Kirk Herbstreit weighs in on Stetson Bennett, JT Daniels debate

Stetson Bennett has played well as Georgia’s starter. JT Daniels is back healthy.

So, who should Kirby Smart go with the rest of the way?

Head coach Kirby Smart opted to go with Bennett last week against Florida and he turned it a solid showing. The senior completed 10 of 19 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown in the air, and ran for 35 yards on six carries. In six games as a starter, Bennett is 66 of 98 for 1,153 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But Daniels, who transferred from USC prior to last season, started the first three games of the season before getting hurt. He completed 54 of 71 passes — a 76% clip — for 567 yards and five touchdowns.

So, Smart has to ask: Who should start going forward?

Would Kirk Herbstreit start Stetson Bennett or JT Daniels?

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a former quarterback at Ohio State, weighed in on the Stetson Bennett-JT Daniels debate on the latest ESPN College Football Podcast. He discussed a conversation he had with Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken about the two options.

Herbstreit said Daniels is known to be stoic on the field and not show as much emotion. But as a football player, his football IQ is among the best Monken said he’s ever worked with.

“He’ll make a throw, whether it’s a touchdown or an incompletion or an interception, kind of the same guy, right?” Herbstreit told Matt Barrie. “Monken told me this year his pre-snap ability to look into the eyes of a difference, he said, is elite. … He’s still trying to master the system and where to go with the ball, if they move pre-snap to post.

But as far as that aspect, just knowing where to go with the ball, having answers, he said he’s at an elite level.”

Herbstreit went on to say he likes what he sees from Bennett, and he brings a different skillset to the offense than Daniels does.

“He has a chip on his shoulder,” Herbstreit said. “Everyone’s told him he sucks. Everyone’s told him, ‘Look at you. What? You’re not the quarterback at Georgia.’ He takes all that personally. I think he’s doing a better job of protecting the ball. … He does just enough wiggle and just enough ‘screw you’ kind of approach that the combination of those two things provides the intangibles that you need, that fit with everything else Georgia has going for them.”

We’ll find out what direction Smart decides to go this weekend when the Bulldogs take on Missouri in Athens.