“One of the greatest stories you’ll ever see” — Josh Pate makes case for Rams’ Stetson Bennett for CFB Hall of Fame
Stetson Bennett achieved a lot with the Georgia Bulldogs. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback won the national championship in consecutive years with Kirby Smart’s team. Now CBS Sports' Josh Pate has made a case for him to get into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Speaking on his show "Late Kick," Pate said that Bennett did things with Georgia that haven't been done in ages. He traced the QB’s journey from Georgia to a junior college and back and also pointed out that he was actually a walk-on.
Here is what college football analyst Josh Pate had to say about Stetson Bennett deserving a College Football Hall of Fame title:
“Stetson Bennett belongs to the College Football Hall of Fame. Are you people high? He does things for a storied program that haven't been done in generations. He’s a walk-on, who gets tossed on the scrapheap, goes to Juco, does nothing of note in Juco, comes back, fights his way, stays on the depth chart, things happen, and he’s inserted as the starter, and all he does is win."
Pate then addressed the idea that the QB only managed to win because the Georgia roster was loaded at the time:
“You know which other season Georgia was loaded? Pretty much every other year. They were loaded last year, where’s the national championship ring? They were loaded before Stetson Bennett got there, where are the national championship rings if it's so easy to do it? It's one of the greatest stories you’ll ever see in the sport.”
According to Pate, every prospect who is not a four- or five-star athlete should take notice of Bennett's story.
A look at Stetson Bennett’s achievements with the Georgia Bulldogs
Stetson Bennett had two separate stints at Georgia. He first joined the program in 2017 but soon left for Jones County Junior College in search of regular playing time. Even when he returned in 2019 after Justin Fields left for Ohio State, the QB had to wait to be named the starter. He got that chance in 2021 after JT Daniels got injured, and he never looked back.
Bennett led the Bulldogs to a national title in his first season as a starter with the team, posting an unbeaten record in the regular season. It was Georgia’s first national title since 1980.
He repeated the feat in the 2022-23 season and was named as a Heisman finalist that year. Although he lost the Heisman race to USC’s Caleb Williams, the QB set a program record for most passing yards in a single season with 4,127. Does all this make him a deserving candidate for the College Football Hall of Fame?