Georgia’s quarterback concerns were totally overblown

So we made a big deal out of nothing with Georgia football’s quarterbacking situation.

Georgia football may not have an issue at the quarterback position any more.

After looking rough in the first half of their season opener last week vs. the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Georgia Bulldogs looked thoroughly dominant with Stetson Bennett IV under center for them. Bennett made his first career start against Georgia’s oldest rival in the signature game of the week and played like a guy with a dozen or more SEC starts under his belt. He was terrific.

Georgia can win big with Stetson Bennett IV as its starting quarterback in 2020.

Bennett completed 17-of-28 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 8.6 yards per attempt and simply outplayed Auburn’s starting quarterback Bo Nix from opening kickoff. Though he didn’t get to make plays with his legs like he did against Arkansas last week when he took over for an ineffective D’Wan Mathis, his mobility allowed him to extend plays from the pocket.

Having the best defense in college football playing opposite him, as well as dominating rushing attack headlined by Zamir White, Bennett can play with a calm, cool and collected demeanor this offense requires and team needs out of its quarterback. He completed passes to seven different receivers, including Kearis Jackson nine times for 147 yards and George Pickens for a touchdown.

Though Auburn may not be good, it’s pretty clear that Bennett is more than just a game manger running Todd Monken’s offense. He’s not afraid to let it rip, as illustrated by his 49-yard completion to Jackson. When the pass rush gets to him, he doesn’t panic and bail on the nice pocket his offensive line created for him like Nix does with Auburn. Bennett plays with poise.

Even if he’s not a top-four passer in the SEC, he did look better than the two guys he was up against in the last two weeks. It’s not like Feleipe Franks or Nix were making their first career starts at a Power 5 school. Let’s be real for a second. How many SEC quarterbacks are truly better than Bennett at this point for certain? Kyle Trask for sure and maybe K.J. Costello or Mac Jones.

It’s still early in the season, but the Dawgs’ passing game has looked more promising under Bennett than it did any point last year. A lot of it has to do with Monken coordinating the offense and not letting James Coley run it into the ground. However, Bennett is playing about as well as Jake Fromm did during his peak days at Georgia. Is this sustainable out of Bennett? We’ll see.

Georgia can beat Tennessee with Bennett, maybe hang with Alabama for all we know with him.

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