Kirby Smart reveals why he started Stetson Bennett, JT Daniels injury status

Saturday was a whirlwind for Georgia Bulldogs quarterbacks. Coming into Saturday morning, the expectation was that starting quarterback JT Daniels would not play with an oblique strain. Then, just a couple of hours before kickoff, it was reported that Daniels was making a late push to play against UAB. Ultimately, Daniels did not play, and Stetson Bennett got the start at quarterback.

Update on JT Daniels’ status

Following Georgia’s 56-7 victory over UAB, head coach Kirby Smart gave an update on Daniels’ injury. He noted that Saturday was the most Daniels was able to do throwing wise all week, and ultimately the decision was made to sit him. He appears to be close to returning and should not miss much more time.

“JT got better as the week went on,” Smart said to reporters. “Really didn’t even know anything was really wrong with him on Monday. He took most reps, it was fine. It was bothering him some and as the week went on, Tuesday it bothered him a little more. Today he was better than he was earlier in the week and actually felt good. Today was the first time he got to really throw some balls down the field in warm-ups, so we hope he continues to improve.”

Early Saturday morning, Carson Beck was expected to get the start at quarterback for Georgia if Daniels was sidelined.

Smart: Georgia started Bennett due to his experience at quarterback

With Georgia dealing with some injuries and an overall young offensive unit, Smart wanted to have an experienced quarterback running the offense. Bennett is in his third year at Georgia. Last season, he completed 86 of his 155 pass attempts for 1,179 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions.

Bennett silenced the early boos from the Georgia crowd to him being announced as the starting quarterback. He turned in a good performance against UAB. Bennett completed 10 of his 12 passes for 288 yards and five touchdowns. He also had a 20-yard rush. Beck got limited action as well, completing four of 10 passes with 88 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Smart was happy with how Bennett performed despite the suddenness of the decision to start him.

“The decision to go with Stetson, we’re really young offensively,” Smart said. “We have a lot of guys that are injured and out. I mean we just have a lot of young players that we’re trying to grow up and we thought that it would give us a calming effect to have him and his experience, his ability to play in games. He played really well and really proud of the way he handled it. The plan was to play both of them. We went to two-one, two-one exactly like we planned on to get those guys reps.

“I’m really proud of the way Stetson’s handled himself. Nobody’s been better to the University of Georgia than Stetson Bennett in terms of his work. He doesn’t get as many reps as a lot of other guys, so I was proud of him and his success today.”