Gunner Stockton Background

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ALLYN AND ROB shared their father's love of football. Rob was an All-American safety at Georgia Southern and is a member of the school's athletics hall of fame. Gunner's mother, Sherrie, a counselor at Rabun County High, was among the all-time scoring leaders in basketball at Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina. Gunner's sister, Georgia, played basketball at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina.

But Gunner is the best athlete in the family. When Gunner was about 6 years old, Rob asked Rabun County High assistant coach George Bobo if he'd start working with his son. Bobo had been a longtime high school football coach in Thomasville, Georgia. His son, Mike, is currently Georgia's offensive coordinator.

George Bobo moved to the north Georgia mountains at the urging of then-Rabun County High coach Sonny Smart, who is Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart's father.

When George Bobo saw Gunner throw a football the first time, he said, "Holy crap, you need to make him a quarterback."

Stockton was the quarterback on teams that went 65-0 in the North Georgia Youth Football League. He didn't lose a game until the seventh grade at Rabun County Middle School. The next season, he played quarterback for the high school JV team as an eighth grader.

Stockton was a four-year starter at Rabun County High. As a senior in 2021, he completed 71.3% of his pass attempts for 4,134 yards with 55 touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 956 yards with 15 scores. In four seasons, Stockton accumulated 13,652 passing yards with 177 touchdowns and 4,372 rushing yards with 77 scores.

Stockton broke Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence's state record for career touchdown passes and Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson's state mark for career total yardage.

Stockton ran for seven more touchdowns than current Detroit Lions tailback Jahmyr Gibbs, who had 70 at Dalton High School from 2017 to 2019.

When Stockton wasn't playing sports, he tended to cattle, hunted deer and bears, and fished for trout in mountain streams.

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