ATLANTA – They told the team midway through the half. Georgia’s players went through their normal routine, and it was pretty normal. Leave the game behind. I need a big second half. Standard procedure this year.

So this time the story needed a new twist. Some players felt it when they saw Carson Beck disappear into the training room with his right arm dangling. Then Gunner Stockton was called into the middle of the room and everyone knew.

“Midway through halftime, they (the coaches) told us,” tailback Trevor Etienne said. “They called Gunner, brought him into the middle of the offensive and told him: We need you. We stand behind you. Let’s get it done.”

Shooter Stockton. The player who led No. 5 Georgia in its 22-19 comeback win in overtime against No. 2 Texas.

If you had asked the average fan, perhaps more than the average, to name four quarterbacks involved in the SEC Championship, they would have known Beck and the two Texas quarterbacks, Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. If they had to find someone else, Perhaps They would have named Jaden Rashada, Georgia’s fourth quarterback, better known for his recruiting saga and lawsuit against Florida.

But because this is college football, because this is Georgia’s wildest season in a long time, the most consequential quarterback would be Gunner Stockton, of all people.

“I just want to show everyone that I can play,” Stockton said last April.

GUNNER STOCKTON IS AN idiot 😤🐶 @GeorgiaFootball pic.twitter.com/RBcjvFWfK3

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) December 8, 2024

He didn’t come out of nowhere. This is not a walk-in Stetson Bennett story. Stockton was a four-star recruit from Tiger, Georgia, who committed to South Carolina as a junior in high school and developed a close relationship with then-Gamecocks offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. But then Bobo moved on, first to Auburn and then to Georgia, and Stockton eventually followed him, although he got involved when Todd Monken was Georgia’s offensive coordinator. (Monken, now with the Baltimore Ravens, was at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday wearing a Georgia cap.)

When he arrived at Georgia, Stockton spent his freshman season leading the scout team, often mimicking the other team’s dual-threat quarterback. Last year, Stockton moved up to third on the depth chart and saw action at the end of three early blowouts. After Brock Vandagriff was traded, he moved up to No. 2 in the Orange Bowl. In the stunning win against Florida State, Stockton came on for Beck and threw two touchdown passes.

This year was supposed to be an opportunity for more spice…and then came Georgia’s cardio season. Stockton only caught passes against Tennessee Tech and UMass. He watched Beck have a season full of ups and downs and then setbacks.

Then he saw Beck lying in midfield, surrounded by trainers, at the end of the first half on Saturday. He saw Beck stand up and hold his right arm. And at halftime, he was told he would enter the game trailing 6-3, having gained a whopping 75 yards on offense.

Things looked bleak for Georgia.

In fact, it was poetic.

In some ways, this remains a haunted building for the Bulldogs. In back-to-back championship games – the 2017 season and the 2018 SEC season – they lost two straight games to Alabama as the backup quarterback – first Tua Tagovailoa, then Jalen Hurts – led comeback victories.

“I was in the stands at that game. That’s great,” said Dan Jackson, now a fifth-year senior safety for the Bulldogs. So yes, Jackson had a twist of fate, especially since he knew what was coming with Stockton.

“Gunner Stockton is a mate. That was shown tonight. Now the whole world knows about him,” Jackson said.

When people across the country googled Gunner Stockton, he led Georgia on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, doing part of it with his arm and part with his feet. The first touchdown drive of this year’s SEC Championship, led by Gunner Stockton.

“When he came into the game, it became clear to everyone that this is the new juice we need to go into the second half with,” Georgia guard Tate Ratledge said. “Obviously it’s never a good thing when the starting quarterback leaves, but I think it was important for everyone in the locker room to know that everyone believed in him.”

A few more drives deep into Texas territory that resulted in field goals reinforced that belief. Then the doubt: Heading into the third period, Stockton clung to a 16-13 lead, faced a jailbreak blitz and tried to put it away. Instead, he threw it directly at a defender. It would have been a pick-six if tight end Lawson Luckie hadn’t sidelined the Longhorn.

Georgia’s defense, which often bent but rarely broke in this game, once again held in the red zone. The game went into overtime (for the second week in a row in Georgia’s case), where the defense once again held firm. Stockton and the offense took the field back, and Bobo put the game in Stockton’s hands: a first-down completion for nine yards, a third-down conversion, a second-down scramble up the middle to the 4, where Stockton The hit was so hard that his helmet flew off – but he held on to the ball.

Now it was time for the final game, a chance for Georgia to claim an unlikely victory. And as the Georgia players huddled together, they looked up and saw…Beck.

Stockton had to miss the game by rule because his helmet fell off. So the Georgia coaches had Beck take a few quick practice snaps and then sent Beck and his still dangling right arm onto the field.

“I can’t say what he said, but it was funny,” Etienne said. “He just said, ‘Let’s do this, boys.'”

That’s what they did. Beck handed it to Etienne, who played it in, and Georgia was the SEC champion.

That team, which narrowly won at Kentucky, trailed 28-0 at Alabama, lost by 18 at Ole Miss, beat Mississippi State by just 10 and needed eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech. This team just won the SEC Championship and the bye in the first round of the College Football Playoff that almost certainly comes with it.

What’s it like, linebacker Jalon Walker was asked, to sit here knowing you won the SEC after all of this? Walker paused, then took a dramatic deep breath.

“Let’s go. A little relief,” Walker said. “We have been working towards this opportunity all year long. Of the doubts and the haters that have excluded us all year long. When we lose, we just know that we are a resilient team, that we don’t listen to distractions and that we stay focused on what we need to do. And you see our result.”

Head coach Kirby Smart referred to his team as the “Never Say Die, Dawgs” during the postgame celebration. Stockton, who was unavailable for regular post-game media, told ABC: “That’s pretty great.” Depending on the MRI results Beck receives, he may be able to work on his estimates over the next few weeks. Whether it’s time for Beck to recover or for Stockton to prepare, Georgia now has at least until Jan. 1, when it plays in the Sugar Bowl, home of one of the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals, will face an opponent yet to be named.

The offense might ultimately be better off with Beck, who has the stronger arm, is a few inches taller and is much more experienced. Then again, this isn’t quite the only time Georgia will have to turn to a small-town quarterback with some running ability to find a way to win.

“He is a gunner. He’s that guy,” Etienne said. “I expected nothing less from him. I’m proud of him.”

Perhaps it was the final twist in a wild season for Georgia. Maybe it was just a one day story. Anyway, it was quite a story: Gunner Stockton, of all people, came to the rescue.

Jackson, the chief security officer, summed it up best: “He was ready for the moment.”

(Photo of Gunner Stockton racing past Michael Taaffe: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)