When the Georgia Bulldogs traveled out to Pasadena for their Rose Bowl matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2018, Stetson Bennett was nowhere near the starting job. However, he did play a key role in the Dawgs preparation for the dominant Sooners’ offense.
Bennett, a two-star walk-on, was on the scout team and acted as Baker Mayfield in practice to help Georgia’s defense prepare for the Heisman Trophy winner. Mayfield was also a walk-on whom everyone dismissed due to his size and emerged as one of the greatest underdog stories in college football. Little did anyone know that the next breakout walk-on quarterback was also out in Pasadena and would help end a 41-year championship drought for the Bulldogs.
Bennett had a great high school career at Pierce County, however, he received no Power Five offers due to his size. Instead of taking any of the offers he had, Bennett decided to walk on at his dream school: the University of Georgia. Bennett served on the scout team as a freshman, but it appeared his Georgia career was over when five-star quarterback Justin Fields arrived in Athens in 2018. With the starting job looking further out of reach than ever, Bennett transferred to Jones County Junior College in hopes that he could show off his potential. It was uncertain if Bennett would return to Division I Football and it seemed impossible that Bennett would return to Georgia. Even head coach Kirby Smart didn’t think Bennett would ever return to Georgia. However, Bennett would get a second chance Between the Hedges.
After the 2018 season, Justin Fields would transfer to Ohio State, leaving Georgia with an open scholarship at the quarterback position. That scholarship would go to none other than Stetson Bennett who returned in 2019 to backup Jake Fromm. Bennett would play sparingly in 2019, but the starting job appeared open when Fromm left for the NFL Draft. Despite being the backup and the starter leaving, Bennett somehow went down on the depth chart to start 2020. The Bulldogs appeared to find Fromm’s successor in the transfer portal when Jamie Newman came over from Wake Forest. Bennett was the third string quarterback to start fall camp, but Newman would opt out of the 2020 season to prepare for the NFL Draft. Bennett would now start the season backing up D’Wan Mathis.
Mathis would struggle greatly in the season opener against Arkansas which led to him being benched for Bennett. Going from the scout team to JUCO to career backup, Stetson Bennett finally got his opportunity, and he would take advantage leading Georgia to a blowout win and securing the starting job moving forward. Bennett would play well in the following weeks, beating ranked Auburn and Tennessee.
The biggest game of his career was up next, as the Dawgs traveled to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. This game would be where Bennett’s 2020 season unraveled, as he struggled in the second half in a blowout loss. The poor play would continue for several weeks, culminating in a brutal loss to hated rival Florida. Bennett’s disappointing performances, combined with JT Daniels returning from a torn ACL, meant Bennett would return to being a backup. Daniels was fantastic down the stretch, going 4-0 as the starter in 2020 and all but securing the starting job for 2021.
Once again, Bennett was stuck behind a highly-touted quarterback, Daniels had a legendary high school career at Mater Dei and started at USC as a true freshman. He lost his job after tearing his ACL in the first game of his sophomore season. No one would blame Bennett if he transferred after losing the starting job; however, Bennett was not ready to give up his childhood dream of being the starting quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs. Bennett came back for the 2021 season in which Georgia had a team that looked to make a run at a National Championship. Bennett would serve as a backup for the opener against Clemson and didn’t play a single snap but would soon get a second chance.
Daniels would spend the entire 2021 season dealing with a mysterious core injury that led to Bennett starting nine of Georgia’s regular season games. Bennett would redeem himself with a strong 2021 campaign in which the Bulldogs went a perfect 12-0. After a strong regular season, Bennett would get a second crack at the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship, but his second opportunity didn’t go any better than his first. Bennett struggled once again against the Tide, making several mistakes, including a pick six that sealed Georgia’s fate. Bennett unraveled after losing to Alabama in 2020, but he couldn’t afford to this time around, with Georgia playing for a national title.
After a disastrous SEC Championship, most of the Bulldog faithful were calling for Bennett to be benched in favor of JT Daniels. However, Kirby Smart and offensive coordinator Todd Monken stood by the former walk-on. Bennett grew up wanting to be the starting quarterback at Georgia, and that seemed like a pipe dream the last time Georgia was in the playoff. Being the starter was already a dream come true for Bennett, but now he had the chance to lead his favorite childhood team to their first championship since 1980. After his worst game of the season in Atlanta, Bennett played the game of his life against Michigan throwing for three touchdowns and leading UGA to a rout over the Wolverines to set up a rematch with the Crimson Tide. This time, college football’s biggest prize was on the line.
Bennett was on the 2017 Georgia team that suffered a heartbreaking loss to Alabama after the infamous “2nd and 26”. Now, he had a chance to get redemption for that team and all the other Georgia teams who came up short over the past four decades. The first three quarters of the championship were uneventful for Bennett, but the fourth quarter would define his legacy. It appeared that legacy would be a haunted one after Bennett’s costly fumble deep in his own territory gave Alabama a short field to take an 18-13 lead with ten minutes to play. He was never able to recover from his mistakes the last two times he faced Bama, but something was different: the third time was a charm. In the biggest drive of his life, Bennett was brilliant and threw a go-ahead touchdown to Adonai Mitchell to regain the lead. Bennett followed that with another touchdown pass to Brock Bowers to extend the lead before Kelee Ringo put the game and championship trophy on ice with a pick six that Dawg fans will remember forever.
I find it ironic that a program that recruits four- and five-star recruits like it’s nobody’s business was finally able to get over the hump being led by a two-star walk-on with no Power Five offers. It wasn’t a five-star recruit or an All-American transfer that led Georgia to their long awaited National Championship; it was a former scout team and JUCO quarterback that goes by “The Mailman” and owns a flip phone. Bennett may not be the highest rated quarterback, and he may never be a franchise quarterback at the next level, but he will forever be a Georgia legend. Expect to see him succeed in whatever he does after his career in Athens is over.