Gunner Stockton wants to lead Georgia to victory over Florida for reasons far beyond the heated college football rivalry between cross-state powerhouse programs. He also wants to avenge the death of his grandfather.
Lawrence Stockton died of a heart attack on Oct. 30, 2010 after the Bulldogs lost to the Gators.
This college football rivalry game means more to his grandson than just football. It’s about family.
Gunner Stockton gets his first opportunity against Florida on Saturday.
Stockton arrived to Athens in January 2022. He was finally named the full-time starting quarterback for the Bulldogs prior to this season after one start in place of Carson Beck as a redshirt junior last year.
Thus, Saturday will mark his first start at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
Florida and Georgia have played 102 or 103 times throughout their history, dating back to either 1904 or 1915. It depends entirely on who you ask.
The former says only 102. The latter says 103. Georgia says it leads the all-time series record 57-44-2. Florida says it’s only 56-44-2.
Regardless of the true numbers, it is one of the most historic and intense rivalry games in sports. These Two flagship universities are separated by only a few hundred miles and often meet somewhere in the middle in Jacksonville. They hate each other. And both teams are usually pretty good so it gets intense.
However, this game means even more to Gunner Stockton for personal reasons.
Urban Meyer killed grandpa Stockton, kind of.
According to a new report from ESPN, Lawrence Stockton died of a heart attack in the parking lot outside of EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville after the only overtime game in history between Florida and Georgia. Urban Meyer and the Gators beat the Bulldogs by a final score of 34-31.
Aaron Murray threw an interception during overtime to set up an eventual game-winning field goal for his opponent. It was the 18th win for Florida in its last 21 games against Georgia.
Suzanne Frederickson, Lawrence Stockton’s widow, says her late husband was talking to a friend about the game when he suffered cardiac arrest. He was frustrated with the defense.
“He said something about [then-Bulldogs defensive coordinator] Todd Grantham and collapsed,” she remembers.
Now 15 years later, Lawrence’s grandson will be the starting quarterback for his alma mater against its biggest rival. It is an opportunity, in a sense, to avenge the death of his grandfather.
“Every time we go to Florida, I really want to beat them bad in Jacksonville,” Gunner said.
The Bulldogs currently hold a four-game winning streak against the Gators. They will hope to increase that number to five in honor of Lawrence Stockton.