Stetson Bennett getting help from fellow Georgia quarterback in transition to NFL

Former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett is in unfamiliar territory. For the first time in a long time, he’s having to get used to a new playbook. Add to that the challenges that come with the speed of the NFL versus college football, and Bennett’s head is swirling a little bit out in Los Angeles.

“It’s been cool. I’m trying to get the timing down because it’s really fast out here. I missed a couple of balls behind guys the first day that I tried to clean up today. It’s been good though. We’ve got a big rookie class, and we’re all just trying to work through the playbook together and get it down because there’s a bunch to it. It’s been fun so far,” Bennett said on Tuesday after the second day of Rams OTAs.

Bennett is no stranger to the speed of practice. He said so himself. That’s something he got used to during his time at Georgia where Kirby Smart and company kept things rolling like an NFL team would. However, it’s been the method in which plays are delivered to Bennett that’s been the biggest difference.

In college, Bennett would get a signal from the sideline and occasionally deliver that message in the huddle but more often than not communicate with his teammates all around the field to get lined up properly. Now, he’s got a line straight into his ear from Rams head coach Sean McVay who’s delivering the play over the headset at speeds Bennett isn’t quite used to yet.

New threads, same Stetson Bennett 🎯 💪 @GeorgiaFootball

(via @RamsNFL) pic.twitter.com/cFNDpuEVJV

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 17, 2023

Luckily, he’s got a quarterback who’s quite used to the speed of the NFL. Fellow former Georgia signal caller Matthew Stafford is going into his 15th season in the league. He’s more than happy to help simplify things for a youngster like Bennett, especially considering their shared ties to UGA.

“The biggest thing for me is, I want – like everyone here wants – all these guys to succeed. I want all them to succeed as best as they possibly can,” Stafford said. “I think coaches, myself, veterans on the team, we have a big part in that and then those guys have got to want to do it too. I just want to try and help those guys succeed because the more that those guys are successful in their own right, the better we’re going to be as a team.”

“Just the way he thinks about things. I’m not even on his level yet with the playbook to where I can get cerebral with it. I’ve got to learn the basics, the plays, the formations, the protections to where then you can start getting cerebral with it,” Bennett added. “But he knows it so well, he remembers what it was like when he was me – a younger guy not really having the full concept of it – so he dumbs it down for me, tells me, ‘Look here, look there’ and so that’s where listening to him and how he applies the simple stuff to the complex stuff helps.”

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Stafford was on hand as an honorary captain for Bennett’s last game in a Georgia Bulldog uniform – a 65-7 beatdown of TCU for the national title at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The two obviously met before the game at midfield but also exchanged pleasantries afterwards in the tunnels of the stadium. For Bennett, a lifelong Georgia fan, it was a cool moment. For Stafford, things like that are just a reminder that he’s getting old.

“I met him after the National Championship. Dapped him up which was cool for me because I grew up going to his games. My parents met in pharmacy school at Georgia so we’ve had season tickets since I was four or five. I watched David Greene, him, (DJ) Shockley, (Aaron) Murray, all of them growing up. Stafford was like, ‘That’s Matt Stafford,'” Bennett said. “To be able to come in here and just learn from him and listen, it’s been pretty cool. I haven’t fanboyed out yet.”

“It’s weird when people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I watched you when I was growing up,’ Stafford joked. “I’ve got six year old daughters and I think to myself, some of these guys were six when I got started playing in the NFL. It’s kind of hard to sit there and think about that … It’s fun. I’m having a blast. All these young guys bring energy to the practice field and the locker room.”