Georgia has spent the last five seasons living near the top of college football, but the message from David Pollack is simple: the Bulldogs still need better quarterback play if they want to get back to the mountaintop.
Pollack, the former ESPN analyst and Georgia linebacker, laid it out plainly on a recent episode of his "See Ball Get Ball" podcast.
"If Gunner Stockton doesn't get better, they (Georgia) won't win a championship," Pollack said. "He has a year more of experience, he's got to step up, just like a lot of people around him will have to step up.
Throwing the football, you saw moments where he learned to negotiate the rush better and not step into things. You saw growth, but he didn't finish at his best."
That kind of blunt assessment comes with context. Georgia already climbed to the top of the sport in 2021 by ending a 41-year national championship drought, then did it again in 2022 to become the first program to repeat since Alabama a decade earlier. But since that second title, the Bulldogs have fallen short of another championship run.
An SEC Championship loss to Alabama in 2023 kept Georgia out of the final four-team College Football Playoff, and the last two seasons have both ended with Sugar Bowl defeats.
Stockton now sits at the center of the next push. He was a blue-chip recruit, and while he is bigger than Stetson Bennett, both quarterbacks fit the mold Georgia has leaned on in recent years: smaller passers who are willing to use their legs.
The numbers make the comparison even more interesting. Stockton’s 2025 passing line - 2,894 yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions - looks a lot like Bennett’s 2021 production of 2,862 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
The difference, though, is what surrounded Bennett. He was operating behind an offense packed with NFL talent, including Brock Bowers, a generational tight end. Georgia’s defenses in those years were also among the most dominant modern college football has seen.
This year’s Bulldogs are built a little differently, but there is still plenty returning. Georgia kept most of its 2025 pieces in the trenches and in the run game, though the receiver room has some new faces. London Humphreys is back, while Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion and redshirt freshman Talyn Taylor are expected to handle most of the targets.
At tight end, Georgia remains dangerous. Lawson Luckie is back as one of the top players at the position in the country, and Kaiden Prothro is expected to be one of the SEC’s most impactful freshmen.
The defense should also be a strength again. Georgia is bringing back the vast majority of its 2025 production, and while matching the 2021 unit is a tall order, the retention gives the Bulldogs a chance to field one of the toughest defenses in college football in 2026.
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