Former Georgia high school football players Gunner Stockton and Caleb Downs finished in the top 10 of Heisman Trophy voting, with spots 5 to 10 announced Thursday.
Stockton, the Georgia quarterback from Rabun County, and Downs, the Ohio State safety from Mill Creek, are the 25th and 26th Georgia players to make the Heisman top 10 since former Georgia Tech star running back Clint Castleberry of Atlanta’s Boys High became the first in 1942. Georgia players have landed on the list 35 times.
Stockton and Downs were AJC preseason Super 11 selections and two of the most celebrated Georgia high school players of all-time, both four-year starters.
Stockton passed for a state-record 177 touchdown passes. His 13,652 yards passing are third most in state history. Rabun County was 46-7 in Stockton’s career.
Downs was the AJC’s 2022 all-classification player of the year after leading Mill Creek to its first state title. He was a safety/wide receiver who scored 41 career touchdowns that came rushing, receiving and returning interceptions and kicks. He even threw two touchdown passes.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Stockton (seventh) and Downs (ninth) are the first pair of Georgians in the Heisman top 10 since Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence of Cartersville and Ohio State’s Justin Fields of Harrison High, both quarterbacks, did it 2019 and 2020.
Georgia had three Heisman top-10 finishers in 1992. They were Georgia running back Garrison Hearst of Lincoln County, Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward of Thomas County Central and Alabama defensive lineman Eric Curry of Thomasville.
Ward won the Heisman Trophy the following year, and he is one of five Georgia Heisman winners. The others are South Carolina running back George Rogers of Duluth, Georgia running back Herschel Walker of Johnson County, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton of Westlake and Colorado cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter of Collins Hill.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner will be announced during a televised ceremony from New York at 7 p.m. Saturday. The finalists are Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin.
Here is a list of Georgia’s top-10 Heisman finishers.
2025 - Gunner Stockton, Rabun County/Georgia (7)
2025 - Caleb Downs, Mill Creek/Ohio State (9)
2024 - Travis Hunter, Collins Hill/Colorado (1)
2022 - Stetson Bennett, Pierce County/Georgia (4)
2021 - Will Anderson, Dutchtown/Alabama (5)
2020 - Trevor Lawrence, Cartersville/Clemson (2)
2020 - Justin Fields, Harrison/Ohio State (7)
2019 - Justin Fields, Harrison/Ohio State (3)
2019 - Trevor Lawrence, Cartersville/Clemson (7)
2017 - Roquan Smith, Macon County/Georgia (10)
2016 - Deshaun Watson, Gainesville/Clemson (2)
2015 - Deshaun Watson, Gainesville/Clemson (3)
2012 - Jarvis Jones, Carver-Columbus/Georgia (10)
2010 - Cam Newton, Westlake/Auburn (1)
2006 - Calvin Johnson, Sandy Creek/Georgia Tech (10)
1998 - Champ Bailey, Charlton County/Georgia (7)
1994 - Eric Zeier, Marietta/Georgia (7)
1993 - Charlie Ward, Central Thomasville/Florida State (1)
1993 - Eric Zeier, Marietta/Georgia (10)
1992 - Garrison Hearst, Lincoln County/Georgia (3)
1992 - Charlie Ward, Central Thomasville/Florida State (6)
1992 - Eric Curry, Thomasville/Alabama (9)
1989 - Dee Dowis, Franklin County/Air Force (6)
1982 - Herschel Walker, Johnson County/Georgia (1)
1981 - Herschel Walker, Johnson County/Georgia (2)
1980 - George Rogers, Duluth/South Carolina (1)
1980 - Herschel Walker, Johnson County/Georgia (3)
1979 - George Rogers, Duluth/South Carolina (7)
1979 - Ron Simmons, Warner Robins/Florida State (9)
1978 - Eddie Lee Ivery, Thomson/Georgia Tech (8)
1976 - Ray Goff, Moultrie/Georgia (7)
1963 - Billy Lothridge, Gainesville/Georgia Tech (2)
1962 - Billy Lothridge, Gainesville/Georgia Tech (8)
1956 - Jim Parker, Ballard-Hudson/Ohio State (10)
1942 - Clint Castleberry, Boys/Georgia Tech (3)
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