Shooter Stockton was then thrown into the fire Georgia QB1 Carson Beck injured his arm on the final play of the first half in Saturday’s SEC Championship win Texas.

Stockton would not finish the second half unscathed as he took several hard hits from the Longhorns pass rushers in the second half. One in particular occurred on a quarterback run in which Stockton was hit so hard that his helmet fell off and his leg buckled under his body.

After the game, head coach Kirby Smart said Stockton did not have a concussion or symptoms.

“No, I think he’s fine,” Smart said. “He was ready to get back in the game. We won the game because of his loss. So he was fine.”

Stockton finished the game 12 of 16 for 71 yards and one interception in the first half. Smart didn’t seem to open the playbook too much for the inexperienced QB, but did everything asked of him and the result was a huge SEC Championship win for his Bulldogs.

“I think Gunner did a great job and stepped up the way he needed to,” Smart continued. “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.”

The Georgia native was a former four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting class and a top-10 quarterback this cycle. After playing behind Beck the last two seasons, he threw just 51 passes in his career heading into the CFP. Despite his small sample size, he has a 72.5% completion rate and over 200 passing yards in three appearances this season.

Of course, the win gives the Bulldogs a bye into the first round of the College Football Playoff. That gives Beck an extra week to recover from what Smart called an “upper extremity injury.” If he can’t go, the Bulldogs have a few weeks for Stockton to prepare as UGA’s QB1.