What Was Said: Stetson Bennett speaks at NFL Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett spoke on Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine, his first time meeting with reporters in-person. Since then, Bennett was the center of attention in the wrong way at UGA’s championship celebration parade, he accepted the Manning Award and met with reporters on Zoom, decided not to go to the East-West Shrine Game or the Reese’s Senior Bowl and was eventually arrested in Dallas. Needless to say, it’s been an eventful stretch for the two-time national champ.

DawgsHQ was in Indianapolis to hear from Bennett and the other Bulldogs. You can find all of those videos on our YouTube channel. As for Bennett, here’s what he said in written form for you all.

Stetson Bennett on if there is a cultural problem at UGA given recent events this offseason

“No. Those were individual mistakes that those individuals are responsible for. There’s not a culture issue.”

Bennett on his arrest in Dallas

“Yeah, it was a mistake that, you know, everybody’s aware of. I understand why that can’t happen. It was, I’ve talked to coaches about it, talked to GMs, apologized to my family. That’s who I feel worst about. It felt like I let them down. No matter where I go now, and even without all this, I’ve got an obligation. I’m the fourth. Can’t do that if your last name is Bennett.”

Bennett on if he regrets not going to the Senior Bowl

“I never, it was moreso the Shrine Bowl. It wasn’t really the Senior Bowl. I really wanted to play in it. There was a lot going on at the moment. I discussed with people that were close to me, asked advice. Decided that I needed to go train, I needed to get better. But I do wish that I could have, but just ultimately decided the other was the better choice.”

Stetson Bennett on his work with QB Country in Texas

“Footwork, throwing specific throws that we’re going to be asked to throw here at the combine, stuff like that.”

Bennett on what he wants to convey to NFL teams

“I just try to be honest. I feel like, I don’t put a lot of myself out there on purpose. The stuff that people get of me, they run with. They try to read into it instead of just seeing what it is. I tried to just be honest with them like I try to be honest with you guys every single time I’m up here. That’s what I would continue to try to do.”

Bennett on what it’s like to be back in Indianapolis, site of the first National Championship

“Yeah, we thought it was pretty cool. Walked in there, I love the stadium. I think the stadium’s awesome. I think it just looks like the city, so you remember that. I think it feels a little different than it did. It’s definitely warmer. It was freezing. But yeah, it was special walking in here. You don’t think, you just remember certain things, certain plays like a fumble that might have happened. It was pretty cool.”

Stetson Bennett on the Georgia offensive performance versus TCU in National Championship

“We worked hard for three years with Coach Monk. I think it was a culmination of all that stuff. I think we just let it all out.”

Bennett on his role at the line of scrimmage

“Coach Monk asked me to be able to do a lot. Sed handled a lot. You’ve got protections, you’ve got motions, you’ve got formations. Trying to figure out how not to get hit. If you get hit a lot, which I didn’t, but when you don’t want to get hit you figure out protections pretty quickly.”

Bennett on how his knowledge of offense translates to the NFL

“I feel like Coach Monk helped me out so much with that. It’s the same game. There are, obviously, a million things to work on. But as far as protections and scheme and stuff, I think at the very least Coach Monken helped me have a foundation of knowledge that I can apply to the next system that I’m asked to do it in.”

Stetson Bennett on Mike Bobo, his role this past season

“I didn’t really interact with Coach Bobo. I think he helped with some stuff upstairs, but I didn’t really interact. I love him as a person, but as far as coaching and stuff like that, didn’t really talk to him.”

Bennett on if he’s the best quarterback in the draft (and if he has the best haircut)

“Red’s down the street hooked me up. You know, I’ve got confidence in my abilities. Everybody asks that question. There’s so much more to playing quarterback than people know. There’s different offenses, different checks, different motions, whatever. Whatever you’re asked to do, that’s all you can do in the offense. Then you have your physical ability. A lot of people have physical ability, right? Especially at the quarterback position, the mental acuity and how you can handle certain situations, you can’t really measure that. I have confidence in my ability, but also all these dudes are players too.”

Stetson Bennett on what he hopes to show in drills

“I hope to run fast and jump high, throw it well. I think that I can try to translate everything I did at the college level skill wise to try to make it better so I can apply it here. This is the ultimate league.”

Bennett on the 40-yard dash

“I haven’t run a full one yet, I’ve been working on speed and starts. I don’t want to set expectations, so we’ll see what it is.”

Bennet on going against Jalen Carter in practice

“We had some studs on the o-line, and Jalen’s a nice guy. He didn’t want to hurt me. but it helped immensely because if you’re blocking him, nobody else is really going to be better.”

Stetson Bennett on his parade behavior

“You know, people are entitled to their opinion. I saw it as a parade for us who won, and I was playing music for Sed and Chris and trying to have a good time. People took it as if I was, I don’t really know how people took it but they didn’t like it. And so, I’m sorry about that, but I strictly saw it as a chance for me and Sed and Chris to have one last trip down Lumpkin on the way Sanford together, and I just wanted to play the best tunes we could.”

Bennett on the best route concepts in Todd Monken’s offense

“Cross was always a good one. Those were some good ones.”

Bennett on Devin Willock crash

“Yeah, there’s not much to say about that.”

Stetson Bennett on if he’s met with the Bucs

“Yeah, I met with them. I thought it went pretty well. They asked me some questions wondering about the incident, answered them, they asked me about football, asked me about life and tried to figure out who I was. I thought it went pretty well.”

Bennett on being where his drive comes from

“The way I see it, you only get one of these lives. I’m playing football right now so I’m going to try to do it to the best of my ability. That doesn’t mean try really hard. That means figure out, is this the right area to try hard at or is this one? What’s the best area to try hard at, figure it out and then give a thousand percent there.”

Bennett on his big game success

“A thousand percent. I think once you’re in that situation, you know what the situation is. You understand everything that comes with it, you can handle it, you know how to prepare. I think it definitely – for me, it was always the unknown. What does this championship, oooo ahhh, look like? It’s a game, and you’ve got to play well in it. All the lights in the world don’t matter if you don’t win. So just go win.”

Stetson Bennett on what how he’d handle being an NFL backup

“My job, my obligation is to the team that I’m drafted to, be the best player for that and to learn to play football. At the end of the day, I’ve never been a wave causer or anything like that. I keep my head down, and I play ball. So whatever is asked of me is asked of me. When I get there, you’ve got to be the best player to play, and I know there’s more to that probably here. At the end of the day, that’s all you can control so that’s what I’ll do.”