What they’re saying about QB Gunner Stockton, South Carolina’s new five-star recruit
What started as a disastrous day for South Carolina football — with the loss of star freshman running back MarShawn Loyd to a torn ACL — ended with a recruiting triumph, as Gunner Stockton, a five-star quarterback recruit in the class of 2022, announced his commitment to Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks.
Stockton, a native of Tiger, Georgia, still has two more seasons of high school football to play. But as of right now, he’s one of the best players to ever pledge to South Carolina in the recruiting rankings era.
Per 247Sports’ Composite rankings that factors in all networks, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound Stockton surpasses Stephen Garcia (class of 2007) as USC’s highest-rated QB commit. He also checks in at No. 7 among Carolina’s all-time recruits and is the highest-rated player not from the Palmetto State to commit to South Carolina.
Garcia took to social media Thursday night to congratulate Stockton on his decision, simply saying, “Well done lad.”
And Stockton’s decision made waves on a national level as well — he already had offers from a host of blue blood programs, including in-state Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State and Southern Cal, among others.
Chad Simmons, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals, called Stockton “elite,” while Rusty Mansell, a recruiting analyst for 247Sports, said he is “one of the best QBs in the country regardless of class.”
247Sports director of recruiting Steve Wiltfong noted that Stockton “threw for 3,472 yards and 43 TDs last fall with 1,179 yards rushing and 16 more scores.”
Ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat passer in his class by 247Sports, Stockton has personal connections with the Gamecocks — he has known offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and his father, George, for years and his high school coach, Jaybo Shaw, is the brother of USC quarterback great and current staff member Connor Shaw.
Jaybo Shaw, in a radio interview Thursday night with SportsTalk SC, discussed his player’s commitment.
“He’s a very special player, man. He is a once in a lifetime type player that I probably won’t get to coach for the rest of my career, more than likely,” Shaw told SportsTalk. “But as good of a player he is, he’s an even better person, a better teammate, comes from an unbelievable family. I know that the South Carolina Gamecock nation and Columbia, South Carolina will be able to rally around him and know what to expect and I think any time your quarterback can give that to a community, a city, a university, that’s all positive.”
And despite the relatively early timing of Stockton’s commitment, Shaw said he was confident there would be no changing his mind, saying his quarterback is not particularly fond of the recruiting process and wanted to make a decision.
As for early comparisons between Stockton and Connor Shaw, Jaybo Shaw said there are some similarities between their games.
“The two things that are most common between the two — all they care about is winning. That’s it. It don’t matter the stats, the individual awards. Any time that the both of them are competing, all they want to do is win.” Jaybo Shaw said. “And I think that’s the best thing you could ask for in a quarterback is that. Stats are great and all that, but at the end of the day the win-loss record, how many wins can you bring for your university, for your city, that’s what really matters
“And the second one being, y’all remember Connor, he played every snap like it was fourth-and-one. Every time he touched a football, it was fourth-and-one, and the same with Gunner. It doesn’t matter who we play, when we play him. If he’s putting on a helmet and grabbing a football, man, it’s gonna be intense and just a lot of fun to coach.”
