Kirby Smart: 'People have slept on Stetson Bennett for too long'

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart will always have an undying affection for his quarterback, Stetson Bennett. A former walk-on who had to go the JUCO route before coming back and fighting for the starting job before winning back-to-back national championships, Bennett earned his place in Georgia football history.

Now, Smart wants everyone to know that they have been sleeping on Bennett for too long. This came during the postgame interview, when Bennett declined to say if the national championship was his best game, instead insisting he needed to go back and enjoy watching the tape. It was at that point that Smart stepped in to praise Bennett, making sure everyone knew all the little things he did right in the game.

“He saw a max blitz and he beat the max blitz and ran for a first down in one of the biggest plays of the game, which takes a phenomenal athlete, and he knew what was coming and he set the guy up,” Kirby Smart said.

“And he did a change of protection and made an elite throw. He schemed up a run. Ran a mid-line run which nobody runs. He ran for a touchdown because he’s got a tackle that’s like a tight end out there in Broderick [Jones]. When you’ve got a quarterback that can do the protections and check things and know what the defense is doing, but yet still beat you with their feet, you got a high-level quarterback.”

Ultimately, Kirby Smart thinks that people have overlooked Stetson Bennett. Now, he thinks that Bennett deserves a look at the NFL level.

“People have slept on Stetson Bennett for too long. He needs an opportunity to play for a long time at the next level.”

Kirby Smart says that Stetson Bennett is the GOAT

After the national championship, Kirby Smart was asked about his thoughts on Stetson Bennett and if he should be in the College Football Hall of Fame, despite not technically being eligible to enter it. For his part, Smart only knows that Bennett is the GOAT in Athens.

“The Hall of Fame thing, I have no idea…But, should this guy go in? That’s a long time away,” Smart admitted.

“I think 20 years ago when he comes back we’ll be able to talk about that, but I don’t know those prerequisites. I know he’s got GOAT status in Athens, Georgia forever.”