Georgia football fifth year quarterback Gunner Stockton has been named to the 2026 Manning Award Watch List, the Allstate Sugar Bowl has announced.
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performances into consideration in its balloting.
Gunner Stockton is one of 40 quarterbacks on the Manning Award Watch List this season. Other SEC quarterbacks named to the list include Byrum Brown (Auburn), Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), Sam Leavitt (LSU), Arch Manning (Texas), John Mateer (Oklahoma), Marcel Reed (Texas A&M), and LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina).
“We’re excited to kick off another college football season and recognize this outstanding group of quarterbacks on the Manning Award Watch List,” Archie Manning said. “Every year, players emerge throughout the season, and that’s one of the things that make this award special. We look forward to watching these quarterbacks compete, especially when the stakes are highest in conference championships, bowl games and the College Football Playoff, because the Manning Award honors the best quarterback over the entire season.”
The winner of the 2026 Manning Award will be announced after the bowls in January.
Gunner Stockton, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound fifth year player, hails from Tiger, Ga. Stockton started in all 14 games last season, completing 269-of-386 passes for 2,894 yards and 24 touchdowns with only five interceptions. He also rushed for 462 yards and 10 touchdowns. Stockton was later named to the Coaches All-SEC Third Team and finished seventh in Heisman voting.
The third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs are scheduled to open the 2026 season on Saturday, September 5 against the Tennessee State Tigers at Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. The game will kickoff at 3:00pm ET and will be a streaming-only event on SEC Network+ (Buy Tickets).