The anti-anti-anti-Bennettites

Well, shit.  I guess it turns out I’m the asshole for posting this.  Because it’s perfectly reasonable for folks to show their ass as they did in the above social media gripes.

… I believe it’s perfectly acceptable for Georgia fans to appreciate what Stetson has accomplished in his career at Georgia and also desire a Heisman/NFL caliber quarterback to start in 2022. In fact, many respected members of the college football media consider that to be the most reasonable perspective and nothing to get heated over.

Well, then.  Allow me to retort, Mr. Reasonable.

First off, there was plenty of vitriol (again, see the above) offered by Georgia fans suggesting that Bennett didn’t accomplish anything worth appreciating.  But, even if we take those folks off the table, the first question has to be who’s the Heisman/NFL caliber quarterback on Georgia’s roster right now ready to start next season?  I mean, I’m not saying there isn’t one, just that if there is, nobody but the coaches has seen him so far.

Perhaps that’s a reason why there’s been a ton of Internet chatter in the past few days about the coaching staff making a run at Caleb Williams.

Second, while we’ve heard Stetson’s decision, I haven’t heard Kirby Smart or Todd Monken anoint him as Georgia’s 2022 starter.  Maybe I’ve missed something, but I doubt it.  In fact, my bet is one lesson Smart has taken away from this past season, right or wrong, is naming a starting quarterback in the preseason isn’t the way to go.  Given that, why wouldn’t the quarterback who finished fourth in national passer rating and out-dueled the Heisman Trophy winner to win a national championship game announcing his return be a cause for celebration if you’re a Georgia fan?

Third, why should we assume that we’ve seen Stetson Bennett’s ceiling?  It’s not like he didn’t improve from 2020 to 2021 (and, yes, if you’re willing to cite Bennett’s 2020 performance in Tuscaloosa as evidence that he’s unfit to start, it’s fair to make that general comparison).

No, there’s no guarantee he’ll continue to improve.  Just like there’s no guarantee Vandagriff, Beck or — if you really want to stretch it — Stockton will, either.  That’s what the preseason is for.  And, with regard to that, macondawg makes an excellent point about Bennett’s chances.

… bear in mind that Bennett still hasn’t had a spring practice or fall camp in Athens during which he actually took the majority of first team reps. This is I think the most mind-boggling aspect of the 2021 season vis-a-vis QB play. Last spring Stetson Bennett was taking 5% or so of the reps in team situations and was still sharp enough to be one of the nation’s most reliable passers when the season started. Of the 85 total pass attempts during the G Day Game Bennett had 4 of them (Carson Beck threw 31, Brock Vandagriff 9). With a full spring and fall to work with his receiving corps he should be even better.

Third, Todd Monken should be in a better position to play to Bennett’s strengths than he was in 2021. Especially early this offense was designed around JT Daniels’ strengths: pocket passing, sparing play action, and absolutely no rollouts or designed QB runs. Monken deserves an incredible amount of credit for realizing what he could do with Bennett and getting it installed on the fly during the course of a season. Oh, and producing the #9 ranked scoring offense in the country (38.9 ppg) in the process.

That’s what really gets me about this debate, if you want to know the truth.  Ultimately, it’s not about Bennett himself.  It’s about Smart and Monken.  As I posted yesterday, if they haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt after delivering Georgia’s first national championship in over four decades, when will they ever?

Look, I get that Bennett has his limitations.  Macondawg categorized them accurately:  “Stetson Bennett does have some concrete physical limitations that cannot be overcome. He’s not getting any taller. He’s not likely to add a great deal more velocity on his throws at this stage. He doesn’t “have all the throws” to use a scouting term.”  What exactly did that cost Georgia this season, though?  And, more relevantly, what exactly will that mean going forward in 2022?

But he did complete 64.5% of his passes for 2862 yards in 2021. The guy’s no stiff. It’s no stretch to say that every team in the SEC save Alabama (Bryce Young) will be returning a quarterback with a lower floor than Georgia in 2022. Stetson Bennett continues to be an unbelievable insurance policy for the UGA offense.

Exactly!  If he wins the job, fine.  If he’s beaten out by another quarterback on the current roster or in the transfer portal as I type this, that’s fine, too.  Either way, Georgia will in a great place with regard to the quarterback spot.  All any of us should care about is that the same coaches who achieved the ultimate in 2021 show the same careful consideration about building the team in 2022.  That, and not some bullshit about Smart already deciding 2022 is a throwaway year, is the reasonable perspective for now.

If you can’t see that, you’re doing this fan thing wrong.  Again, to quote macondawg here,

There are no guarantees in life or college football. That’s why I’m delighted that Georgia is somehow in a much better quarterback situation than I thought they would be in at this point when 2021 started. I assumed that JT Daniels would start, and either Georgia would put it all together finally or they wouldn’t. And either way he’d be off to the NFL, leaving Beck, Vandagriff, and Stockton to battle it out.

Georgia now has those guys plus the reigning MVP of the Orange Bowl and CFP National Championship Game returning. If you can’t view that as a positive then we really need to have a deeper discussion about reality versus perfection. In a perfect world puppies never die, parking meters never expire, and you have an endless, perfectly spaced line of elite five star quarterbacks ready to lay it on the line for your college football program.

That’s not reality. The reality is that Georgia now has a solid veteran quarterback, at least two promising underclassmen, and proof of concept to lure more talented players at the position.

Amen.  Georgia’s reality is better than all but a few programs out there.  Don’t get your panties in a wad over it.  And don’t try to rationalize those who do.