There’s a special fraternity in Athens, Ga.
But this fraternity doesn’t call home on South Milledge Avenue, or boast large greek letters, like the many houses on that street in Athens.
Rather, it is a group of over 80 men ranging over a century that have suited up for the University of Georgia football team as its starting quarterback.
While it’s difficult to find accurate numbers – Georgia played its first football season in 1892 – historical records suggest current Bulldog quarterback Gunner Stockton’s roster number in the chapter is somewhere in the high 80s.
As of the 2024 Sugar Bowl versus Notre Dame, Stockton is the latest installment in that unique – and, yes, demanding – fraternity.
“It’s a pretty cool fraternity that we do have,” DJ Shockley, the starting quarterback of Georgia’s 2005 SEC championship team, told The Clayton Tribune. “And when we do get a chance to see each other at golf tournaments or whatever it may be, you can always tell there’s a different smile with each guy because you know you’ve gone through some stuff being the quarterback at the University of Georgia.”
That “stuff” that Shockley – one of Georgia’s most recognizable former QBs despite being a one-year starter – is referencing is the chasm of things that come with being the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback.
On any given Saturday, Georgia’s QB1 impacts the lives of millions during that game, and years down the road with their performance.
Shockley, who was Georgia’s starter just over 20 years ago, still hears the stories from Georgia fans today about his time with the Bulldogs and the emotions he made them feel at times.
“They (fans) say, ‘Man, I remember watching you and it was one of the greatest times I had in my life,’” Shockley said of what comes with being Georgia’s starting QB. “That kind of stuff, it hits you. And you’re like, ‘Wow.’ I mean, you really had an effect on people’s lives for a weekend and you look around and say, ‘Man, it’s been years and people still remember those moments.’”
The emotions in those moments are strengthened when it includes the triumph of a championship and watching confetti fall from the rafters. The pressure that comes with dictating millions of people’s emotions on a fall Saturday is certainly elevated when that triumph is expected every season.
While the Bulldogs are a storied football program, a national championship was not always a year-after-year expectation from the fan base in the past. However, with head coach Kirby Smart at the helm, and UGA winning back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022, that is no longer the case.
“We’ve gotten to the point at Georgia where it’s championship or bust where, when I was at Georgia, it was, we’re trying to climb that ladder to get to a championship,” said Aaron Murray, Georgia’s signal caller from 2010-2013 and the SEC’s all-time leading passer “.… The bar is definitely elevated there in Athens, Ga.,” Murray told The Clayton Tribune. “I would say that, yeah, Gunner’s probably got more pressure than even I do.”
Georgia has won back-to-back SEC championships, but also has gone one-and-done in the College Football Playoff the last two seasons, accounting for two of the blemishes on Stockton’s 12-3 record as a starter.
Only a few quarterbacks in program history have the title of “national champion” to go along with their QB1 status. Stetson Bennett, who was the starter for Georgia’s back-to-back championships; Buck Belue of Georgia’s 1980 championship team; and Frank Sinkwich and Charley Trippi, who shared quarterback duties on the Bulldogs’ 1942 championship team.
Those names and the other figures who helped lead to those historic seasons are etched in Georgia football history.
Sinkwich and Trippi both have their jersey numbers retired by Georgia, marking two of the four retired numbers by the program. The third is the No. 34 worn by Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner and teammate of Belue’s in 1980.
Wally Butts, the head coach of the 1942 team, shares the name of UGA’s athletics home base, Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. Next to Butts-Mehre is the “Dooley Garden,” a memorial garden and sculpture honoring Vince Dooley, Georgia’s head coach of the 1980 championship team and long-time athletic director.
While there hasn’t been a building or sculpture for either Bennett, any of his teammates from 2021 or 2022, or Smart, the current head coach and coach of those teams, their legacy was made by ending Georgia’s 41-year championship drought.
Belue – who helped end a long championship drought for the Bulldogs himself – said the memories of that feat are never forgotten by the players.
Stockton, who said at SEC Media Days in July that his goal was to “make memories” this season, would have plenty if he is able to help lift Georgia to the mountaintop once again.
“To be able to win the national title, you cherish every bit of that and you cherish every teammate you have too,” Belue told The Clayton Tribune. “You win a national title, you’re not going to ever forget any of those memories, whether they were good or bad or challenging along the way. That’s what we all play for.”
The trio of former Georgia field generals agreed Stockton’s Bulldog legacy is still in the making as the 2026 season nears. This will be Stockton’s last season with the Bulldogs.
Stockton earned his undergraduate degree in sports management prior to the 2025 season and currently is completing his master’s degree.
“If he’s able to go out there and have another successful season, lead Georgia to another championship in Atlanta (SEC title) and then possibly to a national championship, he’s up there with the greats,” Murray said. “He’s performed at a high level. He’s won big-time games. I think he’s had a tremendous career so far and hopefully he can finish it out with another strong season.”
Those “greats” like Murray said, include the mentioned Belue, Bennett, Sinkwich and Trippi at the quarterback position. That would put him in an “elite club” as Belue described it, even though he did not list his own name in that group.
“If he could do that, he puts himself in the realm of Stetson and obviously Buck who have won national championships. Obviously, the quarterback who does that gets a lot of that praise because you definitely have helped your team get to that spot,” Shockley said. “I think this is a big year for him to establish and kind of cement how Georgia fans will see him going forward after he leaves.”