Matt Hinton vaulted Stetson Bennett into second place in his SEC QB Power Rankings, and, in so doing, made what probably should have been an obvious point in the preseason.
When the NCAA waived the eligibility clock for the 2020 season, most of the intrigue focused on how the backlog of veterans opting to hang around for a 5th or 6th year would affect roster management. There was less thought to what the extra year would mean for player development. After all, the vast majority of players who move the needle never make it to the post-graduate phase of their careers before they go pro anyway, and the vast majority of players who do are probably not about to tap into some renewable well of talent in Year 5 or 6. Real life is not like Dynasty mode in a video game where the ratings are always going up.
Except in Bennett’s case … I dunno, maybe it is? The guy just keeps getting better. Against Oregon, he was in full command, leading 6 touchdown drives on 6 possessions while attempting nearly twice as many passes (31) as team runs (16). His 25 completions were spread among 8 receivers. He was 4/4 on 3rd-down conversions, 6/8 on attempts of 10+ yards downfield, and set career highs for passing yards (368), Total QBR (97.3), and overall PFF grade (90.3) vs. a Power 5 opponent. And not one from the Vanderbilt tier, either: The Ducks opened the season ranked 11th in the AP poll and 7th in 247Sport’’ Team Talent Composite, better than any other team on Georgia’s regular-season schedule on both counts.
So, sure, let’s go ahead and acknowledge there’s more talent there than most of us have been willing to give Bennett credit for. But maybe being a 24-year-old “super senior” in your 6th year on campus is a bigger advantage than most of us anticipated, too.
Georgia under Smart does that player development thing pretty well, so yeah, six years in, with three under an offensive coordinator who knows what he’s doing, then add in a full offseason as the uncontested number one guy… well, maybe we all should have seen this coming a little more clearly.
Get The Picture 
Hoped for it, didn’t expect it, but damn glad to see it! He was a beast Saturday.
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Ahh! “The Soft Bigotry of low expectations!”
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I’ll be the last sumbitch to cry racism. However, there is truth in your jocularity, BB. Southern White males, especially hillbillies and HillWilliams such as SBIV, are still fair game for overt ethnocentric criticism in the eyes of those who control that narrative.
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HillWilliams… nice. Is that short hand for silver spoon rednecks?
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I dunno, RR,
We ain’t got no hillbillies in South Georgia….
We got rednecks,
Panhandle rednecks,
and dumbasses from LA (that’s Lower Alabama for the uneducated)!!
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🎵 We got no-necked oilmen from Texas
Good ol boys from Tennessee
College men from LSU
Went in dumb, come out dumb too
Hustlin’ ‘round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
Gettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecues
…
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Harold, when I was contracting one of my gooberment “handlers” called me a hillbilly which I resented.
“I’m familiar with your home, Russ. Not mountains so you’re not a hoogie. Not flat. Rolling hills and bottom land, right? Since you were raised right and have that fancy degree AND that ugly rifle I’ll refer to you as a HillWilliam and spare your feelings.”
I prefer that to silver spoon redneck I reckon.
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LOL
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Racism, my ass!! That’s 100%, U.S.D.A., Grade ‘A’, #1, Got Papers on It, Dawggrading!!!!!!
Thank You.
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Stet as good as the stats looked, looked even better, the ball hit receivers in the hands in full stride, this lead to winning one on one matchups on the outside! Lanning pointed to that fact in his post game interview. Stets play of the game to me was the total turning his back to the line of scrimmage to complete the fake handoff (perfect David Green impression) before running around end untouched for the TD!
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Did Bobo have a hand in teaching that? Seems likely.
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Can we just not say “6th year on campus”, even? Can we acknowledge that he’s really in his third year in the program for realz and that covid limitations may have slowed his development before?
But being 24 and with the same OC for a bit, now those are factors on the good side of development, yes.
Bennett deserves all the credit in the world for willing himself into a top-tier player. Man, if he were in the Heisman running this year, that would be something.
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I want to add that my first reaction to SBIV staying was that he was going to jump the shark. You win the natty, you won, what else? But I take that back. He not deserves a victory lap, he just may create a whole new chapter where the sequel is as good as the original. Certainly can get behind that.
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I read that he is approaching $1MM in Nil money as well. So there’s that…
LOL!
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Narrator Voice: But he is in the Heisman running.
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Well…I want to see/hear more non-UGA media outlets actually call him a Heisman candidate. (Share examples if you’re hearing it?)
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I suspect that Monken made his calls, 2-1 pass to run, based upon his knowledge of Lanning’s tendencies. Monken won that chess match in a big way. I’m sure Kirby had some input also. All that “Lanning knows the Dawgs and has that advantage” talk didn’t take into account the three experienced and quite brilliant head coaches at UGA. Lanning was at a decided mental disadvantage as the score showed.
Just as in the previous years the Dawgs O will take advantage of what the opponent’s D gives them
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RR, you hit on something that not a lot of people get. Kirby, Will and Todd all have head coaching experience. Mike Bobo has head coaching experience as an analyst. Kirby and Todd have NFL experience as assistants. Even Dell McGee has big-time high school head coaching experience. B-Mac has been a coordinator plus has done some interim head coaching.
There’s a lot of decision making experience in that coaches meeting room.
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Yup… Kirby has literally left the opposition with ‘nothing’ to work with. Love Tanning and wish him the best; but he and his staff got taken to ‘school’ last Saturday.
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While I was watching the game, and from Kirby’s presser post-game, it left me wondering if the flashy pass play also had to do with “always be ‘crootin’.”
All the talk on that trail is that UGA does not use wide receivers, that airing it out only went to tight ends, running the ball first never gets receivers enough reps. I could go on, but to me it was obvious that if it could be either run or pass, they had decided to make it a pass play.
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I’ve said for months now he would have 40 TDs and stand by that. The only thing keeping him from that is we will 1-blowout most teams and 2-need to find out if Beck or Vandagriff are next.
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You touched on player development which, for me, is a greatly overlooked aspect of Georgia’s ascension to the top of college football. Just look at what Kirby and staff have done with the development of lower rated players over the last five years. It’s truly phenomenal to see players like Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, Eric Stokes, AD Mitchell, McConkey, etc. etc. of the world developed from low star ratings. That is talent evaluation excellence combined with a training staff and coaching staff all on the same page to grow and develop each player to maximize potential.
On the other hand, when you don’t have a keen evaluation and development system in place, you do what Saban has done the last few years and dip into the portal for help. Maybe all the coaching turnover in Tuscaloosa has finally caught up to Nick in terms of player development? Was there no one developed to replace Metchie and Williams? Was the OL a train wreck last year so much so that he took an OL in the portal from Vandy this year? He has dipped into the portal because he needed immediate help which is a clear indication that there is no one on his 5* roster that has been developed to earn Saban’s confidence as a starter.
And to think Kirby said this is his best staff ever. I’m going to enjoy every minute of this long and glorious ride!
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Kirby has developed something extraordinary.
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This!
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“a full offseason as the uncontested number one guy”
This is by far the biggest difference between last year and this year.
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We have a grown-ass man under center.
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Ahem, Senator, but as the denizens of Gator Nation have clearly told us time and time again, Kirby Smart has no idea how to develop talent.
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I was down there a couple weeks ago. We talked about fishing and 1911 pistols and music and hickory smoking pipes and a lot of things. Football was not a topic of conversation.
Fuck those motherfuckers.
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I’ve seen a lot of walk-ons and 3 stars play for Georgia but I’ve never seen as many become starters and major play makers like Kirby has had since day 1 at Georgia. Many of them came from necessity when the 5 stars declared or transferred. The evidence of development is tangible, too.
Honestly, I look at his staff the same way. Pretty much everyone gets coached up for when it’s next man up. It takes money and 5 stars but it also takes a HC who can assemble and lead. Imo, CKS is up there with the best right now.
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