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After 41 years of trying to win their second national championship, the University of Georgia Bulldogs finally burst out of their kennel during the second half of Monday’s national championship game against Alabama. The Dawgs (as they prefer to be called) trailed early but rallied down the stretch to take down the Crimson Tide 33-18 and win the school’s second football title since Herschel Walker toted the football for Georgia back in 1980.
Leading the way in this second half rally was the team’s unheralded 5’11” quarterback, Stetson Bennett. You probably already know that this senior was a former walk-on at Georgia coming out of high school. After Georgia’s championship win, the rest of America is now hearing about him, too.
After trailing defending the national champion Alabama 9-6 in a pretty boring first half of football, Bennett’s can-do attitude never waivered as he lifted Georgia’s offense in the final quarter. He passed for two timely touchdowns during a 20-point fourth quarter rally by the Dawgs.
Bennett was nearly the “dog” (pardon my canine jokes) for Georgia early in the deciding fourth quarter. After the referees (who kept Bama fans happy by throwing ten penalty flags on the Dawgs Monday night) ruled that Stetson had fumbled the football on what looked to be a forward pass back on Georgia’s own 18 yard line, Alabama would quickly score a go-ahead touchdown just three plays later and retake the lead 18-13 with ten minutes to go in the game.
Those would be the last points scored by Alabama in this football game.
After the game, Stetson Bennett told reporters that he was not going to be the reason why Georgia lost this game. Instead of sulking on the sidelines, Bennett came back onto the field and hit three passes covering 65 yards for a touchdown and give Georgia the lead once again at 19-18 with a little over eight minutes to go.
After Georgia forced an Alabama punt, the Dawgs’ diminutive quarterback led the team into the Bama end zone again. While Alabama was looking for more passes, a rejuvenated Georgia running game started to take over. After Georgia ran the ball inside of Bama’s 20-yard line, quarterback Stetson Bennett knew that the Tide defense was now focused on the run. He quickly floated a short pass to a wide open tight end Brock Bowers, and the big receiver lumbered 15 yards untouched into the end zone for another Georgia score to make it 26-18 with less than four minutes left in the game.
As Alabama’s Heisman quarterback Bryce Young took the field, the drama was ripe for one final Heisman-type moment. The Crimson Tide trailed by a touchdown and a two-point conversion with just minutes to go. Haven’t we seen this act before?
Unfortunately for Bama fans, they were not playing Auburn on Monday night.
Bryce Young slowly moved his team toward midfield as the Georgia faithful prayed across America. This time, though, Young heaved an ill-advised pass downfield which was easily intercepted by Georgia’s Kelee Ringo at the Georgia 21-yard line. As the sidelines coaches were yelling for the defensive back to hit the ground and not risk a fumble, Ringo ran it 79 yards down the field for a game-sealing final touchdown with under one minute left.
Georgia won the game 33-18 to finish 14-1 on the year and captured its long-sought second championship trophy. The 41-year Georgia jinx had finally ended!
For Georgia’s ever-confident senior quarterback, Stetson Bennett, the win marked a storybook finish to his Georgia football career. Or did it?
Coming out of high school in the tiny southeastern Georgia community of Blackshear, Stetson Bennett (whose parents both earned a Pharmacy degree while attending the University of Georgia) was a second team All-State quarterback for his 3A high school and an All-Academic team winner, too. He passed for 3,700 yards and accounted for 40 touchdowns as a senior.
Alas, his 5’11” 185 pound frame didn’t meet what major college recruiters desired. Rated as a 2-star recruit coming out of high school, Bennett’s only big-time football scholarship offer was from Middle Tennessee State University near Nashville.
Instead, Stetson Bennett decided to attend the University of Georgia just like his Mom and Dad. As a freshman, he was a football walk-on and immediately impressed the coaches with his preparation and work running the weekly “scout” team. Bennett quarterbacked the scout team and was required to learn and run a different opponent’s offensive scheme every week to prepare Georgia’s defense for their upcoming games.
Rather than ride the bench for a second year, Stetson Bennett transferred to Jones County Community College just south of Laurel, Mississippi. He played well enough in 2018 that the University of Georgia awarded him a scholarship to return as the team’s second string quarterback for the 2019 season.
After two more years of waiting his turn, career back-up quarterback Stetson Bennett finally was given a chance to get onto the field for good in 2021 after starter J.T. Daniels was injured during an early-season game against UAB. Georgia would go 12-0 for the regular season with Bennett as the team’s quarterback for most of 2021 as he passed for 29 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
That all came to a grinding halt in December’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta as Alabama intercepted Stetson Bennett twice in a 41-24 rout. Even though Georgia (then 12-1) suffered its first loss of the season, the Bulldogs were still voted into the four-team College Football Playoff group.
After December’s loss to Bama, many Georgia fans questioned why the diminutive Bennett should remain the starting quarterback. Bennett had several passes swatted down by Alabama’s tall and mobile defensive linemen. The fans figured that the 6’3” J.T. Daniels (a 5-star recruit coming out of high school in California) would be better able to see over the taller defensive linemen.
Fortunately for Georgia football fans, the coaches kept faith in their starting quarterback’s leadership skills.
In the national semifinal game, Georgia blasted Michigan 34-11 as Stetson Bennett played flawlessly. He completed 20 of 30 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns against a highly respected Michigan defensive front.
Being the son of two pharmacists and having so much experience at running the Georgia scout team as a younger player, Stetson Bennett is a sharp young man. He became an expert on reading the tendencies of opposing defenses and worked with his coaches to develop the team’s offensive game plan for each week’s opponents.
Stetson Bennett has gone from walk-on at Georgia to the top of the mountain holding the national championship trophy this week. Ironically, the NCAA rules (modified during the 2020 COVID season) will permit Stetson Bennett to play one more year of college football in 2022 if he chooses to play a fifth season of football.
The general consensus is that the NFL football scouts believe that Stetson Bennett is a very good college quarterback, but he doesn’t check the boxes for the right physical traits desired by most professional teams.
Where have we heard that before?
Perhaps the pro scouts may be proven right, but don’t tell that to Stetson Bennett. His play this season has reminded me of young Drew Brees. He prepares smartly, is an optimistic team leader, and shows the heart of a champion.
There is bound to be one NFL team (are you listening, New Orleans?) which could utilize a quarterback with his positive traits.
As hundreds of college players are opting out to either play in the NFL or entering the transfer portal in an effort to gain more personal glory, Stetson Bennett opted-in, worked hard, waited his turn, and then earned the ultimate success.
Even if Stetson Bennett never plays another down of football in college or as a professional, he is now a legend. Georgia football fans will remember his name for generations to come.
That Dawg’ll hunt!