When Gunner Stockton at age nine, he received a photo that currently hangs on his bedroom wall from now-South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who wears his football uniform in Georgia on the autographed picture, signed “I hope I will coach you one day.”
He will.
Stockton blames Bobo and the Gamecocks, announcing his plans Thursday night.
Next to the Tiger (Ga.) Raburn County standout picture of Bobo on the wall is an autographed photo of Connor Shaw, the winning quarterback in South Carolina history, who now happens to be on staff in Columbia as Director of Football Student-Athlete Development. That one “thanks for supporting me always.” Stockton carries No. 14 just like Shaw and along the way hopes to have at least the same amount of success that that number has in the SEC.
With that said, it’s no surprise that Stockton is no. 1 for Sil Muschamp and the Gamecocks in the 2022 class as the 247Sports Composite five-star recruit and no. 1 ranked passer for dual-threat chose for South Carolina to play across Georgia and a whole host of other offerings.
There are apparently enough ties to the Bobo and Shaw family that helped the Gamecocks secure this enormous promise. Bobo’s father George, a coach of Hall of Fame High School in the state of Georgia, first told Stockton’s father Rob when Gunner was seven years old that the young boy would become quarterback. Lee of Shaw is also a legendary high school coach in Peach State who coached the older Stockton in high school, and the younger Stockton for his first season, before handing over the keys to his other son Jaybo.
“After Gunner’s first varsity game, which was a scrimmage game, Coach Shaw sent me a text and I still have the text that said ‘your son will be the best quarterback I’ve ever coached.’ “That came from a father who had sons Connor and Jaybo, hit me like a ton of bricks and was an unlikely compliment. I realized there was something special here.”
Stockton had a special freshman season that earned MaxPreps Freshman Player of the Year Honors for 2,917 yards and 34 touchdowns with 709 yards rushing and 17 more scores on the ground. The following campaign he had a year as productive as any other quarterback in completing nearly 72 percent of his passes for 3,473 yards and 43 touchdowns to just six interceptions with another 1,126 yards on the ground paying 19 times dirt.
The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Stockton was biting for last season’s season opener and had the Bremen game on the calendar after losing to the same team in his first varsity start in September. in front of. In a 34-13 win, Stockton threw for 211 yards on just eight completions with another 254 yards rushing and four touchdowns combined to get the Wildcats out and roll in 2019.
“I think that game just indicates his competitiveness and who he is,” said Rob Stockton. In addition to being a father, he is also the defense coordinator for Raburn County. ‘He has a very quiet and humble competitiveness. He was overwhelmed with the way his high school career began with a loss. That put him right after 11 wins and he could not wait to come back for some redemption. “
“He sticks out what he could do that night,” Jaybo Shaw sei.
The general view no. 24 in the 247Sports Composite had many great nights as a sophomore. The high school game is already moving in slow motion for the future Gamecock still with two seasons to go before he even sets foot in Columbia.
“South Carolina gets an unbelievable person in the first place,” Shaw said. ‘It’s someone who will know the people in Columbia and at the university and in the city what they can expect, and they can look for a man who does it the right way and stands for the right things. Of course, he is an unbelievable talent with a ton of God-given ability, but he works his tail off in trying to improve his game every day. ‘
A creative and accurate player with a hose for an arm, Stockton will at least push a South Carolina chamber upon his arrival that will include two other former Top100 consensus recruits at the position in Ryan Hilinski en Luke Doty.
“At a very young age, even in high school, when he picked up a football and threw it, it turned out differently,” Shaw said. He’s known Gunner since his early quarterback dry diapers. ‘It’s hard to explain and it’s different. He continued to mature and continued to grow. There is no throwing Gunner Stockton can not make on the football field. ”
“The kid can do so much,” added Tony Ballard, Stockton’s private quarterback coach since eighth grade. “Enormous poverty. You can watch his movie and you can see that he can make any throws, whether he’s on a platform or off platform, and the thing I love about the kid is that he’s not afraid to put his head in and just to go. ‘
When Connor Shaw was under center in 2011 through 2013, South Carolina won 33 games, a stretch that saw them finish three consecutive years in the Top 10 of the AP Poll. Stockton sees similar potential for himself along the way.
“The stats and individual goods are great, but if that young man puts on the pads and grabs a helmet, he just wants to win,” he said. Jaybo Shaw sei. “His competitive character brings out the best in him and everyone around him.”
“It will be nice to see a No. 14 jersey with the Stockton name on the back that represents it as Connor would represent it,” the older Stockton added.
“He has moxie,” Ballard said. “He does not have the most talented team in his class, but man, he does a very good job of bringing his support cast to the next level.”
247Sport National Analyst Charles Power compares the Stockton game to that of Sam Howell who took college football by storm as a true newborn last fall near North Carolina.
‘I think the first thing with Gunner Stockton look at his ability to play and how productive he is in all facets as a high school player, “Power began. You talk about someone who is almost the best player almost every time he steps on the field at the high school level and really dominant from a standard standpoint of production and output as a productive passerby and who is also for runs more than 1000 yards. I think he had a chance to develop a lot of playing skills, a style in the backyard that could help him on the next level, and you move on to his physical skills, after seeing him in person, is he is not your conventional quarterback from a stature standpoint. He is shorter, stockier, but he has a big arm and I think he has a lot of confidence in his arm. Kind of has a gunslinger mentality and he will try it like a brick wall. Definitely going with a ton of speed.
‘Bring a two year to him Luke Doty and three years thereafter Ryan Hilinski, this recent run of recruiting quarterbacks the last four cycles for South Carolina is one of if not the best stretch of quarterback recruiting in school history. ”
Rob Stockton says his son is in “peace” with his decision, with Bobo the driving force behind the call.
“We were just really excited for him. It was a collective effort of his comfort growing in the fact that he knew the offensive coordinator had been around him and had seen him since he was a young boy and knew and had his strengths and weaknesses. continue to be faithful to let him commit and who he believes he can be. “
