Regardless of what Stetson Bennett decided to do this offseason, he’ll forever be a legend in the state of Georgia.
The starting quarterback on Georgia’s first national championship team in 41 years, Bennett had a decision to make: Sail off into the sunset or return to Athens for one more year in an attempt to repeat as national champs?
As you know, Bennett elected to return. In speaking with reporters, he went into detail on why he made that decision.
“I love football. I love this team. I love the relationships, all the things that it teaches you,” Bennett said. “I also don’t think I’m as good as I’m going to be, and I don’t think this team is as good as it’s going to be. It’s about the daily grind, the daily competition … Where do we want to be next week? Where do we want to be tomorrow? It’s those little goals.”
Bennett threw for 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in 12 starts in 2021. He was named Offensive MVP of the national championship game against Alabama.
From the minute Georgia was crowned national champions, Kirby Smart made it well known he wanted his starting quarterback to return. Still, not all Georgia fans were convinced that this was the best-case scenario.
The news of Bennett returning came just a few minutes after JT Daniels announced he’d be transferring from UGA.
“I wanted to hear what coach Smart had to do. I mean, honestly, I know, like, he’s in charge and we’re going to follow it by his playbook. But I just wanted to know, you know, for me as it was time for me to be a little selfish while I was making that decision,” Bennett said. “Now, I’m all aboard.”
Smart spoke on his conversations with Bennett, plus what his expectations are for the sixth year quarterback.
“We had a couple of conversations just in passing. 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,” Smart said.
“It was more he felt like he had grown as a quarterback. We showed a lot of confidence in Stetson if you didn’t notice. He answered that with the way he played. He’ll be the first to tell you he can still grow and get better. We have high expectations for Stetson, 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.”
