Thanks to Stetson Bennett, perhaps the last of his kind

You may already know Bennett’s story, but it’s a story that won’t get old, even as Bennett gets older and pretty old for a 25-year-old elite college QB. He was from Blackshear, Georgia, and he loved Georgia and wanted to play for Georgia, so he went to Athens because it was the only offer from central Tennessee.

Kirby Smart loved what he saw from his demeanor and spirit, and loved how well he emulated Baker Mayfield for the scout team, but head coach Justin, star of the 2018 season • Couldn’t stop bringing in Fields, so Bennett headed to Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi, to secure time to play.

He did well there, and that’s when things started to get weird. He transferred back to Georgia (who does that?), waited his turn, beat out a number of five-star recruits, and got the job in 2021.

He knew how much he loved bulldog life, but he also discovered that he loved winning enough to keep it going for as long as he could. Including this campaign, as his sixth grader born the same year as Lamar Jackson, Kyler is only two months older than his Murray, and his combined NFL experience of the two puts him at 9. It’s been a year.

They could soon be making nearly $100 million a year, and the potential for Bennett to join them at that high level is unrecognized. It’s an outrageous fantasy that somehow managed to come true.

It was only for one purpose, giving him a curtain call with 13:25 left in the fourth quarter after a night of four thrown touchdowns and two gasps on his feet. terminated with a timeout called for.

Everything he did worked. His throws were guided by lasers, his vision was perfectly aligned, and his feet were quick and fearless.

The reason Bennett did what he did not just at SoFi Stadium, but throughout his career, is that his greatest attribute is his ability to win, and needs no further analysis. Bigger, stronger, faster. , in addition to the heavier and bicep players, there are players with a much more suitable pitching range for Sunday football.

Georgia, now arguably the current giant of the sport, wanted no one else.

They wanted Bennett’s level of effort, his relentlessness, his workflow, his heart, his “glue” leadership, his passion for the program, and his contagious enthusiasm.

Back to imitation. Forget it. Loyalty and love are no longer this deep. When they don’t play, they leave. When they leave, they don’t come back. If they win, most of the time they leave on payday.

Bennett was not. Don’t go looking for team clones. they don’t exist.

There’s a joke going around, and no one knows if it’s a joke, but it’s that Bennett will sooner or later own one or more car dealerships in Georgia. Until then, we may project as a backup for the NFL. He may have played his last game of soccer.

He’s not Justin Herbert. I’m older than him anyway. When the draft comes along, he won’t be as talked about as Bryce Young.

His time is now. His story is his and his alone. It is not the beginning of a trend, but it is one that can be enjoyed because it is not.