So what would today’s Stetson Bennett say to the Stetson Bennett of Labor Day weekend, when he was the third-string quarterback behind JT Daniels and Carson Beck before the Bulldogs vied with Clemson in Charlotte?
“If I told myself that I would be in this position, I think that would have made me smile,” Bennett said Monday. “Other than that, I don’t know. Maybe don’t throw those two balls against Florida.”
The Southeastern Conference championship game through the years has contained the elite-level quarterbacking likes of Danny Wuerffel, Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Tua Tagovailoa, Joe Burrow and Mac Jones, but Bennett has a chance to join that victorious lineup from a more unlikely background. The former walk-on from minuscule Blackshear, Georgia, capitalized on a Daniels injury earlier this season and never relinquished the starting role, repeating a scenario that transpired for the 2017 Bulldogs with Jake Fromm and Jacob Eason.
Georgia’s 2017 team is its most recent SEC champion, but Bennett and his all-around abilities will look to change that Saturday when the No. 1 Bulldogs and No. 4 Alabama square off inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“He is fast and has great feet,” Alabama sophomore outside linebacker Will Anderson said. “He can escape the pocket really well. He can move sideline to sideline, so I think the biggest thing right now is that we have to keep maintaining the pocket. We can’t let him run all over the field and make long drives with his feet.