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Stetson Bennett doubters: Kirby Smart lists all of the reasons he's QB1

On3 imageby:Wes Blankenship•08/16/22
On3 image
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett (13) during a preseason scrimmage on Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. (Photo by Tony Walsh)

Stetson Bennett doubters, I know I probably won’t change your mind. You watched the Mailman assist in the delivery of a National Championship trophy, yet it still isn’t enough.

He’s a liability in the downfield passing game, you’ve keenly observed (why do Georgia’s coaches even ask him to try?)

He only played well last season because of a legendary defense, and those NFL Draft picks aren’t walking through that door.

I mean, can we seriously expect Stetson Bennett to play well enough to win if that average margin of victory drops from 27 in 2021, to 20 or fewer in 2022?

Kirby Smart does. He still has Bennett as his QB1. And it isn’t by a hair.

Georgia’s head coach gushed about his super senior quarterback to Marty Smith & Ryan McGee on their SEC Network ‘Talkin’ Season’ series.

Marty and McGee recorded these interviews at SEC Media Days last month, but I can’t imagine Smart’s changed his mind much.

It seems like Stetson is still holding down that number one spot in the Dawgs’ QB room. And Smart had plenty of examples from last season to show why it will be difficult to unseat him.

Stetson Bennett: difference-maker from day one

Smart mentioned Bennett’s time on the scout team in 2017 as a facsimile for Baker Mayfield in Rose Bowl prep.

Even then, Georgia’s players and coaching staff saw a different element with Stetson on the field.

“That’s all the kids talked about,” Smart said.

“Stetson Bennett came on the radar when they said, ‘Man, we got this little guy they call The Mailman that’s killin’ it on the scout team.’ It made you think, ‘There might be something here to this guy.'”

The departure, the return to Georgia’s football roster, and earning the spot

Even though Bennett made the waves, he ultimately charted his course for Jones College – a JUCO school in Ellsville, Mississippi.

“He didn’t get enough reps, he’s not the starting guy. He goes to Mississippi. Comes out of Mississippi after playing a really good year. Played for his championship (at Jones College), still gotta come back to Georgia. Because there weren’t a lot of people beating down his door, now. Let’s be honest, he probably wouldn’t have come back to us. He came back with a scholarship, and even then, he wasn’t the guy.”

Stetson Bennett wasn’t happy with being the comeback story who still backed up the starter.

He came back to play. And in the process, Bennett showed Smart how his resolve could impact an entire team.

“He came and knocked on my door, ‘Coach Smart, what do I gotta do to get more reps? I’m going with the threes, coach. I’m not getting to go.’ We’re talking about two springs ago. Covid time, Covid fall camp he didn’t get many reps. So he earned it. He did it the hard way, and the kids believe in him.”

Stetson Bennett’s story is improbable, and Smart says there’s much to learn from it. Oh, and he can ball

My Outsider podcast co-host, and the namesake for the show, asked Kirby Smart what we should learn from Bennett’s career.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Smart told Marty Smith.

“Because he wasn’t a five-star that played at the biggest high school in the country, and he wasn’t 6’2″ and 220 pounds. He’s really a good athlete. When you look at the plays he’s made with his feet, they made the difference in our season.”

Not the defense. Not Bennett simply benefitting from Todd Monken’s offense. But the unpredictability that comes with his mobility.

“One play sticks out to me. We’re in a hot battle with Tennessee. He had a bootleg, and he stuck his foot in the ground and went straight to the (endzone). I was on the headphones and I said, ‘Did y’all see that? That was a special play.’ And he doesn’t get enough credit for the plays he makes with his feet in buying time,” Smart said.

“National Championship game, he sidesteps a rusher, throws a bomb to A.D. (Mitchell). He bought two more seconds. He has an incredible ability to anticipate throws. Go back and watch Michigan (in the Orange Bowl). He’s getting hit, and he’s lofted the ball to James Cook before he gets hit.”

Maybe Smart is wrong about Stetson, and you still doubt him, and none of this changed your mind about any of it

But Kirby Smart, Stetson Bennett, and a whole bunch of players and coaches and staff members all have National Championship rings thanks, in part, to The Mailman.

And for a coach like Smart, who likes to have as much under his thumb as he possibly can, Bennett is an unpredictable X-Factor that he’s learned to appreciate.

“You can’t coach those things,” Smart said.

“Some players got it, some players don’t. I’m so impressed with the way Stetson’s handled that.”

You can catch all of Marty & McGee’s ‘Talkin’ Season’ on the SEC Network this week.

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