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Kirby Smart on Stetson Bennett NFL Draft pick: 'What a story!'

On3 imageby:Wes Blankenship•04/29/23
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Icon Sportswire / Contributor PhotoG/Getty

Kirby Smart saw first-hand what Stetson Bennett overcame to play at Georgia. Now, his once-under-appreciated quarterback is a fourth-round NFL Draft pick to the Los Angeles Rams.

Smart and former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken were often the barriers in Bennett’s way to the playing field in Athens.

But the Mailman persisted.

And the story got sweeter and sweeter.

Now, Stetson Bennett, the unlikely college football quarterback, Heisman Trophy finalist, two-time offensive National Championship MVP and future Disney film heads out to Hollywood to add a professional sequel to the biopic.

Bennett knows SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams, pretty well.

He diced up TCU in his second consecutive National Championship to the tune of 18/25 passing, 304 yards and four touchdowns.

Kirby Smart’s Dawgs had a comfortable lead. The game was in-hand. And he gave Bennett a much-deserved curtain call.

Fast-forward three-and-a-half months.

The Rams’ decided to bring Stetson Bennett back to SoFi as their backup quarterback to fellow Bulldog Matthew Stafford.

And Smart paid tribute with a tweet about The Mailman’s story:

Stetson Bennett doesn’t have the story he does without Smart’s doubts

Time and time again, Bennett looked up the mountain of quarterbacks ahead of him on the Georgia depth chart.

Sometimes it was just one quarterback.

Sometimes it was more than that.

But he never let that deter him from taking the spot he knew he deserved.

The NFL outsider may assume that playing time will be harder to come by when Bennett takes on the NFL.

But anyone who knows Stetson Bennett’s story will tell you that the odds never matter when it comes to The Mailman.

Forget trying to win a starting job outright.

Anyone who watches the NFL knows that starting quarterbacks rarely make it a full season without getting dinged up or injured.

Stetson will get his NFL shot

Kirby Smart knows better than to count out his former quarterback.

As he pointed out in that tweet, Bennett meant too much to Georgia for any Dawg to overlook.

Now he gets to learn from – and compete with – Matthew Stafford in LA.

When Stetson Bennett gets a chance to play agains NFL defenders, don’t be surprised when he does something you don’t necessarily expect.

He’s kind of made a career out of it.

And despite what the cynical doubters on Twitter who say he’ll make more money selling insurance than he will throwing a football think, that career ain’t over yet.

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