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Kirby Smart details Stetson Bennett's 'incredible impact' at Georgia

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•11/26/22•

JakeMRowe

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Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

ATHENS, Ga. — Stetson Bennett has thrown his last pass in Sanford Stadium. The sixth-year senior quarterback attempted 18 of them in his final home game as Georgia took down Georgia Tech by a score of 37-14.

He completed 10 of 18 attempts for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Stetson Bennett also ran it five times for 21 yards and helped Georgia to its 14th straight victory and a second consecutive undefeated regular season.

Everyone knows his story. He’s a former walk-on and Bulldog fan who left for junior college. Stetson Bennett came back to Georgia because he felt he had a chance to win the job. He served as a backup, wasn’t a part of the plans, found a way to become part of the plans, took the job, led Georgia to a National Championship, and has the program in position to win another. That’s it in a nutshell.

Stetson Bennett has spent five of his six college football seasons in Athens. Kirby Smart had a front-row seat in all five.

“Incredible impact. He’s a leader. He’s tough, a competitor,” Smart said of Bennett after Georgia’s win over Tech. “He’s just been around for what seems like forever now. He embodies our team with his competitive toughness. He’s got to keep doing the things he’s doing for us to be successful. We know we’ve got to play better on really all three phases, better than we did today, if we want to get where we want to go.” 

There was a choice that needed making this offseason. Stetson Bennett had one year of eligibility left and he needed to know whether or not he would really be given a chance to enter the season as the starter for the first time in his career. Bennett wanted the spring and preseason camp reps needed that starting quarterbacks got.

The Georgia staff granted that request. He was the guy all offseason and that has played a role in marked improvement. Stetson Bennett is Georgia’s first 3,000-yard passer since Aaron Murray in 2013. The Bulldogs have one of the nation’s best passing attacks by a number of key metrics.

But Stetson Bennett, being the competitor that he is, didn’t care to talk about another undefeated season or take a victory lap after his final home game. He didn’t particularly care for his performance against the Yellow Jackets.

“Well I’m a little bit upset with how we played, how I played,” Bennett said after his final home game at UGA. “Y’all aren’t going to get very much sentiment from me today.”

Stetson Bennett will have a chance to add an SEC Championship to his resume a week from today. The Bulldogs will take on LSU inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET on CBS.

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