Stetson Bennett admits to nerves in his return to football

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett is back at practice and, while it’s still football and he’s happy to be back, he also admitted it came with some nerves.

This return to football comes after Bennett took a year off from the sport. During September of last season, Bennett went on the reserve/non-football illness list and took some time away from football.

“Nervous the first day,” Stetson Bennett said. “You know, hadn’t played football in a while and I hadn’t talked to dudes in a huddle, which is a huge thing when you’re relaying the play to them. A lot of nerves, but it’s gone — I wouldn’t say seamlessly — but it’s gotten better each day like you try to make it.”

Stetson Bennett had a legendary college story, joining Georgia as a walk-on before becoming the starting quarterback against the odds and leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships. He would then go on to be drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

During his time away from football, Bennett was working on his mental health. However, he chose not to go into details about that, saying the exact reason why he had to step away was something that he’d keep “in-house.”

For Los Angeles GM Les Snead, the break from the sport was very beneficial to an exhausted Stetson Bennett.

“I know this, last year was very beneficial for him. I think he took advantage of that year away from the game. You know what, he’s an exhausted human being based on everything he had done. Let’s just take it as an individual — to walk on, to go to JUCO, to come back, to turn down small schools, say ‘I’m going to try to do this Georgia thing,'” Snead said.

“To win a job, then to win the thing, and then to determine, ‘I’m going to come back.’ And when you come back, it’s really win it again or you failed. And that does take a toll on a human being, so I was jacked for Stetson to be able to take that moment and breathe a little bit.”

Stetson Bennett on deciding to return to football

While away from the sport, Stetson Bennett needed to decide whether or not to return to football and when to do it. When describing how he made that choice, Stetson Bennett had a colorful way of putting it.

“I’d say that was probably piss or get off the pot, you know you have to get back at some point. It’s hard to turn off whenever it gets going again. I saw it how I’ve always seen it, as just a beautiful game. You create relationships with your teammates and you go and compete against the best, and find out if you can, which I’m excited to get back to doing,” Bennett said.

“Yup, yup, of course. I’ve loved this game since I grew up hearing my granddad telling me stories and trying to teach me something in the kitchen. So, I got back to that.”