Tramel's ScissorTales: Georgia QB Stetson Bennett IV proves his worth with help from Todd Monken
Kirby Smart walked into the SoFi Stadium coach’s room after Georgia’s 65-7 rout of Texas Christian in Inglewood, California, on Monday night.
And Smart saw his 10-year-old son, Andrew, bawling.
“I'm like, ‘Oh no, somebody's hurt his feelings,’” Smart said. “Somebody's thrown him down or done something to him. I said, ‘Why are you crying? You're going to ruin my moment.’”
Then Smart discovered the root of Andrew’s dismay.
The tears were at the thought of Stetson Bennett IV having quarterbacked his final Georgia game.
“He said (mimics crying), ‘Stetson is leaving. He's going to go,’” Smart relayed. “I said, ‘He’s 25 years old. He's got to go. He's got to leave.’”
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You can’t blame Bulldogs of every ilk for lamenting the loss of Bennett, who in a span of 17 months went from massively-doubted to greatest quarterback in school history, leading back-to-back national title teams.
Give credit to Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who was Mike Gundy’s OSU offensive coordinator in 2011-12 and later was the same for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Coach Monken does an unbelievable job in that room,” Smart said. “And he did an unbelievable job with Stetson. And the fact that he's playing in an NFL offense with an NFL coordinator who coached NFL quarterbacks, should tell people he's not going to get marbles in his mouth when he's spitting out seven-word calls. And a lot of NFL teams like that.”
Bennett certainly is better than most thought he would be. In the rout of TCU, Georgia had plenty of wide-open receivers. Bennett also delivered some passes so on target that they were caught despite Horned Frogs draped all over the receivers.
Bennett’s numbers combined in four playoff games during Georgia’s back-to-back march to titles: 78 of 115 passing; 1,239 yards; 12 touchdowns and one interception.
No wonder Andrew Smart was crying.
Bennett’s story is well-told. Coming out of high school in Pierce County, Georgia, Bennett had Division I-A scholarship offers from the likes of Massachusetts and Middle Tennessee. Instead, he went to the University of Georgia without a scholarship, in 2017.
After one season — Georgia's Rose Bowl team, when the Bulldogs beat OU, a year in which Bennett didn’t play — he transferred to Ellis County Junior College in Mississippi. After that 2018 season, Bennett was headed to Louisiana-Lafayette, but he got a Georgia scholarship offer when Justin Fields transferred to Ohio State.
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So Bennett was Jake Fromm’s backup in 2019. In 2020, Smart was one of three quarterbacks to start games for Georgia — joining D’Wan Mathis and J.T. Daniels — and the Bulldog offense wasn’t great.
Daniels started the 2021 season opener. But Bennett took over after a Daniels injury, and Georgia has gone 28-1 since.
“Stetson speaks for himself, the way he leads and prepares,” Smart said. “His mental makeup is such of a quarterback that believes he can make every throw and what he did tonight was truly amazing.
“Probably had his best game of his career, in my opinion, with some of the checks he made, some of the decisions he made, just really elite.”
Smart noted Bennett’s play when TCU all-out blitzed, early second quarter, when this still was a game, Georgia leading 17-7. The Bulldogs faced 3rd-and-10, but Bennett deked TCU linebacker Dee Winters, got outside and scrambled 12 yards for a first down. The Bulldogs scored five plays later, and the rout was on.
“Takes a phenomenal athlete,” Smart said. “He knew what was coming and he set the guy up … and when you have a quarterback that can do the protections and check things and know what the defense is doing, yet still beat you with your feet, you've got a high-level quarterback. And people have slept on Stetson Bennett for too long. He needs an opportunity to play for a long time at the next level.”
Bennett seems the equal of Alabama’s Mac Jones, who has spent the last two seasons as the New England Patriots’ starter, but what do I know?
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Does Georgia have another Bennett just waiting on a chance? The Bulldogs haven’t gone to the transfer portal for a quarterback.
Their 2022 backup was Carson Beck, who led the Bulldogs’ final two touchdown drives vs. TCU. And former OU commit Brock Vandagriff was third-team this season.
“We've got some good quarterbacks in there,” Smart said, also referring to Gunner Stockton. “So those three guys will get to battle it out. And they'll learn a lot.”
Will they learn to be Stetson? Georgians now are hailing Bennett as the greatest QB in school history. Better than future head coach Ray Goff. Or 1980 national champion Buck Belue. Or 1950s star Zeke Bratkowski. Or NFL legend Fran Tarkenton. Or Super Bowl winner Matthew Stafford.
“It makes me proud of what I've accomplished when I hear that, because it means I've done some things right, but I don't know if it's accurate or not,” Bennett said.
“I grew up watching (Aaron) Murray and Stafford and (D.J.) Shock(ley) and (David) Greene. And who's to say? Those dudes were all amazing.
“But hopefully in 15 years there's some kid out there who is being a stud and he remembers watching us play.”
Kirby Smart’s son is a kid who seems like he’ll remember watching Stetson Bennett IV play.
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Thunder 3-point shooting shines
The Thunder keeps climbing the NBA’s statistical chart for 3-point shooting. OKC is shooting 35.7 percent from deep, 16th-best in the 30-team NBA.
That’s remarkable progress for a franchise that has ranked 30th and 29th the last two seasons. OKC ranked 17th in 3-point shooting, .355, in 2019-20, the Chris Paul year. But the three seasons before that, OKC ranked 22nd, 24th and 30th.
It’s difficult to win in the modern NBA without good 3-point shooting.
The last time the Thunder ranked this high or shot this well was 2013-14, when OKC ranked 14th and shot 36.1 percent from deep. That’s the Thunder team that went 59-23 and lost to a great San Antonio team in a six-game Western Conference Finals.
The Thunder’s current shooting has been helped by the arrival of Isaiah Joe, who is shooting 44.4 percent from deep and taking 3.8 such shots per game.
But much of the team improvement is straight individual improvement.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shot 30 percent last season. This season, he’s back up to a respectable .343.
Luguentz Dort entered the season a career .333 3-point shooter. He’s raised that to .346.
Josh Giddey shot a horrendous .263 last season as a rookie. He’s up to .355 this season.
Aleksej Pokusevski shot .285 from 3-point range his first two seasons. He’s up to .376 this season.
Second-year center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has improved from .352 as a rookie to .382 this season.
Kenrich Williams shot a breakout .444 from deep two years ago, then slumped to .339 last season. Now he’s back to .431.
Aaron Wiggins shot .304 as a rookie; now he’s at .407.
The Thunder players shooting poorly are either rookies (Ousmane Dieng .294, Santa Clara Williams .287, Eugene Omoruyi .276) or players you expect to shoot better (Tre Mann .304).
Such shooting has allowed the Thunder, one of the youngest teams in NBA history, to at least be decent offensively. The Thunder is tied for 18th in offensive efficiency.
The Thunder reaches the midpoint of its season after its game Tuesday night in Miami. If OKC can keep shooting in the second half like it has shot in the first half, the Thunder’s ascension will accelerate.
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The List: 2023 national title odds
The ink wasn’t even dry on Georgia’s 2022 national title when Las Vegas released odds on the 2023 national champion. Here the odds, as determined by betonline.ag:
1. Georgia 3/1
2. Alabama 6/1
3. Ohio State 17/2
4. Southern Cal 12/1
4. Michigan 12/1
6. Louisiana State 14/1
7. Florida State 18/1
8. Clemson 20/1
8. Penn State 20/1
10. Notre Dame 28/1
10. Tennessee 28/1
12. Oregon 33/1
12. Texas 33/1
12. Washington 33/1
15. Texas Christian 50/1
15. Utah 50/1
17. Oklahoma 66/1
17. Texas A&M 66/1
19. North Carolina 100/1
19. Oregon State 100/1
19. Wisconsin 100/1
22. Ole Miss 125/1
22. UCLA 125/1
24. Florida 150/1
24. Iowa 150/1
24. Kansas State 150/1
24. Kentucky 150/1
24. Miami 150/1
24. Minnesota 150/1
24. Mississippi State 150/1
24. South Carolina 150/1
32. Oklahoma State 200/1
32. Arkansas 200/1
32. Baylor 200/1
32. Louisville 200/1
32. North Carolina State 200/1
32. Tulane 200/1
38. Colorado 250/1
38. Illinois 250/1
38. Maryland 250/1
38. Michigan State 250/1
38. Missouri 250/1
38. Purdue 250/1
44. Iowa State 275/1
45. Pittsburgh 275/1
45. Syracuse 275/1
45. Texas Tech 275/1
45. West Virginia 275/1
49. Arizona State 300/1
49. Duke 300/1
49. Kansas 300/1
49. Virginia Tech 300/1
49. Wake Forest 300/1
54. Georgia Tech 400/1
54. Washington State 400/1
56. Arizona 500/1
56. Boston College 500/1
56. California 500/1
56. Cincinnati 500/1
56. Houston 500/1
56. Indiana 500/1
56. Northwestern 500/1
56. Virginia 500/1
56. Vanderbilt 500/1
56. Stanford 500/1
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Mailbag: Georgia-TCU blowout
Georgia routed TCU 65-7 in the national championship game Monday night, and some OU loyalists found a silver lining.
Max: “The best part of the game this year, it wasn’t us.”
Tramel: True. OU hasn’t been on the wrong side of 65-7, but the Sooners know what a playoff blowout feels like. USC 55-16. LSU 63-28.
Here’s another silver lining. OU was scheduled to host Georgia this September. That game was scrapped a few months ago, because the return game was set for 2031, by which time the Sooners will be in the SEC.
It’s a total bummer for college football. OU’s non-conference schedule for 2023 now consists of Arkansas State, Southern Methodist and at Tulsa. Yuck.
Georgia’s non-conference schedule consists of Tennessee-Martin, Ball State, Alabama-Birmingham and at Georgia Tech. Double yuck.
But it works well for Brent Venables’ rebuilding. I don’t know if anyone in crimson is hankering for a junkyard fight with Georgia.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Georgia football: Stetson Bennett IV credits Bulldogs OC Todd Monken
