Georgia has its QB in Gunner Stockton, but does Kirby Smart have enough around him?

As a group of leaders on Georgia’s football team listened to a whitewater rafting guide in North Carolina explain the potential peril that awaited them during their offseason bonding excursion, the need for a leader to step up became apparent.

The guide explained that the front seat on the boat carried an elevated risk. Whoever took the spot at the vessel’s nose would be subjecting themselves to every bump and splash, along with a heightened risk of ejection.

To no one’s surprise, redshirt senior quarterback Gunner Stockton volunteered.

“I think that says a lot about who he is,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “He leads from the front. He takes hits, he embodies everything our program is about in toughness, in culture, in the love for his university.”

As Georgia embarks on its journey through the currents of the 2026 football season, there’s no doubt over whether the ship’s offensive captain is up to the task. The questions are about who is filling the boat with him.

Stockton is losing six of his top seven pass catchers from a 12-2 team that won the SEC Championship before a College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. 

Most notably, Zachariah Branch is now with the Atlanta Falcons after catching an SEC-best 81 passes, including a team-high six touchdown grabs.

Georgia ranked in the top 10 nationally in producing plays of 20+ yards from 2021-23. That stretch coincided with UGA going 42-2 and winning two national championships. But now the Bulldogs are seeking to reclaim their explosive gear with an unproven group of pass catchers.

It is the biggest question for a 2026 Georgia team that hasn’t reached a national semifinal since its consecutive titles in 2021 and 2022.

A year ago, the Bulldogs plucked Branch from the transfer portal with great fanfare. He was the No. 4 receiver of the transfer cycle, per 247Sports, and Stockton found him often. This time around, there is no obvious top target entering the fold.

While ex-Georgia Tech receiver Isiah Canion figures to be part of the equation after catching 33 balls for the Yellow Jackets as a sophomore last season, he isn’t teeming with the same WR1 potential that Branch sported entering last season. Georgia’s leading returning receiver is London Humphreys, a senior with 33 receptions over the past two seasons.

Pressed during his time at the podium on Tuesday about his confidence in the group, Smart offered a telling response.

“I’m just very thankful for people like you that keep questioning them,” he said. “Because the more you question them, the more it helps me motivate them. Everybody says we don’t listen to you guys. Well, the wide receivers are listening. They’ll have a new challenge issued based on your question.”

Smart is trying to put a chip on his receivers’ shoulders for a reason. He needs them to outperform expectations if Georgia is going to get the heat off fourth-year offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

While its vaunted defense stole the show in 2021 and 2022, Georgia also produced elite offenses under former coordinator Todd Monken’s direction. The Bulldogs ranked in the top-five nationally in offensive success rate in 2021 and 2022 and finished in the top-10 nationally in plays of 20+ yards in both seasons.

That elite offensive production continued in 2023 during Bobo’s first season. But it has been missing for the past two years.

Georgia did a masterful job of controlling the football in 2025, ranking third nationally in time of possession. But it dipped to 55th nationally in plays of 20+ yards and finished outside the top 50 in total offense for a second straight season.

While Georgia’s defense remains strong, it’s no longer the dominant force it was in 2021 and 2022. If the Bulldogs are going to win a third national title under Smart, they need more from their offense, and that reality has led to increased scrutiny of Bobo, a former UGA quarterback and longtime assistant under former Georgia head coach Mark Richt.

Amid what have become annual complaints from within the Georgia fan base over Bobo’s playcalling, Smart is doubling down with an approach he learned while working under Nick Saban at Alabama. 

“I learned from him that you evaluate things from the inside out,” Smart said. “I think that football intuition is one of my strengths. Knowing that, I know we’ve got the right offensive coordinator…I look at the production he’s had, the success he’s had, the team success, where he’s not worried about stats. He worries about winning football games. The way he coaches our players day-to-day is unmatched in this country.”

Nonetheless, equipping Bobo with more proven playmakers could have made his job easier in 2026. Stockton totaled 34 touchdowns while completing 69.7% of his passes during his first season as the program’s starter in 2025. He finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting and will be operating behind what’s projected to be a great offensive line. The Bulldogs also have proven backs in Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens in the fold.

Most of Georgia’s offense appears to be in great shape. There certainly shouldn’t be any concerns about the quarterback leading the charge.

But when the waves come, Stockton can’t do it alone. He’ll need reliable targets and teammates who can generate the sort of explosive plays that Georgia’s offense used to thrive upon.

Whether or not they emerge could very well determine the outcome of the Bulldogs’ 2026 journey and the fate of the man tasked with calling the plays.