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In January 2022, Stetson Bennett helped carry his team to a long-awaited victory during the College Football Playoff National Championship.
The University of Georgia (UGA) quarterback, then 23, and his teammates beat Alabama 33-18 at the Lucas Oil Stadium, where Georgia finally won the national title after 41 seasons without one.
“Did I cry? Yes,” Bennett said at the time while leaving the media room after the historic game,per ESPN. “I don’t think I had cried in years, but there was no holding it back tonight. And I don’t think I’m done crying yet. Not a chance.”
Bennett, who emerged as a hero during the 2022 championship went ahead anddid it again the following year— leading the University of Georgia Bulldogs to a 67-7 victory over the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs in January 2023.
Months later, he was drafted into the NFL, albeit an unconventional path to victory — and then a misstep with an arrest and prolonged absence from his pro team (viaThe Sporting News).
So, who is Stetson Bennett? Here’s everything to know about the former UGA walk-on star turned Rams quarterback.
He was a walk-on
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While Bennett was the hero of two College Football Playoff National Championships, he was originally a walk-on who was redshirted as a first-year player in 2017,according to CBS Sports. While Bennett was a valuable asset to his high school football team — playing in three state playoffs and throwing for 3,724 yards —ESPN reportedthat he received one FBS scholarship from Middle Tennessee State.
Former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray told CBS his teammate had been told “his whole career” that “he’s not good enough.”
Speaking to reporters in January 2022, Bennett said, “I’ve told you all along, and I think some people maybe didn’t believe me, that I really don’t hear any of that stuff, the social media and whatever, I really don’t,” per ESPN.
He added, “Our goal was to do what we did. We did it. Some stuff that someone said about me on the internet isn’t going to change that.”
He grew up in Georgia
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Bennett is from Blackshear, Ga., and both of his parents also attended the University of Georgia,according to the Georgia Bulldogs website. Per ESPN, the football star had dreamed of playing for the Bulldogs since he was a child.
When he was younger, ESPN noted that he attended games in Athens, Ga., and “ran around in his backyard with a football tucked under an arm that was draped in a UGA jersey.”
He transferred schools before returning to Georgia
While Bennett began college at the UGA, he transferred schools in 2018 after one season as a walk-on with the Bulldogs. At Jones College in Ellisville, Miss., he threw for 1,840 yards with 16 touchdowns, per ESPN.
Right before he was set to leave Jones College and sign with the University of Louisiana, Bennett was called back to Georgia, where he agreed to return under one condition, per ESPN: “It has to be different this time.”
Bennett headed back to his home state in 2019 and played the remainder of his college career as a Bulldog.
He used a flip phone for a while in college — seriously
Former Georgia linebacker Quay Walker — Bennett’s college teammate who was drafted to the Green Bay Packers in 2022 —told 11Alivesports reporter Maria Martin in January 2022, “Stetson Bennett has a flip phone. I don’t think he cares too much about the outside noise.”
Martinshared on Twitter(now known as X) on Jan. 5 that same year, “By the way, Stetson Bennett has had the flip phone since summer. Yes this is his only phone. No, it wasn’t BECAUSE of anything other than he thought he was on his phone too much. Seriously. He wanted to be more present, so this summer got a flip phone.”
Aaron Murray, the former Georgia quarterback, told CBS Sports that the phone helps Bennett focus on football.
“It’s legit that he is such a pain in the a– to text. He’ll say, ‘Dude I’ll tell you right now I stink at texting. If you need to get in contact with me, just call me’ … He’s right. He needs to be focused on football and the game,” Murray said.
The flip phone’s existence was short-lived in the long run, though, as Bennetttold The Athletic’s Seth Emersonin March 2022 that he does not use the device anymore.
He was an older football player in college than several then-active NFL players
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The Sporting News reportedin January 2023 that Bennett was 25 years old during his final season with the Georgia Bulldogs — which was the same age or older than football players who had already been playing as starters in the NFL for a handful of seasons, including quarterbacks Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers) and Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins), among others.
Bennett was able to still play college football because, in 2020, the NCAA allowed an additional year of eligibility for players because of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of a pre-existing rule that college football players had a five-year window to complete in their four seasons of eligibility,noted the division.
All this meant that Bennett ended up playing for six college seasons, with five years of play through his NCAA eligibility and a season of playing in junior college,per Sporting Newsin 2023.
He was arrested for public intoxication days after his second College Football Championship
The week after leading the Georgia Bulldogs to their second national championship in a row, Bennett was arrested in Dallas on Jan. 15, 2023, andcharged with public intoxication.
At the 2023NFL Combinein March — a scouting event for “top draft-eligible college players on a variety of medical, mental and physical criteria” — Bennett spoke publicly about the arrest for the first time, calling it the result of “a mistake.”
According toSports Illustrated, Bennett felt like he let his family down and apologized to them for his actions.
“Even without all this, I’ve got an obligation,” Bennett said. “I’m the fourth [Stetson Bennett]. You can’t do that if your last name is Bennett. I know better.”
He was drafted to the Los Angeles Rams in April 2023
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Nick Shook, a writer fromAround the NFL, called Bennett a “polarizing prospect,” citing the young QB’s January 2023 arrest and confident reputation alongside his double national championship wins for Georgia.
Chosen to back up the Rams' starter, Matthew Stafford, Bennett praised the veteran,telling theLos Angeles Times, “[Stafford’s] one of the most talented quarterbacks to ever play the game.”
The soon-to-be-rookie then added at the time, “And so I’m excited to just go in there, be quiet, take notes and learn.”
Bennett was removed from the Rams' active roster in September 2023
Early into the 2023–2024 NFL season, Bennett was placed on the Rams' reserve/non-football injury list, though there has been no official word on why.
Rams' head coach Sean McVay has been tight-lipped to protect his player, telling reporters on Sept. 13, 2023,per 11Alive, “Out of respect for [Bennett] and the situation, I’m going to leave all the specifics and particulars in-house.”
Though Bennett hasn’t been seen on the field during regular-season play — and is unlikely to return to the active roster this season —Sports Illustrated’s Ram Digest reportedthat he made a public appearance at a Georgia Bulldogs game in Athens, Ga., in November 2023 against the Ole Miss Rebels, where he was honored with the Burlsworth Trophy.
source: people.com
