georgia football stetson bennet 2023 national championship game journey

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Georgia football quarterbacks share what makes Stetson Bennett

LOS ANGELES — Stetson Bennett knows this is the end. After six years of college football, five at Georgia and three as a starting quarterback, he will play in his second national championship. It doubles as the final game of his college career.

Bennett has tried to distance that narrative from this game, given it is the national championship. But there’s no ignoring Bennett’s role in this game and what winning a second national title would do for him.

“I hope that the defining moment is still ahead for him,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

Bennett’s legacy is already secure, regardless of the result. Even if you strip away the walk-on, JUCO and back-up status, Bennett’s on-field numbers undeniably place him among the best in program history. He needs just 71 yards to set the single-season passing record for Georgia and is 177 away from hitting the 4,000-yard mark.

He’s 28-3 as a starter, with two of those defeats coming to Alabama. He’s been the offensive MVP in every College Football Playoff game he’s played in, as well as winning the honor in this season’s SEC championship game.

He’s undeniably great. Even if a select few online fans can’t admit it, just about everyone in the Georgia program does. Those closest to him see it in practice and around the Georgia facility.

“I’m not surprised. Never doubted him,” Luke Bennett, Stetson’s younger brother said. “We’ve always seen growing up what he can do. Seeing it at this level it’s pretty cool.”

Of course, Bennett’s younger brother isn’t the only one to sing Stetson’s praises. Those in the Georgia quarterback room see him work every day, surrendering free time to watch film and prep for the next moment.

Bennett’s work ethic is usually the first thing those around him bring up. The second is his confidence. It’s both innate and irrational. It has to be if someone is going to overcome all Bennett has on his way to the top of college football.

Smart recalled this week how Bennett and his mother came into his office after spring practice in 2018 to tell him Bennett would be heading to the JUCO ranks. Smart told him there was no guarantee he would get back to Georgia.

Yet Bennett somehow found a way, accepting an 11th-hour offer from Georgia to sign as a member of the 2019 class.

“I didn’t doubt him. I just didn’t know if it was at Georgia,” Smart said. “And that conviction they had when they sat in my office should have said, there’s something special about this guy.”

The next time Bennett contemplated leaving Georgia came last January, just after the Bulldogs won the national championship. Bennett wanted some guarantees for this season and was unsure if he would get them. He did battle with JT Daniels for the starting job after all during the 2021 season and the idea of going out on top is an enticing one.

But while he may have publicly put up a front that he was waffling on what he might do, he never considered walking away from being a quarterback at Georgia.

“I was, like, how dumb could I be to leave this opportunity that I’ve got here? I’m starting quarterback at Georgia,” Bennett said. “I trust in Coach Smart, trust in our players. We have a lot of guys coming back on offense, and I’m going to get better.”

As a senior, Bennett became Georgia’s first Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback. He’s often been at his best in big moments. He’s 6-0 against ranked teams this season, delivering signature moments in wins over Tennessee and LSU.

Even when he wasn’t at his best against Ohio State, he rebounded to play perhaps the finest quarter of his career. He completed 10 of his 12 fourth-quarter passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns.

Georgia needed every little bit of Bennett’s swagger, confidence and never-say-die attitude to overcome a 14-point deficit and give the Bulldogs one more game this season.

“When you need him to come through the most, he always comes through,” freshman quarterback Gunner Stockton said.

There are other aspects of his personality that teammates and coaches rave about. Will to win came up when speaking with Brock Vandagriff, while offensive coordinator Todd Monken shared that the quarterback has a rare ability to forget. Even if he makes mental notes of those who slighted him or blew up his cell phone before the Tennesse game.

After spending three full seasons in Monken’s playbook, Bennett has mastered this offense. Like an orchestra conductor, he’s never rushing or dragging, as Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint noted he always gets Georgia in the right play at the right time.

There’s a real respect for Bennett’s leadership, even if he isn’t giving rousing motivational speeches.

“He’s fought for everything he’s earned and he’s earned everything he’s got,” Vandagriff said of Bennett.

Even without all the accolades, awards and possibly a second national championship, this season has already been special for Bennett. Monday’s results won’t change that, as he’s very much enjoyed getting to play with his younger brother, Luke. He’s a freshman walk-on wide receiver and while the two have yet to take the field together, they’ve had a number of little moments they’ll cherish well past Monday.

It’s the first time the two have ever played together on the same team. Monday will represent the last time that gets to happen at Georgia.

“It’s been surreal. Before practice we’ll run and give each other high fives,” Luke Bennett said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

With Monday’s game being played in Los Angeles, it’s easy to see Bennett getting his Hollywood ending. The Bulldogs are a double-digit favorite and widely expected to cap their unbeaten season.

He could walk off in his final collegiate game as just the third quarterback in the last 60 years to lead his team to back-to-back undisputed national championships.

It would be a hell of a way to end a career. But it still probably would fall short of topping Bennett’s career to get to this point.

“It just goes to show, no matter where you start all that matters is how you end,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “He’s put in a lot of work to be where he’s at.”

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