Josh Heupel did not have to wait for the 2025 season to lift the curtain and feel the pressure. Well, the first half of this year, Heupel walked through choppy waters. Thanks to their quarterback dilemma, ft. Nico Iamaleava. So, they walked into the 2025 season with a lot of confusion. After all, Heupel now counts on Joey Aguilar, who is yet to prove himself in Tennessee after losing his lustre at Appalachian State. “I think the quarterback situation has forced us to dive into other things, and we see, man, this part might not be close to where it was last year. This is going to be tough,” Cole Cubelic came with a reality check. But for now, Heupel is losing his sleep not for his own QB, but Georgia QB Gunner Stockton. 

The Volunteers will be facing off against Kirby Smart’s squad on Sunday, September 14. While Heupel must be cooking up the best defensive scheme to stunt Stockton’s rage, Smart has kept Stockton on edge. To the head coach, the quarterback still needs some wear and tear before he gets perfect. Now, what’s Heupel and co.’s plan to contain Stockton?   

On September 8, Heupel took part in a press conference, where the topic of the upcoming Sunday game came up. After all, there is not much study material in Tennessee’s hands when it comes to Stockton. The Georgia quarterback has limited experience in his first full year as a starter. But Heupel could not stop praising the opponent’s QB, “He’s played really well. Look at him this year, he’s taken great care of the football. He’s been accurate with it.”

Playing against Marshall and Austin Peay combined, Stockton came up with 417 yards and two touchdowns. Cut to last year, in five games played, he threw for 440 yards. So, definitely there has been a glow-up. And Heupel got it right, “He’s got the ability to be extremely mobile and extend and create plays on his own. You’ve got to do a great job of applying pressure, but still bottling him up inside of the pocket, not letting him get outside of it. And if they choose he certainly can be a part of the quarterback run game as well, and try to tilt the numbers. So huge test for us defensively.”

Stockton has the ability to dodge pressure, keep plays alive, and even make something out of broken situations. This means Tennessee’s defense can’t just focus on covering receivers. They have to bring an equally strong plan to the table to account for Stockton’s scrambling ability. Heupel warns that Georgia could design plays where Stockton runs intentionally (not just scrambles). These might oomph up their offense with Stockton becoming the extra runner. So, Heupel’s defense has to be ready for both designed runs and improvisation. But Smart is still not 100% sure about his quarterback.

Kirby Smart’s next step plan for Gunner Stockton

Before Georgia’s face-off against Austin Peay, Kirby Smart shared that he wants Gunner Stockton to repeat his Week 1 feat against Marshall. On the Bulldogs Live, the Georgia head coach shared, “I think if Gunner had not been our quarterback last game. Would we have gotten sacked? Quite possibly. He extended plays. He turned some really, really possibly poor negative plays into positive plays, which I think is what the elite quarterbacks [do]. The quarterbacks who do really good things, they can kind of have this capability and create plays when maybe you were wrong or the defense was right.”

It was difficult to keep one’s eyes off Stockton, who has been a dual-threat phenom on the field. Right from the kickoff, the Bulldogs’ QB1 showed he wasn’t going to just stay boxed in like a typical pocket passer. But what does Smart feel that Stockton needs to work on? No, no doubts about his athletic skills. The Georgia head coach had a simple suggestion, “Next step is to continue to gain confidence in trusting his offensive line for play action, shot plays, two-minute for the half.” 

Well, Gunner Stockton tends to take off running at the first sign of pressure, but Coach Smart wants him to trust his offensive line more and keep the passing game alive instead of relying too heavily on his legs. The question now is whether Heupel’s defense can cage Stockton’s fire or fall victim to Smart’s dual-threat gamble.