Stetson Bennett keeping focus on the field as he rises on Georgia record boards

Stetson Bennett has turned into quite the quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs. He went from a walk-on as a true freshman into 2017 to the JUCO ranks in 2018, led Georgia to a National Championship in 2021 and became a Heisman finalist this season. Bennett can become a two-time national champion on Monday night, with the Bulldogs facing off against TCU for the title.

Bennett saw his first action at Georgia in 2019, and he played more and more as his career progressed. In doing so, he has seen a rise on Georgia’s all-time passing leaderboards. But as Bennett approaches some impressive marks entering his final college game, he’s keeping his focus on the field and hasn’t taken a moment to truly appreciate those feats.

“I’d say I’m as updated as I want to be,” Bennett said. “And no, not yet. We still have a season. And we’ve still got one more game left. And all that stuff will still be there after that if I do want to look at it eventually. But now’s not the time.”

Bennett enters Monday’s National Championship with 8,124 career passing yards, which ranks fifth in Georgia history and trails Jake Fromm by 100 yards. He also has 3,425 yards through the air this season, which ranks fourth all-time in Bulldogs history. Bennett can rise significantly with a strong showing on Monday, as Eric Zeier sits in second with 3,525 single season passing yards and Matthew Stafford is in third with 3,459. Aaron Murray leads the way with 3,893 yards from his 2012 campaign, and even that could seemingly be matched if Bennett has a strong night.

Furthermore, Bennett has 29 passing touchdowns this season and needs just one more to tie Fromm for third all-time with 30 single season scores. Career-wise, Bennett needs five to tie Zeier at fourth place with 67 touchdowns through the air.

The journey has been a remarkable one for Bennett. In addition to being a walk-on and transferring away earlier in his career, his job was also in question for much of last season. With JT Daniels battling injuries, Bennett became Georgia’s starting quarterback for the Bulldogs’ run to the title. Despite calls for Daniels as the starter all the way up until the championship contest, Bennett got the job done and became a national champion.

TCU might be getting a lot of the attention in regards to being an underdog, but Bennett might be the true underdog story at play on Monday. Win or lose, his story will be remembered. But if Bennett leads Georgia to a second consecutive championship, his story will become even greater.