Georgia Bulldogs starting quarterback Gunner Stockton is coming off of the worst game he has played in the red and black.
The senior from Rabun County, Georgia committed a career-high three turnovers, which was one of the driving forces in the Dawgs' upset loss to the Auburn Tigers in Sanford Stadium the other day. His final turnover, the fumble on Georgia’s last possession, led to the dagger. Auburn’s kicker was able to connect on a game-winning field goal on the following drive.
Stockton’s poor play caused a social media uprising, but maybe not for the reasons you may expect. The dual-threat weapon took off for a run on one of the first plays of the game and took on a big hit. He was slow to get up, but stayed on the field. The officials had to send him to the sideline, saying that he needed medical attention.
While Stockton was being evaluated, Ryan Puglisi helped get Georgia to the red zone. A few plays later, No. 14 trotted back out on the field, and the Dawgs scored a touchdown on their opening possession.
In the midst of Stockton’s bad game, fans speculated that he suffered a concussion on the opening possession. Kirby Smart said that it was a shoulder stinger after the game, not a concussion. He also didn't think it affected Stockton much the rest of the game.
On Tuesday, he met with the media again, and he doubled down on what he said.
“He has not had any concussion symptoms. I can only go off of what medical people tell me,” Smart said. “Looking him in the eye and talking to him, there was no issue on any of that. Now, he did have a stinger in his shoulder, and that can affect you. That’s hard.”
Smart also affirmed his confidence in Stockton after the game as well. He said that he would put the ball in Stockton’s hands again, despite the costly fumble. Then, on Tuesday, he backed up his quarterback’s play this season.
“I think everyone’s making speculations, but the guy played really good against Alabama. He could have very easily had two interceptions,” Smart said. “He had one and the other was debatable. He played pretty well and had two interceptions. He still did some really good things in that game, and I don’t think that making it about a head injury when there’s no symptoms is realistic.”
So, Smart is not having it with the concussion speculations. Stockton suffered a shoulder stinger.
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