Link to Article on The Red & Black
By Olivia Sayer
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett (13) runs with the ball. The University of Georgia football team ended the game against the Auburn University football team 42-10 on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. (Photo/Cassidy Hettesheimer)
Les Snead sat in a classroom at Auburn University in the early 1990’s. As a walk-on tight end, the now-general manager of the Los Angeles Rams dreaded the Tigers’ Tuesday practices due to “battle of the boards,” a drill that featured no shortage of pounding and hitting.
After class, Snead suited up into the armor of the school he dreamed about playing for and partook in the football program’s “toughest work day of the week.” In what could be described as a “reverse tug of war,” the players attempted to push each other off the boards in order to build physical toughness and tenacity.
Stetson Bennett began his Georgia career with similar experiences — giving his all in practice for the betterment of the team he grew up rooting for. As a walk-on quarterback, Bennett participated in no shortage of “Bloody Tuesdays,” the Bulldogs’ equivalent of “battle of the boards.”
advanced far beyond just being a walk-on, and after several seasons as Georgia’s starting quarterback, it was Snead and the Rams that gave him a chance to play professional football.
Back in the saddle
After Bennett led Georgia to its first national championship in 41 years, he had a decision to make. The quarterback could either go out on top or try to win the title again for the Bulldogs. Snead said the decision to do the latter impressed the Rams to the point of selecting Bennett in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
“That last year is very impressive because if you’re Stetson, you could have probably walked into the sunset after that first national title and never played again, done whatever you want,” Snead told The Red & Black. “You choose to get back on the saddle.”
Returning also allowed Bennett to have a full season as the Bulldogs’ starter. NFL teams noticed his improvement, as Snead said Bennett transitioned from “managing the game to actually helping Georgia win the games.”
“He started [as number] 86, and he finished as QB1,” Snead said. “Not only does he finish as QB1, but wow, we forgot about Buck Belue and Herschel Walker.”
Bennett also had more film for teams to analyze with an additional season under center. Snead said Bennett’s whole body of work stood out to the Rams throughout the scouting process, along with his mobility and ability to create plays off-schedule. Snead also liked how Bennett’s catchable passes and timing allowed players to gain yards after the catch.
“One of those players, based on the story, that you pull for,” Snead said. “And then when you pull back the curtain and really study, you go, wow, there’s some skills here that could translate to the NFL.”
An element of exhaustion
While Bennett’s decision to return paid dividends for his NFL career, it also put him under a microscope. Every mistake the quarterback made was heightened by the fact he played for a national championship-caliber program, and as Snead put it, finishing anywhere but on top would be “looked at as a bust.”
The expectations, pressure and scrutiny surrounding Bennett’s time at Georgia created an “element of exhaustion.” It resulted in him taking an absence from football during his rookie year with the Rams.
“You think about what he went through and this day and time with how big this industry is, while you do whatever it takes just to start at Georgia,” Snead said. “And not only do you start and you play well, we’re playing for an SEC championship and playing for a national title. You do that, then you come back and do that all over again.”
Recognizing everything Bennett had been through — walking-on, transferring to a junior college, transferring back to Georgia, becoming a backup, gaining the starting role, losing the starting role, gaining the starting role again — Snead said the Rams believed it was good timing for Bennett to have a breather.
“There’s an element of stress and drudgery that all humans go through,” Snead said. “Like a sprinter who runs a 400, 800 or runs a mile, there’s that moment where a human body definitely needs a chance to deload.”
It just means more…positive draft grades
The main criticism around Bennett was his small stature. In the NFL, shorter quarterbacks are at a disadvantage because they cannot see over their offensive lineman. However, Snead said playing in the SEC, where offensive and defensive lineman are similar sizes to the NFL, showed the Rams that Bennett’s height would not be an issue.
“The way offensive coordinators are designing schemes these days, you’re able to overcome that [shorter height],” Snead said. “So he did show that he could overcome that lack of height.”
The film only plays a small part in scouting, as many teams rely on conversations with others to learn about players. For Snead, growing up in the south built numerous relationships with coaches such as Kirby Smart, Stacy Searels and Will Muschamp — who was a graduate assistant at Auburn with Snead and the two “kind of grew up together.”
Snead relied on these coaches when scouting Bennett and appreciated the honesty they provided. When coaches are truthful about a player’s strengths and weaknesses, it allows the organization to know who it is investing in, which Snead said leads to a “better chance for success.”
“When you know on the front end, it really helps an organization go, ‘Ok, we’re taking this player because of the strengths, and we’re well aware of the weaknesses’,” Snead said. We’re going to help that player try to overcome those weaknesses, or in our schemes, those weaknesses aren’t necessarily going to come to fruition and be weaknesses.”
For Bennett, Snead said the biggest improvement the Rams focused on was absorbing the NFL playbook. Snead said Georgia’s is “relatively sophisticated,” while the NFL playbook is “more complex and sophisticated,” leading to a greater challenge for all college quarterbacks.
“When you’re playing that video game and you get to the next level, things just happen a little bit faster,” Snead said. “And maybe there’s a little more complexity, and you got to calibrate to that speed of the game.”
Back to No. 86
At Georgia, Bennett portrayed the confidence of a Baker Mayfield type. However, with the Rams, Snead said the NFL ecosystem placed him back at “number 86.”
Despite being lower on the totem pole, Snead said Bennett still switches from his “Monday through Saturday” personality to show the conviction on Sundays he possessed with the Bulldogs.
“I would say efficacy is this — you know, you can go do this,” Snead said. “It’s not ok, I think I can. It’s not, I’m going to act confident. It’s, I know I can go do this. And [with] those players, usually good football comes to fruition on game days.”
On game days, Bennett is currently the backup to former Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford while Jimmy Garoppolo serves his two-game suspension.