according to cfbstats.com. All of those came in 14 games under offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.
While runs of 20 or more yards ticked up from 10 in 2024 to 16 in 2025 as the Bulldogs emphasized running the ball better, big passing plays dropped noticeably.
Georgia ranked 56th in the nation of pass plays of 20 or more yards with 42, down from 8th in 2024 with 59 and 6th in 2023 with 65 when Carson Beck was starting quarterback. Pass plays of 30 or more yards also slid to 17 last season, down from 26 in 2024 and 29 in 2023 and passes of 40 or more yards fell to 4 from 9 in 2024 and 16 in 2023.
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“We’ve got to be more explosive offensively,” coach Kirby Smart said. “That does not fall solely on Gunner, but that does fall partially with him. We have to be able to be more explosive in the run game which some of that is blocking downfield or making people miss. Same thing in the pass game. We ran the ball better last year, so if we run the ball better, our play actions should be more explosive and more effective than they were. That comes from decision-making for him. That comes from protection from the front and making plays vertical down the field for the other guys.”
Georgia got the ball in Zachariah Branch’s hands often to the tune of a school-record 81 catches for 811 yards. Branch’s pass routes were 51.3% screens, according to NFL writer Doug Farrar, citing data from Sumner Sports.
Stockton was asked about cutting loose and taking more deep shots and not be overly concerned with avoiding interceptions.
“You can’t live in that way of like ‘Oh if I mess up,’” he said. “You’ve just got to play ball and do what you do.”
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He said this offseason and looked at the good and bad and wondered at times: “God, what was I thinking?”
Stockton finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting last season in a year in which he completed 69.7% of his passes with 24 touchdowns to 5 interceptions for 2,894 yards and 462 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
“If Gunner Stockton is the same quarterback he was a year ago, Georgia has no chance to win the natty,” former Georgia defensive end David Pollack said on the “Mac & Murray Show.” “I think it’s more personality-driven with Gunner Stockton than anything else. He’s a kid that doesn’t want to mess up. He’s a kid that wants to be perfect. …It’s just developing as a passer to take Georgia to the next level.”
So how does he become more explosive?
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“Getting the ball to the playmakers,” Stockton said. “It’s definitely per play just knowing where I need to go with the ball and getting it to them. When I get the ball to the playmakers, good things happen.”
Giving Stockton more time to throw would increase the chances of big plays.
Tight end Lawson Luckie says players at his position need to do their part “so we have time to take these shots.”
Smart said when Georgia’s staff studied last season, many of its explosive plays “came on unscheduled downs, unscheduled play; plays that maybe broke down, or something happened.”
“Then, he was able to scramble and make a play down the field,” Smart said of Stockton. “We’ve got to simulate those more for him and allow him to grow to make those plays. I think the number one step for him is take what the defense gives you, use the skill set of the players around you, and be more explosive.”
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Georgia had explosive players on offense in recent seasons with guys like Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Dillon Bell and Branch.
It remains to be seen if a wide receiver like Talyn Taylor or tight end Kaiden Prothro can be that kind of player this season.
“I think we need somebody to pop every year,” Smart said. “Who’s going to be explosive if it’s not them, right? When you look at explosive plays in college football, it’s your skill players, right? Have you ever seen a team be explosive without explosive players? I doubt it. …You want to get your explosive players touches. Sometimes that’s created through scheme, and sometimes it’s created through your personnel and your talent level.”
So how is Georgia doing this spring? Smart says with so many plays in practice he’s seen times when the offense is explosive and times when it isn’t.
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“We’re probably somewhere in the middle,” he said. “I don’t think being explosive is really complicated, right? You got to throw the ball. You got to catch the ball. You got to protect the passer. You got to block downfield. We’re going to get plenty of opportunities to be explosive. What do we have to do to see it? We have to execute it. You got to go do it, right? You have to beat somebody in some kind of way, whether it’s physically, schematically, fastball, perimeter. There’s like a million ways to be explosive. I think everybody in the country wants to be more explosive. That starts with us.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football offense top focus this spring is to be more explosive
