He threw for multiple touchdowns in nine of his 11 starts, including all three games in the postseason. His overall passer rating (176.7) set the school record. The numbers are legit: He ended the season ranked fourth nationally in pass efficiency, third in yards per attempt, and third in Total QBR, behind only C.J. The focus on Bennett’s Rudy-esque backstory and stature tends to obscure the fact that, adjusted for volume, he was easily one of the most productive passers in the country. Now, finally, he just gets to be the starting quarterback at Georgia. Instead of riding off into the sunset – or, in his case, law school – Bennett opted for a victory lap in Year 6, his first and last chance to go start to finish as an entrenched starter without being treated by everyone outside the building like an understudy filling in on an interim basis. As career arcs go, it was about as close to a true storybook ending as real life gets.Įxcept, well, he’s still here. the Crimson Tide.) It was dramatic and emotional. (Based on his appearance on national TV the following morning, he started immediately after the final gun vs. (Eyes, too.) Far from being overmatched by the stage or the blue-chip talent on the other side of the ball, Bennett’s CFP heroics guaranteed he’ll drink for free in the state of Georgia for the rest of his life. If this were a movie, the Bulldogs’ come-from-behind, decades-in-the-making triumph over Bama in the national title game would have been the final scene: Underdog vindicated, rival vanquished, doubters humbled, streaks broken, curse lifted, credits rolled. IT’S THE MAILMAN STETSON BENNETT ? /e1hA1FsDnh The one, an all-too-familiar flop against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, loomed too large to give him the benefit of the doubt in a potential rematch.Īnd yet: After all of that, when the myths of Georgia football get passed down among the generations, Bennett’s name is the only one that’s going to endure. Months later, Bennett’s status was still very much up for debate even as he was preparing to lead the Dogs into the Playoff with a 9-1 record as a starter. When Daniels was briefly sidelined by a minor injury last September, his quick return to the top of the depth chart seemed like a foregone conclusion. Again, Bennett was a footnote at best heading into the 2021 campaign. After Bennett replaced Mathis in the opener, staving off a potential disaster in the process, his turn as QB1 was largely overshadowed by the speculation around Daniels, who eventually took over for the last four games to acclaim and relief. After both Newman (covid) and Daniels (knee) went on the shelf before the 2020 season, Bennett was passed over for the starting nod in favor of redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis. When Bennett did get on the field, the response tended to be more concerned with how long it would take for him to be led back off. When Fromm declared for the draft a year ahead of schedule, the idea of putting a championship-or-bust campaign in the hands of an untested walk-on was such an obvious nonstarter that the Dogs added not just one but two big-ticket transfers in 2020, Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman and USC’s JT Daniels, to prevent it from happening. With Justin Fields’ arrival as heir apparent in 2018, Bennett took that as his cue to move on via the juco route when Fields bailed out for Ohio State that winter, Georgia welcomed Bennett back to fill the unexpected vacancy behind Jake Fromm. As a freshman, he was little more than an obscure name on the roster during the Bulldogs’ ill-fated run to the national title game. The fact that his presence has registered at all defies the odds.
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