Georgia's All-Kirby Smart Era Team: Quarterback

We’re entering year eight of the Kirby Smart era in Athens. The Georgia football coach has more than established himself as one of the best, if not THE best, in College Football by turning around a program that had gone stagnant and is now at the top of the sport with the Bulldogs having won back-to-back titles.

Seven full seasons at the helm means a lot of things. Smart’s first full class has come and gone. While the “COVID-year” delayed it a bit, that happened this past season with the departure of Robert Beal – and of course walk-on Stetson Bennett. So, it’s time that we start discussing the All-Smart Era Team.

Our rules are simple. They only require the player to have spent one season playing for Smart so seniors on the 2016 team are eligible. Other than that, they must have finished their career at Georgia or be suiting up for the Bulldogs this fall.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in with our first position: quarterback.

Stetson Bennett (2017-2022)

Our selection for All-Smart Era Team quarterback is Stetson Bennett. He beat out Jake Fromm – really the only other viable option considering Greyson Lambert started just one game for Smart-led Georgia and the Bulldogs’ other starters of at least one game in the era (Jacob Eason, D’Wan Mathis and JT Daniels) all finished their careers elsewhere.

Bennett’s story has been told before, and by now you all probably know it. He started his career as a walk-on in 2017 and made a name for himself on the scout team playing the part of Baker Mayfield pre-Rose Bowl before transferring to Jones College in Ellisville, Miss. for the 2018 season. There he ranked top-15 nationally (NJCAA) in passing yards with 1,840 yards and 16 touchdowns in 12 games, helping lead Jones to a 10-2 overall record, a Mississippi Bowl win and the MACJC conference championship game.

Bennett left looking for an opportunity and found that back at Georgia in 2019 after Justin Fields deciding to transfer. A backup to Fromm in 2019, Bennett saw his first action as a Bulldog playing in five games. Against Murray State he threw for two touchdowns and 124 yards on nine-of-13 passing. He finished the season 20-for-27 with the two scores, also getting in for mop up duty versus Arkansas State, Tennessee and Georgia Tech before playing an important third down in the SEC Championship Game against LSU after Fromm went down with an injury. He would return on the next drive, and Bennett’s moment was gone.

It appeared that might be the last snap Bennett took for Georgia. In 2020, he was buried on the depth chart for fall camp. The Bulldogs had brought in Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman to be the team’s starter. Mathis, Daniels and even freshman Carson Beck appeared to be ahead of him. However, with Daniels still not cleared for action returning from an ACL injury and Beck being a true freshman, Kirby Smart turned to Bennett to save the day in the season-opener against Arkansas. Bennett replaced a struggling Mathis in the second quarter, led the comeback and earned himself the starting spot going forward.

Bennett started the next five games for Georgia that season. Sometimes things were good like when he threw for 240 yards in a primetime win over top-10 Auburn or recorded a trio of scores versus a ranked Tennessee team. Then there were the head-scratching moments caused by six interceptions in the span of three weeks, contributing to a pair of Bulldog losses. Bennett, who got hurt against Florida, was benched for the rest of the season in favor of the five-star Daniels.

Daniels finished 2020 4-0 including a win over undefeated Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl. He started the 2021 season with a win over No. 3 Clemson. However, a pair of injuries caused him to miss starts early and opened the door for Bennett to come back onto the scene.

Bennett took advantage of the opportunity he got against UAB in Week 2 of the 2021 season, throwing for five touchdowns in the first half. Then, after Daniels came back to start two games before another injury, Bennett took control of the job and led Georgia to its first undefeated regular season since 1982. Despite a loss in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs earned a spot in the College Football Playoffs for just the second time in school history. It was then that Bennett played his best ball. Earning MVP honors of both the Orange Bowl win over Michigan and the National Championship Game victory against Alabama, Bennett combined for 537 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Leading a fourth quarter comeback that included a pair of touchdown drives in the final 10 minutes of the game, Bennett gave Georgia its first National Championship in over four decades.

As if one wasn’t enough, Bennett did it again in 2022. He returned for his final year of eligibility – this time entering the season as the starter for the first time in his career – and had his best year yet. Bennett became the first Georgia quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in a single season, completing 310 of his 454 passes for 4,127 yards and 27 touchdowns while adding another 10 scores and 205 yards on the ground. He earned himself a trip to New York as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy while winning both the Burlsworth Trophy and the Manning Award in the process. Bennett threw for more than 300 yards six times during the season and had 250+ yards in 12 of 15 contests. Once again, he earned MVP honors in each of Georgia’s postseason wins, throwing for four touchdowns in the SEC Championship Game against LSU and a career-high 398 yards in a thrilling Peach Bowl win over Ohio State that featured yet another fourth quarter comeback. He capped it all off with maybe the best performance of his career in the National Championship versus TCU, scoring six times (four passing, two rushing) to tie Joe Burrow‘s mark for most touchdowns in a National Championship Game on Georgia’s way to the largest point differential in bowl game history, winning 65-7 over the Horned Frogs in Los Angeles.

Bennett was drafted in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, No. 128 overall, by the Los Angeles Rams where he’s expected to start his career serving as backup to fellow former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Second Team: Jake Fromm (2017-2019)