Stetson Bennett Georgia football

ATHENS — What a difference a year has made in the life of Stetson Bennett, who has done more than just ditch his flip phone and add a national championship trophy.

Bennett, a 24-year-old, sixth-year Georgia quarterback, is going through spring drills knowing he’s the No. 1 quarterback and getting the reps that indicate as much.

All that hasn’t stopped Kirby Smart from challenging Bennett to grow as a leader, go to class and avoid what Smart refers to as “bonehead” decisions under center.

But being the No. 1 quarterback helps Bennett take the daily criticisms in stride, and with a marketing deal with the high-profile Everett Sports Marketing group, carry himself with a renewed swagger.

Stetson Bennett is indeed in demand, and he has worked hard to earn every bit of it

Consider, a year ago at this time, Bennett was the No. 3 quarterback behind starter JT Daniels and previous No. 2 quarterback Carson Beck.

Bennett is the first to admit, there’s a difference in how he approaches things as the starter.

“You’d like to say that you always prepare to be the guy, and you always work the same that you would,” Bennett said. “But we’re all human and you’re kind of like, ‘jeez sometimes it seems like I’m not going to play at all.’ "

That’s how Bennett felt last summer after exiting 2021 spring drills buried on offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s depth chart.

So, Bennett said, he went to Coach Kirby Smart and made it clear how he was feeling about not getting enough reps to compete.

“It was a tough decision, probably one of the hardest that I ever made,” Bennett said last season, sharing after the Arkansas game that he considered not returning to Georgia. “It was tough and, at the end, I broke it down and I decided to stay.”

Bennett had another decision to make after the CFP Championship Game, revealing during his Good Morning America interview that leaving Georgia was once again a possibility for him.

Bennett said he wanted to see if he “can trust the decisions made” by the UGA staff.”

Bennett and Smart were asked on Tuesday this week what conversations took place that led to Bennett staying for another season.

Smart downplayed the exchanges, but Bennett, who is known for his blunt, direct approach, was more transparent.

“We had a couple of conversations, just in passing,” Smart said. “He reached out a couple of times and said he wanted to come back. He wanted to continue to get better. There wasn’t a lot there. There weren’t a lot of questions or anything.”

Bennett’s take on the conversations came across differently.

“There’s a bunch of private conversations that we won’t go into, but it was more so just, how are we going to (approach) this year,” Bennett said.

“I wanted to hear what Coach Smart had to do. Obviously, I know he’s in charge, and we’re going to follow his playbook.”

Bennett makes no bones about it, it was a time he needed to look out for No. 1.

“It was time for me to be a little selfish while I was making that decision,” Bennett said.

“I wanted to hear a few things; he told me some of what I wanted to hear, and some wasn’t, in closed-door conversations.”

Bennett, whose transfer options were not made clear -- he had no other SEC scholarship offers coming out of high school or junior college -- said he chose to come back to Georgia.

And yet, Bennett surely was aware the Bulldogs made a recruiting play for transfer quarterback Caleb Williams before the former Oklahoma quarterback followed Lincoln Riley to USC.

“If somebody comes in and they are better than me,” Bennett said, “they’re going to start, it’s the University of Georgia.”

Monken told boosters at a closed-door function in January that Bennett is the starter moving forward.

Georgia doesn’t split many of the No. 1 reps to begin with, and this spring, a shortage of receivers will make it even harder on Carson Beck or Brock Vandagriff to make a move on the depth chart.

Bennett can say for the first time it’s his job entering spring football drills.

Here are three things Bennett shared about how things are going:

Bennett has more control

Monken’s offense is such that it plays to the strength of the quarterback and the supporting cast of skill position players around him. Bennett likes the extra control he has now as the starting quarterback at Georgia.

This is an offense that will ultimately sink or swim on Bennett’s decision-making and passing, and he’ll likely be asked to do much more with the nucleus of a historically good defense having moved on.

“There is a lot more of being hands-on with the routes and the way you want the guys to run the routes,” Bennett said. “There’s a comfort level and there’s a respect level from both sides that I can go over and say, ‘We’re not doing that, we’re going to do this.’ "

Bennett is still challenged

Head coaches don’t often call out their starting quarterback for needing to go to classes more often and becoming better leaders, but Smart can be just as pointed and direct as Bennett.

“We have high expectations for Stetson,” Smart said, “but we also have high standards for what we expect Stetson to do in terms of leading our offense, going to class, and doing the right thing.

“We are still challenging him to do those things.”

Smart said he wanted Bennett to avoid “bonehead” decisions, more openly critical of Bennett than he ever was of JT Daniels or Jake Fromm.

Bennett said he knows what’s important and how to allocate his time off the field. On the field, Bennett understands where Smart is coming from.

“The leading stat for winning and losing football games, besides explosive plays, is turnovers,” Bennett said. “So you can’t turn the ball over. And the other one is lost yardage plays.

“So how can we not turn the ball over in critical moments when we need first downs, and how can we got out of a bad play and turn it into a good play? Negative yards plays to positive yards plays.”

Bennett is more comfortbale

Bennett said he feels more comfortable, even with Smart publicly challenging him after just one week of drill.

Last year, Bennett admitted, “was a struggle,” and he and Daniels worked to make sure the team was not divided when the changed quarterback roles.

“It has gotten easier this spring with being the guy coming in expected to be the starter,” Bennett said, “and with a year of relationships being the guy back in here, and let’s see how far we can go next year.”

It seems like a recipe for success to have the quarterback from a championship team return, but a majority of Georgia fans voted in an unscientific poll that Bennett should have retired from college football and taken his championship into the sunset.

What would you advise #UGA QB Stetson Bennett do? He has a 6th year of eligibility remaining.
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) January 14, 2022

Those voting against Bennett must not have been paying attention to just how resilient Bennett can be.

The same drive and determination that led Bennett to push Smart for an opportunity last summer, and then move ahead of Beck on the depth chart the week of the UAB game, has led the Blackshear, Ga., product to continue his march as the Bulldogs’ quarterback.

“I love football, I love this team, I love the relationships, I love the things it teaches you,” Bennett said, asked what he wants for this season. “I also don’t think I’m as good as I’m going to be. I don’t think this team is as good as it’s going to be.

“It’s about the daily grind and the daily competition …. And why does anyone want to do something again? Because it felt nice, and it was pretty cool, so let’s do it again.”

Stetson Bennett: ‘It has gotten easier,’ being No. 1, closed-door meetings with Kirby Smart

Bennett has more control

Bennett is still challenged

Bennett is more comfortbale