The underdog story of
Stetson Bennett stole the show Monday night during Georgia's 33-18 win over Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
The undersized, overachieving quarterback rebounded from an early fourth-quarter turnover and deficit with two touchdown passes — 40 yards to
Adonai Mitchell and 15 yards to
Brock Bowers. Bennett finished with 224 passing yards to help give Georgia its first national title in 41 years.
"I just knew there was going to be no way we were going to let a turnover like that stop us from winning a national championship," Bennett said told ESPN after the game. "There was no way. I wasn't going to let that happen. ... You put as much time as we do in this thing, blood, sweat, tears. It means something."
Leading the comeback win is one thing, but Bennett's relentless drive and Rocky/Rudy-like tale is what prep coaches will be feeding their players for years to come.
Bennett was a 5-foot-11, 175-pound walk-on to Georgia. A junior college transfer. A scout team quarterback, buried deep on the depth chart behind five-star, can't-miss prospects.
Stetson Bennett always had his eye on the ultimate prize.
File photo by Chris Collins/247Sports
Nicknamed "The Mailman," Bennett kept delivering. He outworked and outplayed his competition to earn the starting spot, his team's trust and ultimately MVP honors of college football's ultimate game. A week earlier he was offensive MVP of the Capital One Orange Bowl in a 34-11 semifinal win over Michigan.
Bennett was also one of three finalists for the 2021 Burlsworth Trophy, presented to the country's most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on.
It helped that Bennett was so focused to lead the Georgia offense. It was his dream since he was a second-grader.
"I love this place," he said Monday on the podium. "I love this team. I believe in myself. I think I'm the best quarterback. I just love everything about this place and I wanted to win a national championship here."
That was music to the ears out in California for
De La Salle (Concord) coach Justin Alumbaugh, who got fired up Monday watching Bennett even though he was rooting for one of his former players, Alabama starting inside linebacker
Henry To'oTo'o.
"It was gratifying as a coach to watch that type of play and know what (Bennett) has gone through," Alumbaugh said. "So many kids see adversity now and see it as an obstacle rather than an opportunity."
Alumbaugh's team, a perennial state and national power which once won a national record 151 games in a row, regularly features players who fight their way up the ranks to earn starting roles. Especially along the offensive and defensive lines.
"To see him grind his way to success was great to see," Alumbaugh said.
At Pierce County, Bennett passed for more than 9,000 yards — 11th in Georgia high school history — and 95 touchdowns. He piled up more than 4,200 yards and 46 touchdowns his senior season, was second team Class 3A All-State and Regional Offensive Player of the Year for the 9-4 Bears. Blessed with excellent feet and speed, he was also a baseball and basketball standout.
His football coach Sean Pender told the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Bennett got FCS and Division II offers, but Power 5 schools were scared off by his "measurables." Pender never was.
"Stetson was the best quarterback I've ever had," Pender said. "Sometimes, if you don't fit within that mark, you're just not going to get recruited as heavily."
But Bennett was right on the mark when it counted most on Monday, and now he's on every prep coach's radar.
"He's setting an example for all those kids who aren't 6-foot-4 or have all the tools of being a start Division I quarterback," Pierce County Superintendent Terri DeLoach told the AJ-C. "He's going to have a legacy and a testimony that he'll be able to give to other people."
That was never Bennett's intent. He just wanted to play and win a championship.
"I hope it gives somebody a little hope," Bennett said after the game. "Just keep fighting. Keep your mouth shut. Work hard. Life's tough and you just gotta fight through it."
