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I like the underdogs and am tired of the usual UGA/Bama/Clemson/OSU narrative.
Having said that, in the current environment of the all egos and head-cases jerking coaches around over NIL and such, Bennett's story of a walk-on and JC transfer BACK kinda offsets the rivalry stuff with UGA for me.
Bennett has won a national championship and is on the doorstep of another. He was a Heisman finalist. And after Monday night, his football future remains uncertain.
www.espn.com
BENNETT IS COMFORTABLE talking about the past. He'll tell you all about growing up in Blackshear -- a small town in the middle of Nowhere, Georgia -- and why none of the 120-plus FBS programs offered him a scholarship coming out of high school. He put up good numbers but was only second team all-state. Not only was he not a prized recruit, he said, "there was really no threat of me ever becoming one." After one season at Georgia, five-star Justin Fields was brought in and it was clear Bennett didn't figure into the competition. "Well, that's all right," Bennett decided. "You got your guy, but I'm out of here."
So he went to a junior college in Mississippi and proved he could play, scoring 20 touchdowns and leading the school to an appearance in the MACJC conference championship game. The University of Louisiana was going to be his next stop, but Smart swooped in at the last minute with an offer to come back to Athens on scholarship. If that doesn't happen, if Bennett goes to Lafayette or transfers somewhere else, does this college football fairytale ever come to fruition?
"Who knows?" Bennett said. "But that's why it's so cool, right? Like how can you have stories if you end up exactly where you wanted to go, right? Or with following the exact plan that you planned out, right? It's life, man, and it's a lot more interesting that way."
Every time Bennett was told he wasn't good enough at UGA, he worked his azz off and proved them wrong. That's refreshing compared to the overhyped QBs that never live up to expectations these days.