NEW ORLEANS — He came, he sat, he talked about his cows.
Here’s what we learned from Gunner Stockton in his hour of time with media at the Sugar Bowl on Monday:
Georgia’s new starting quarterback asked for cows as a Christmas present when he was a sophomore at Rabun County High in northeast Georgia. He got three or four, and he now has 14.
“My family had ‘em when I was really young, and I just really enjoy ‘em,” Stockton said.
It was a story he told repeatedly for the waves of writers and TV reporters eager for a sound bite from the Bulldogs’ unlikely starting quarterback in Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal (also known as the Sugar Bowl) against Notre Dame.
For the content-providing masses, Stockton is just about all you could ask for from a principal figure of a major sporting event. Even without trying, he has a story to tell, as he plays the most important position in the sport and is making his first college start in the Bulldogs’ biggest game of the season after starter Carson Beck suffered an elbow injury just before halftime of the SEC Championship game win over Texas on Dec. 7.
Better, he gave a taste of his promise in that game, leading the Bulldogs to a come-from-behind win over the Longhorns. And, last, he has an atypical background that essentially has been reduced to two facts that have been uncovered in recent days — he is a cattle owner, and he drives a 40-year-old pickup truck that used to belong to his grandfather.
It all made him the hub of attention at the Sugar Bowl media day, held in a ballroom at the New Orleans Sheraton. At least 25 media members awaited Stockton when he climbed onto a platform to reveal what sort of cows they are (black Angus), whether they are dairy cows (no, beef) and whether he named them (no).
“It’s a lot of work, but, heck, I enjoy getting out there and feeding them and doing the work,” said Stockton, who slipped “heck” into a lot of answers.
He was asked, for instance, about how he managed not to fumble when he took a vicious tackle in overtime of the SEC title game, a hit whose force dislodged his helmet.
“Heck, I was just worried about ball security and holding onto the ball,” he said.
Leave no doubt about his country roots. The northeasternmost county in the state, Rabun has a population of about 17,000. His hometown is Tiger, whose population is about 400.
“There aren’t very many people,” he said of Tiger. “Heck, I enjoyed growing up here. I wouldn’t do anything different in my town growing up.”
The work of keeping cows includes feeding them, keeping them healthy and making sure they don’t escape.
“For about two years, it was a constant call from people being, like, ‘Hey, your cows are out,’” Stockton said. “There’s a golf course right next to where we had ‘em, and they were actually eating grass on hole 9 one time. That was pretty funny.”
Asked about the truck, a 1984 Ford F-150, he said it used to belong to his grandfather Joe Dinkins and hence means a lot to him. It has about 300,000 miles on it.
Stockton’s background has made him the newest fascination of the Georgia fan base. Before a recent practice, kicker Peyton Woodring told him he was going viral online.
“I had no idea,” Stockton said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ It was that picture of my truck. That was pretty funny.”
Stockton is soft-spoken and was polite with media. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders a lot. He seemed unfazed, perhaps bemused, by the attention. Among the questions he fielded:
Do you sleep well on the road? (“Not too bad.”)
How much coffee does he drink a day? (“Just a cup.”) (A reporter, eager to find new details about Stockton, evidently had learned that he is a coffee drinker.)
And the unquestioned winner — a media member told Stockton he had learned that the film “Deliverance” was shot in Rabun County. Was it an accurate depiction?
“Scenery-wise, yeah,” Stockton said. “People, no.”
The follow-up: He was asked how weird it was that actor Ned Beatty was in “Deliverance” and in “Rudy,” the movie about the famed walk-on from Notre Dame, Georgia’s opponent.
Said Stockton, “Yeah, that’s crazy.”
He was asked often about how he was handling the spotlight.
“I’m enjoying it, enjoying it with the team,” he said. “It’s a pretty cool opportunity.”
He talked about his teammates often, particularly the confidence that he has gained from their support of him. He incorporated them when he revealed how he found out at halftime of the SEC title game from offensive coordinator Mike Bobo that he would be replacing Beck for the second half.
“Coach Bobo got me and told me, ‘Hey, Carson’s down,’ I’m up,” Stockton said. “He just brought me in front of the offense, which was pretty cool just to look out there and look at my teammates. It was a pretty cool moment.”
The hour eventually was up, though probably not soon enough for the young quarterback. His play against the Fighting Irish will do all the talking for him.
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