Georgia football starting quarterback Stetson Bennett has a big decision to make — should he come back for one more season or ride into the sunset as a Bulldog hero?
Bennett led the Dawgs to their first national championship in 41-years, and while I’m a massive fan of his and appreciate all that he has done for the university, it’s time for him to retire and go out on top.
There is nothing left for him to prove at Georgia or any other university. He did what no other former walk-on quarterback has ever done and proved it doesn’t matter if you work hard and take advantage of opportunities.
It’s understandable why he wants to play one more year, but why risk the legacy and what he did this season for one more football season?
Stetson Bennett needs to hang up the cleats and leave as the Georgia football legend he is.
This article isn’t bashing Bennett or anything like that. Instead, it’s an opinion about why this young man needs to realize when to stop and enjoy what he accomplished. Bennett did something Aaron Murray, Matthew Stafford, Jake Fromm and so many other quarterbacks couldn’t do, but what else is there left to do?
His dad, mother, Todd Monken, brother, or anyone close enough to him need to sit down and say. You did what you wanted to do as a child. Now it’s time to make the right decision and secure your legacy. They need to help him make this tough decision because, regardless, it’s putting himself in a tight situation and the coaches at Georgia.
If the coaching staff tells him it’s in his best interest to transfer, it looks like they threw away the prodigal son, but if they allow him to stay, what kind of damage would that do to the quarterback room?
Head coach Kirby Smart needs to handle this situation delicately because it could turn ugly if he doesn’t, but at the same time, college football is a business, and he wants to repeat and contend again in 2022.
Now that Georgia won the national title, the urge to win another one will be there, and it’s time to evolve the offense because what happened in 2021 was remarkable and would be incredibly hard to mimic, especially at his position. Quarterbacks in today’s college football are a different breed, and yes, Bennett beat the Heisman Trophy winner, but each year presents a different challenge.
What if Bennett gets beat out by one of the other quarterbacks, or he doesn’t have the same results?
Sure, that is football, but he can avoid that by going out on top and enjoying this ride because Bennett will get treated like a superstar for the rest of his life if he is in Athens.
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Bennett became a living legend overnight, but how can he forget about the hate and ridicule he received all season from half of the fan base each time he made a mistake. Those comments won’t stop just because he won a national title. The fans would cross him the first time he throws an interception or makes a mistake next year.
Some may say that wouldn’t be the case, but we saw just how quick people were to want JT Daniels in when Bennett didn’t live up to their standards this season. He is the golden child right now in Athens, and it’ll be that way for the rest of his life because it was the first title in 41 years, so he should enjoy that.
I’m not saying he couldn’t do the same thing as he did this year, but next year’s team may not look the same as 2021 with players hitting the transfer portal and guys going to the NFL. While Bennett is more than capable of playing quarterback at Georgia or somewhere else, why would he want to risk ruining his reputation by playing another season?
Sometimes leaving a sport, we love is hard, especially for someone like Bennett, who has had to prove so many people wrong. However, Bennett has nothing left to prove. He won the holy grail and was the MVP. What else could Bennett possibly want to do?
Again, we’re team Mailman, but we also want him to realize that it’s okay to go out on top. It’s okay for him to pass the torch because no one will forget him.
He left his mark on the Georgia football program, and now it’s time for him to live his life as the legend he is. If he wants to be around football that bad, why not offer a grad assistant role or something like that?