What Was Said: Kirby Smart, Stetson Bennett speak after Georgia wins second straight title

LOS ANGELES — The Georgia Bulldogs won a second straight national championship in dominant fashion Monday night, defeating TCU 65-7 at SoFi Stadium. Stetson Bennett was named Offensive MVP after earning the honors in both Playoff games last year and the semifinal this year while Javon Bullard once again took home Defensive MVP, just as he did in the Peach Bowl. After the game, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and the two student athletes spoke with the media. Here’s what was said.

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, along with student-athletes Stetson Bennett and Javon Bullard.

COACH SMART: These two young men are special to our program. They’ve done a tremendous job. I don’t know that we have two players that embody toughness more than these two guys.

Bullard’s had injuries throughout the year, has done an incredible job. Stetson speaks for himself, the way he leads and prepares. His mental makeup is such of a quarterback that believes he can make every throw and what he did tonight was truly amazing. Probably had his best game of his career, in my opinion, with some of the checks he made, some of the decisions he made, just really elite.

I want to thank our fans for traveling all the way out here. I hope they understand the message I’m about to say. They can’t take it for granted. You can’t take opportunities like this for granted. And they showed up in full force. And they better never get tired of it because we need them here. We need them to back us. And you can’t become complacent as a fan and we can’t become complacent as coaches.

I’d like to give a shout out to my dad who wasn’t able to make it. He and my mom are back home. I didn’t say anything about them earlier, and I miss them and I wish they were here to celebrate it with my family and myself. But I know it was the right decision. I love you, dad, and I love you, mom. With that I’ll open it up.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Javon, have you ever played a better game than you played today?

JAVON BULLARD: I can’t really answer that right now until I get the tape. But it’s a blessing to be up here speaking in front of you all tonight.

Stetson, if you can go back a few years, signing day, you were getting ready to sign with Louisiana-Lafayette. Georgia called you. You ended up signing with them. What would you have said if someone at the time told you what would happen since then?

STETSON BENNETT IV: I mean, I wouldn’t believe them. I mean, I don’t know. That would have been like – well, good thing I signed with Georgia, you know?

Stetson, Coach Smart calls that timeout when you come out of the game what were the emotions like walking off the field?

STETSON BENNETT IV: The huddle, because I told all the guys, what are we doing? Why don’t we have a play? I was, like, they’re letting me walk out of here.

But in the huddle, just as simple as it is, just one last huddle with the guys, you know? And that was special coming off and seeing Coach Smart, that was really cool. And I appreciate that.

COACH SMART: First time he’s ever walked off that I was hugging him.

STETSON BENNETT IV: Yeah.

Stetson, what plays did you check off that Coach Smart was alluding to? And do you think this was your best game?

STETSON BENNETT IV: I mean, there were a few ones, a few, I mean – what he was saying, some that we had shots where we checked to a run because the look wasn’t there. And a few where – actually the one before the touchdown to AD before the half, I checked that out of a post; I actually missed that one. But there were some other ones in there.

As far as best game, I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m going to watch the tape. I’m going to enjoy watching this tape, and we’ll see after that.

COACH SMART: He saw the max blitz and he beat the max blitz and ran for a first down in one of the biggest plays of the game which takes a phenomenal athlete. He knew what was coming and he set the guy up.

He did a change of protection and made an elite throw. He schemed up a run, ran a mid-line run which nobody runs. He ran for a touchdown because he’s got a tackle that’s like a tight end out there in Broderick.

And when you have a quarterback that can do the protections and check things and know what the defense is doing, yet still beat you with your feet, you’ve got a high-level quarterback. And people have slept on Stetson Bennett for too long. He needs an opportunity to play for a long time at the next level.

Stetson, there’s people saying you’re the best quarterback in Georgia history. Just when you hear that, what does that mean to you, to even be in that conversation?

STETSON BENNETT IV: I mean, there’s so many different variables that go in – scheme, players around you. I mean, you know, I’ve been along for three years, we brought back pretty much the entire core of our offense from last year, so we were all clicking.

We had a really good offense. It makes me proud of what I’ve accomplished when I hear that because it means I’ve done some things right, but I don’t know if it’s accurate or not.

I grew up watching Murray and Stafford and Shock and Greene. And who’s to say? Those dudes were all amazing.

I know you don’t want to talk about the NFL until this game is over. This game is over. The career is over. What do you want the NFL to know about you as they begin to scout you for that level?

STETSON BENNETT IV: I don’t know. I’ve been here long enough. I’m sure there’s some game tape. I don’t know – hard worker, pretty good at football, smart. But they’ll see that. I don’t know. That will take care of itself. Today we’re national champs.

Obviously some roster things you can’t predict, like quarterbacks transferring out and having instability at the position. But kind of through necessity you’ve been forced to develop players on your roster in addition to bringing in these top level recruits. Football is a development game as much as it is a recruiting game, but where do you think in that balance this team falls? And how important was players getting better under you to being able to get back to this point to back-to-back titles?

COACH SMART: It was a big part. Lost, whatever it was, 15 draft picks and how many portals – you guys have reported it over and over – and we didn’t gain anybody.

So the development part was super, super important. I’m going to tell you another important date was about three days from right now last year when he came in my office and he said, I’m trying to decide if I’m going to come back or ride off in the wind. I don’t understand everybody’s telling me I should just ride off into the sunset be the legendary quarterback who won a national title. He said, that’s just not who I am I am.

He’s, like, I don’t get it. Why should I do that when I have an opportunity to play again? Why don’t we go win it again?

And I’m kind of thinking, well, that would be nice but we lost 15 draft picks. Might not be that easy this time.

And he had full conviction that he wanted to come back and go opposite of the mainstream. Like, all he wanted to do – he was here, I think, a year with Jake, and he knew Jake had left early. And he brought it up to me and he said, I want to go play. I want to go play football and prove to people this is no fluke. We can do this.

And he did everything that he said he was going to do.

Stetson, tonight your team did something that hasn’t been done very often in the history of college football and hasn’t been done in a number of years. What’s that feeling like for you to achieve that?

STETSON BENNETT IV: Yeah, I mean, it’s special. It seems like for the past three or four months we’ve been looking to see if somebody could beat us, and we just ran out of games.

Nobody could.

Stetson, I know that it’s tough to put things in perspective right away, but given the trajectory of your career and the ups and downs and leaving and coming back and fighting to be QB1 finally and then having the success you’ve had last year and this year, how do you put it all into perspective? And do you feel like maybe you’re kind of an example for all those other grinders out there that are facing the same battles?

STETSON BENNETT IV: You know, I don’t know. I think the coolest thing to me is in 20 years when this is cool to us, we all come back and we’re talking about how Bull intercepted that ball before the half and I threw it to AD for the touchdown.

That’s the coolest thing, because this team loves each other. When Coach Smart says he’s never had a group like this, obviously I hadn’t been in this – whatever, he’s right. We love each other. Every single person on this team would do anything for each other. And you know, it’s a special group, man.

Javon, I know your days in Milledgeville weren’t that long ago, but just a few years ago. Could you have been possibly been seeing what envisioned the kind of stuff you were doing out there in the first half tonight?

JAVON BULLARD: As a kid, you know, you always dream of moments like this. And just to see those moments and accomplishments and things like that come true, it’s just a surreal feeling. I’m extremely blessed to be in the position I am. I just thank God for it every day.

Kirby, first of all, as I understand it Stetson would not be eligible to be in the College Football Hall of Fame because he’s not an All-American. Is that a rule that should change? Secondly have you had a chance to talk and connect with your father tonight?

COACH SMART: I’ve not connected with my dad. I would love to. I feel bad I didn’t take the opportunity when I had TV coverage to say something. I know he was still watching then. He’s probably in bed now.

But I promise you my dad doesn’t need any accolades or pats on the back; he hates them. He gave it to me, I can promise you that.

The hall of fame thing, I have no idea. I would like to say congratulations to Coach Richt who got elected in the College Football Hall of Fame today, I think. I texted him earlier. So happy for him.

He texted back to me immediately: Kick that ass tonight. I knew he was behind us. Really happy for him.

Should this guy go in? It’s a long time away. I think 20 years from now when he comes back we’ll talk about that. But I don’t know those prerequisites. I know he’s got G.O.A.T. status in Athens, Georgia forever.

You’ve mentioned not taking things for granted. And I know several players and yourself said that people doubted you this year. Now you’ll go into a year where you’ll probably be No. 1 across the board. What’s the biggest challenge for this program, and I know you don’t want to talk about a three-peat, but going for that next one?

COACH SMART: The biggest challenge is the same as in the world we live in today, the society we live in – entitlement. The minute you think you’re entitled to winning games and you don’t have to work hard – Coach Dykes and I were talking about it; the uphill battle for those guys is you think that you just inherit success.

And I personally think next year is going to be a much more difficult challenge over this year because we had so many guys leaving last year.

We got a lot of guys coming back. And unfortunately this one right here is not.

And tell you a quick story, I walked in my – they’ve got a nice head coach’s office in that room over there. I don’t know if Stetson knows this, but I walked in, my 10-year-old son, Andrew, is bawling. I’m, like, oh, no, somebody’s hurt his feelings; somebody’s thrown him down or done something to him.

I said, why are you crying? You’re going to ruin my moment.

He said, (crying) Stetson is leaving. He’s going to go.

I said, he’s 25 years old. He’s got to go. He’s got to leave.

But he;s bawling about Stetson being gone, and most of our team, we’ll have a lot of guys coming back. We’ll lose some really talented guys, probably lose some juniors.

But the disease that creeps into your program is called entitlement. I’ve seen it firsthand.

If you can stomp it out with leadership, then you can stay hungry. And we have a saying around our place: We eat off the floor. And if you’re willing to eat off the floor, you can be special.

Stetson’s the first quarterback in Georgia history who’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards. He’s leaving. What’s left in the room?

COACH SMART: We’ve got some good quarterbacks in there. We got one that took a black jersey off and took hits all week so he could be Max.

And Gunner Stockton said, Coach, take my shirt off. I’ll take the hits.

And Brock Vandagriff is down there learning all year. Carson Beck got a lot of play time and has a lot of composure to come back and be able to play.

So those three guys will get to battle it out. And they’ll learn a lot.

Coach Monken does an unbelievable job in that room. And he did an unbelievable job with Stetson. And the fact that he’s playing in an NFL offense with an NFL coordinator who coached NFL quarterbacks should tell people he’s not going to get marbles in his mouth when he’s spitting out seven-word calls. And a lot of NFL teams like that.

You called the timeout when Stetson was coming out. You called a timeout on defense as well when those guys came out. Why was that important for you to do for both of those guys?

COACH SMART: Because of what they’ve done for this program. I got really emotional, and these guys will tell you, before the Ohio State game, I don’t know what got into me. I hadn’t been that way forever. I don’t know if it was exhaustion, stress anxiety. But I got pretty emotional.

And I held it together tonight for the most part, but that moment with the timeouts, seeing Stetson and those defensive players – you don’t see what they sacrifice. You don’t see Bullard, when his shoulder comes out and he won’t put on a black jersey, and you’re, like, you can’t go, Bullard. And he won’t come out of practice. And he’s still hitting people.

His shoulder comes out tonight, his collarbone, and he just stays in the game. He embodies what our culture is, which is toughness. And I have a very serious appreciation for that because they do it for a university I love.

And it means a ton to me when they sacrifice like that for our university.

Coach Smart or Stetson, you guys walked off the podium together deep in conversation. What were you talking about after all you’ve been together?

COACH SMART: I have no idea. Probably what he’s going to do tonight, make sure he doesn’t get into any of that pappy. He is 25. So I can’t –

STETSON BENNETT IV: Come on. (Laughter).

COACH SMART: Nobody got that joke, I guess. But compliance will make him pay it back.

Why was this so easy?

COACH SMART: I don’t have an answer for that. I think preparation was really good. I’ll be honest with you, I was a little concerned that we were tired. I had apprehension about a couple of the practices we had.

And Stetson’s complaining to me about not having enough free time when we were in Athens. He didn’t want to come in as early. And I thought you’ve got one chance to be legendary. I’m not going to leave any regret out there. Did you not?

But I called some seniors in and I said, look, guys if you want me to cut back, I will. I don’t know from TCU’s perspective how things went.

I did have a feeling that our offense had a really good plan. And as I watched the offense each day I said, we’ve got a good plan. If we execute this plan we’re going to attack these guys and we’re going to be really aggressive.

I was proud of the defense after two outings that we did not perform well. They have a first-round receiver. They got a Heisman Trophy quarterback that was in the finalists. And I thought our defense really performed well tonight with their backs against the wall.

Stetson, can you talk about the fact that you guys had a tremendous performance. And what was the motivation that gave you the ability to save your best for the last?

STETSON BENNETT IV: Well, I mean, we had confidence in the plan. We left some plays that we didn’t even call. And we missed some shots.

But it’s the last one. I mean, it was the last one in this jersey. It’s for the national championship. It was against Max, who is a great quarterback and I know from New York.

But I mean if you can’t pull out your best in a game like this or at least your best effort and best preparation, then maybe this isn’t for you.

But I don’t know. Confidence in our guys and everybody played really well.

Stetson, I think it was before Ohio State, you talked about that you liked the idea that overlooked guys and under-recruited guys are going to look at your story. After a performance like this, you’re really going to be one of those guys where they look at players who go from walk-on status to stardom, you’ll be at the top of that list. Have you thought about the example you’ve set for other guys with that?

STETSON BENNETT IV: No. I mean, when I was growing up, you know, you’ve still got to be the best. Right? Like it doesn’t matter if people doubt – you’ve got to be good. So I always used to – I enjoyed growing out my hair, wearing glasses, and then going and winning the camp. That was my thing.

So if you are an under-recruited guy, you’re an under – soak that up, but you’ve still got to be the best. Go be spiteful out there. Be a dog. You’ve got to.

But hopefully in 15 years there’s some kid out there who is being a stud and he remembers watching us play.

What’s the significance of this team going 15-0 mean to you, and why was this team able to do that?

COACH SMART: The significance is there’s no blemish. I had four national championships at Alabama, I don’t think we had but one that was undefeated, and that one was really special.

Sometimes it takes a loss to galvanize, put your team in a spot to win. It did that last year. And it didn’t take that. I always tell guys, do you have to take a loss to learn? Why? Like, it doesn’t take that to learn that.

And this team is special because they didn’t have a flaw. They had two games in which they came back in the fourth quarter, Missouri and Ohio State, with incredible comebacks and led by Stetson and the offense.

So it makes it more special, I think, when you come back and look at it, because when you want to compare teams you’ll say, hey, look at this team. There’s some parts of me that think, if the team last year played this year’s team, last year’s team probably had more talent on it. But this year’s team was different. Like, they just had this eye of the tiger; they weren’t going to lose.

A person could watch a lot of college football and very seldom see the level that your team has attained several times this year and other times. Have you yourself thought about that at all and sort of admired where the caliber this team has reached?

COACH SMART: What I admire is the consistency with which they do it. I keep thinking that if you press the gas pedal too hard, you’re going to run out of gas and they’ll be exhausted. I kept thinking mentally maybe the LSU game. And then doing this, and doing that and then practicing this, and going to Ohio State emotional, just roller coaster. Maybe we’re just out of gas.

And they never run out of gas. So that goes a lot of credit to our strength and conditioning program, our training staff, our kids committing to actually doing that. Like, they actually go out and hit each other in the 15th week of the season over and over again, and they enjoy doing it.

That’s just not normal in today’s day and age. People want an easier pathway. So the coaching staff, Coach Monken and his offensive staff, Coach Schumann and his defensive staff, and the special teams staff, wow, every week they brought it. They brought a great plan. They brought a unique plan and made the most of the players that we have.

We had a lot of guys injured during the year. The receiving corps, it’s like a luxury, these last two games. Looking out there, we’re throwing Arian out, AD out, Ladd out.

You have all these weapons, that really helps you to be successful. And that consistency in performance is hard to find. And I do admire the people that buy into what we sell in our organization.

Following that up, I know it takes great players and a lot of work and the right plan and everything, but can you just step back and sort of say what it means to you to come back to Georgia and build a dominant program?

COACH SMART: It means everything. The University of Georgia meant so much to me. I’ll never forget the speech I heard Billy Payne give and how much Georgia meant. He met his wife there. And he gave back to the University of Georgia every way possible. He helped bring the Olympics.

And then when you say all he wants to do is give back to a university that gave to him, I wouldn’t be who I am today without the University of Georgia. I was lucky to go to get a chance to go to the University of Georgia. And I want to give back to a place that has meant so much to my life and to my family’s life and has given so much to us.

I don’t think you can do that without honoring them with how you work and the standard you try to set. And that’s my selling point.

I want to say one other thing before we finish. I promised our guys, I promised our guys – you all know I did this – you all tell them – somebody write a really good article because our defensive scout team did the most unbelievable job.

When we got TCU, I called them all in. I had the coaches meet with them. We made them meet and become this defense. And we said we’re going to do it better than they do it; you’re going to watch tape, sit in here, learn how to do it.

We had a guy CJ Allen, No. 6, he did it as good as they did it. We had Collins, 57, he did it as good as they did it. We had guys be their guys and do their defense exactly right. Until the last day we were walking in there, they were giving an unbelievable look. That set our offense up for success. Scout team makes a difference, and we had a hell of a scout team to give these guys a look.

Thank you so much for the coverage this year.