Georgia QB Stetson Bennett 'dinged up' but not limited
ATHENS, Ga. — It’s that time of year when a lot of teams and even more players are battling some sort of injury. That holds true for Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV.
The CBS broadcast crew mentioned during Georgia’s 42-10 win over Auburn that Stetson Bennett is dealing with a shoulder ailment, forcing him to stay warm at all times. Kirby Smart was asked about that on Monday where he confirmed a potential ailment but didn’t say much more than that.
“Stetson’s been good. He was dinged up after the Missouri game in terms of… He took some shots in that game. He got knocked down a couple of times,” Smart said on Monday. His shoulder has been bothering him but hasn’t been a lot of large limitation. He hasn’t missed practice time and things. So he’s been good in regards to that.”
Smart went on to say that Stetson Bennett hasn’t been limited in terms of practice time. DawgsHQ noticed some different behavior from Stetson Bennett during pregame warmup for the Auburn game.
He came out in full pads earlier than usual. Bennett was also taking his drop backs, pulling his arm back, and holding it there for a bit before deciding to softly throw the football.
It certainly looked as if something was off in the first half of the Auburn game when Stetson Bennett amassed just 25 passing yards and missed the mark on six out of 13 passes.
Smart also said in his Monday presser that he feels good about Stetson Bennett as a passer and always has. Well, that belief paid off in the second half against the Tigers. Stetson Bennett bounced back in a big way by completing 15 of 19 passes for 183 yards. He also broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 272 total yards.
With that said, Georgia has gotten off to slow starts offensively the past two weeks. Smart believes that the quarterback shares some of the responsibility for that.
“I can’t define if somebody is pressing,” Smart said after Saturday’s game. Certainly not clicking the way we’d like to. Some of that falls on, a little responsibility on everybody. We take turns having a lack of execution and when you play really good teams that score lots of points, you can’t do that. You’ve got to value every possession. We didn’t click. When we click, we roll. Then if we don’t get start, we tend to drive, we had several three and outs where it was like, was that a wasted opportunity? We’ve got to get first downs, change the field position, be explosive. Some of that has to do with some injuries and some guys being dinged up but some of that has to do with Stetson. He knows he’s got to continue to play and play better. We’ve got to arm Stetson with people around him. He’s got to have guys around that can really help him. You can’t be one-dimensional and be explosive.”
