It has been a wild college football career for Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett IV, who first joined the program as a walk-on in 2017, only for him to transfer out of the program briefly to a junior college and then return on scholarship in 2019.
Coming into the season, many expected junior quarterback JT Daniels to win the starting quarterback job for the Bulldogs, but Bennett surprised everyone with his steady play after being named starting quarterback, particularly impressive in the team’s National Championship victory over Alabama. Daniels has since decided to transfer to West Virginia for the upcoming college football season, so it appears there will be no debate about who will be the starter for the Bulldogs next year.
Bennett will look to help Georgia defend their role as champions next year, and it appears that Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart is confident that Bennett will have another successful year in 2022.
“When we control what we do, do it the right way, Stetson can be a major factor,” Smart said during SEC Media Days on Tuesday. “Look, Stetson is one of the least respected good players there is in this country. Guess what, we get to see it every day. The kid is a tremendous athlete, he’s got good arm strength. People keep doubting him, and that’s fine with me.”
Bennett finished the 2021 college football season with 2,862 yards to go along with 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
Seeing that he was only a two-star recruit coming out of high school who walked on to Georgia’s program, he has largely been overlooked for his entire career.
He hasn’t been asked to force the action during his time at Georgia, with the program having the best defense in the country last year.
That may change next season, with Georgia losing a record of 15 players from last year’s team to the NFL Draft this past April.
Regardless of whether or not Smart will ask him to improvise a bit more moving forward, it is certainly promising that it looks like he has the full support of the coaching staff at Georgia.
