Georgia football coach Kirby Smart isn’t one to lay all of his cards on the table before a big game, but he didn’t push back at all when asked Monday about how the long layoff since the SEC Championship game is helping Gunner Stockton prepare to start the Sugar Bowl.

“I would say just experience, just practice,” Smart said Monday in his first availability since the Sugar Bowl matchup with Notre Dame Jan. 1 in New Orleans in the CFP quarterfinals was set. “He got a lot of reps prior to these practices, but he’s getting much more now. I do think when you get ready for an opponent like Notre Dame, you need time.”

That was late Monday morning Smart spoke. By Monday night, the school announced that Buck had undergone surgery on his right elbow, ending his season and moving Stockton into the starting role for the CFP.

Beck sustaine the injury in the SEC Championship win over Texas on Dec. 7.

Smart told ESPN’s College GameDay Friday that Beck was back home in Jacksonville with family while pursuing the “best options,” for the elbow injury.

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Asked Monday where that stands, Smart said: “The only thing I can update is they’re still going through those deliberations in terms of decision-making, process, time. All the kind of decisions they have to make as a family.”

Smart said Stockton is being put into situations in practice and through competition that gives him a chance to get better.

Stockton is more of a dual-threat quarterback than Beck.

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Smart was asked how that might affect the offense’s focus on the run game for Notre Dame.

“I think we are who we are in regards to that,” Smart said. “We’ve played an entire season offensively. Gunner is a good athlete. I think Carson’s a good athlete. It’s one of those deals that I don’t know how much that changes things.”

(This story was updated to add new information.)