Georgia Bulldogs QB Stetson Bennett: “Some people stick up for me; Some Don't"
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ATLANTA - Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett didn’t want to embarrass himself - or throw up - after all this wasn’t just another flight.
Pulling 7.4 Gs with the Blue Angles was another high in a year filled with superlatives for 6th-year senior.
“I was nervous about passing out,” the Blackshear native admitted Wednesday in Atlanta at SEC Media Days.
Flights with the Blue Angels; time with the Mannings at their summer passing camp; starting the year with a national title - toppling Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide along the way… Bennett’s rearview mirror is full of lifetime memories. But the 2022 season looms, and the Georgia starter is aware of what’s ahead of him and the Dawgs.
“I can promise you this: We are going to do everything we can to win (the national title) again,” Bennett said. “If we do what we do every single day and grind and work to deserve winning it - the focus today is today. And when tomorrow comes we will attack tomorrow.”
His critics remain as well.
“Some people stick up for me,” Bennett said when asked about quarterback rankings. “Some don’t. If they are predicting me to suck - prove them wrong. If they are predicting me to be awesome prove them right. It is tough to keep track of everything. You’ll see it, and think: ‘I think I am better than that.’”
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Bennett enters his sixth season of college football as the only quarterback to win a national title as his program’s starter. His statistics are on par or better than many of his peers in the SEC and beyond, but he’s not considered one of the top signal callers in the sport by various outlets - something he says he can’t control.
“We will see at the end,” he said of quarterback comparisons. “I can’t speak to any of that.”
Bennett said he also took advice from former Tennessee quarterback and NFL legend Peyton Manning over the summer regarding the new marketplace college players have - NIL.
“We were talking to Peyton Manning, and he was talking about NIL,” Bennett recalled. “He was saying if you are going to do that you can’t leave any opportunity for someone to be like: ‘Well, he got the (NIL money), and now he’s not working.”
Bennett added about himself and NIL deals: “There will never be anyone who says: ‘Well, he doesn’t work as hard.”
Now Bennett and the Dawgs are ramping up for another long fight in the SEC. The returning starter said preparation is key.
“You spend 365 days for 12 game days. You have to love the process more than you love the game because the hours just don’t add up if you don’t,” he said.