ATLANTA – Shooter Stockton woke up Saturday morning and had no idea what role he would play.

But when Carson Beck When he went down with an “upper extremity injury” on the final play of the first half, Stockton suddenly found himself in a situation he never thought would happen.

All the Rabun County native did was take command early in the third quarter and lead the Bulldogs to a go-ahead score before leading the game-winning drive in overtime and beating Texas 22-19 to win the SEC -championship led.

“I think Gunner did a great job of pushing himself as hard as he needed to,” right-back Tate Ratledge said. “His coming into the game, I think, made everyone realize that we could do something new in the second half. “I think everyone did a great job of that.”

Give Stockton what he deserves.

Before Saturday, Stockton’s only other extensive action came in the second half of last season’s Orange Bowl win over Florida State.

There was a lot more at stake on Saturday.

“Incredible. The players believe in Gunner. They love Gunner. The juice he brought and the passion and energy. He lives with three out of four or these guys, Drew (Bobo)And Oscar (Delp)some of them. It gave us an extra boost of energy. They were on fire. They tried to keep him calm,” Smart said. “I felt the attacking team did a good job helping Gunner shape the game the way they played it. He did a good job. I mean, the kid played absolutely hard. He hasn’t been able to play much this year. This is the hardest part. You have no chance of playing these guys. The Florida State game is probably the game he played the most.”

After Texas settled for a field goal in overtime to take a 19-16 lead, the Stockton and Georgia offense came into action and had a chance to win the game.

After a first-down pass to Oscar Delp, the Bulldogs faced a second-and-8 when Beck took off and lowered his head to advance to the 5. During the play, Texas’ Andrew Mukuba lowered his head and collided with Stockton, knocking his helmet off.

No targeting was called, forcing Stockton to the sideline in favor of Beck, who was unable to throw.

His right arm appeared to be dangling, but Beck was able to pass the ball to Trevor Etienne, who dove into the end zone and scored the game-winning goal.

“No, I can’t remember what game it was this year. We had a target somewhere where a helmet came off and the officers came over and told us that if the aim was confirmed the boy could stay inside and he had to come.” “It immediately came to my mind, “When it happened with Gunner, I just assumed he could stay in because I thought I was aiming and then I saw this.” Replay and I realized he was leading with his shoulder and we went with one having to take a snap from another quarterback.”

Freshmen Ryan Puglisi was originally intended for the invasion.

“We were willing to use Ryan Puglisi and he knows the system,” Smart said. “He knows what to do. But we felt like, first of all, the offensive line coach called and said, “Carson can take a snap, that’s no problem.”

Ratledge laughed that he didn’t realize Beck was in the game until the final snap.

“I didn’t notice him until I turned around and called him to play,” Ratledge said. “When we got the piece, everyone saw it was Carson, everyone was pretty excited in the group. In the end it was the one who won.”