Georgia football had an unfortunate news break Tuesday evening that JT Daniels tested positive for COVID-19, meaning he will go into quarantine and cannot practice with the team for now.
With the Orange Bowl semifinal game against Michigan just nine days away, this news couldn’t come at a worse time.
Since the Alabama debacle at the beginning of December, no, since Daniels seemed to be clear from injury, Dawg fans debated whether current starting quarterback Stetson Bennett should continue to have the job or if Daniels should start.
According to the UGA Rivals site, Daniels could be back in time for the Orange Bowl game, but at that point, would head coach Kirby Smart put him in over a guy who practiced with the team as the prepared?
Georgia football will have no choice but to start Stetson Bennett against the Wolverines.
Thankfully, it appears Daniels has a mild case, and it seems he is the only positive case thus far, but still, it’s hard to believe Smart would risk starting him over the Mailman. Granted, the Dawgs could send Daniels tape every day, and he could mentally prepare for the gameplan, just not get any physical reps with the team, but that doesn’t help his case.
Whether fans want Bennett starting or not, the Mailman seems to be the only logical choice right now in starting quarterback for the semifinal game. It’s hard to trust that Daniels would have enough time to build the repertoire it takes to get in sync with the wideouts.
Yes, he has gotten to once cleared again, but there have been miscues between him and the receivers in game-time situations.
Plus, being sick depletes your energy, so unless Smart wants to start a newcomer in Brock Vandagriff or look to Carson Beck, who hadn’t impressed when he played, it will be Bennett.
It absolutely sucks to see something like this happen to Daniels, but when playing a team like Michigan, Smart simply cannot take that risk.
This season, Bennett has done a great job getting the Dawgs where they are now. Regardless of what happened in the Alabama game, it’s hard to dismiss that Bennett helped get Georgia to a 12-0 regular-season finish, an 8-0 SEC record, and accurately do it.
Bennett has completed 148-of-231 passes for 2,325 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He completes 64.07% of his passes and has a 176.84 quarterback rating.
The senior has some tendencies, but with a month to regroup and regain that confidence we’ve seen him have all season, there is no reason to question whether or not Bennett can get the win.
Bennett needs to remember he can play football and trust his decisions. When he stops trusting himself is when mistakes happen. Plus, he finally has a team as healthy as they can get it, so why not run with it and prove half the fanbase and most of college football wrong.
Daniels has gotten dealt a tough hand this season, but at the same time, the Dawgs are in the playoffs with a chance to play for another national championship. We wish Daniels a speedy recovery, and we know from this season, Daniels will help Bennett get ready and be there for him no matter what.