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The story was first published in October 2020. It has been updated.
In the summer of 2004, when his family moved to southeast Georgia from suburban Atlanta, Stetson Bennett III took his oldest son and namesake to see the high school football stadium while they waited for the trucks to arrive.
"It's a little small," Bennett said.
His father told him that they would have to make it bigger.
The son of Stetson Bennett IV was in the first grade.
Bennett IV couldn't ask for a bigger stage when he was in Brantley County back then. The College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T for the national title will be played on Monday, 8 p.m., with Georgia and Alabama playing for the title.
Doug Murray is a sportswire.
Do I know that it means a lot to a lot of people? Bennett said Monday. "Yes." Is it possible that I am trying to be a savior by winning a national championship? No. I don't think that's my job.
Bennett's path from lightly recruited high school prospect to preferred walk-on to junior college and then back to Georgia was because most college coaches believed he was too small to succeed at the highest level.
Despite leading Pierce County High School to three consecutive state playoff appearances and throwing for 3,724 yards, running for 500 more and scoring 40 total touchdown as a senior, his only FBS scholarship offer came from Middle Tennessee State. He was too light and short for the programs that wanted him, but the coaches at the FBS thought he was too short.
"Growing up in a small town in Georgia is hard to be seen," his father said. It's easy to be discounted.
Bennett III did everything he could to make sure his son had a chance to play college football. While his pharmacy was being built in Nahunta, Georgia, he leveled an adjoining lot for a football field.
The field was only 80 yards long and one of the end zones was in the middle of Highway 82. Footballs and players were not allowed to run into traffic.
Bennett III welded the two shipping containers together after cutting off one side. The "Hideout" was behind his pharmacy, and it was where Bennett IV and his teammates gathered almost every day.
His father said that he walked the halls of the elementary school to get kids to play. I told him he looked like he was going to be a football player if he was 30 pounds or 80.
The players ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk at the Hideout after school and then worked out and practiced. There were shelves for the players to put their equipment in.
Bennett III and other coaches lined the field with 10-yard lines. A chain gang is missing. The possession started at the 30-yard line if the kick was returned to the 32-yard line. If the next pass went 14 yards, it was backed up to the 40. Local rules can leave opponents scratching their heads.
It wasn't unusual for 100 people or so to show up when Bennett III hung a banner promoting the game from his pharmacy.
The Brantley Bandits played 34 games during Bennett IV's seventh-grade season in 2010, playing three games in one day. They finished with a 32-2 record.
Bennett IV said that it would be crazy to do that now. We traveled all over the place.
The Bennett family has a picture of the father and son at the Georgia-Alabama game in 2002.
Bennett IV broke down film with his head coach at the high school when he was an eighth-grader. After he threw for 455 yards against a rival school's JV team, the coach told his dad that the boy was for real. I have never seen a performance like that before. He can put it in a mailbox.
The "Mailman" was a legend. Bennett IV was given a U.S. Postal Service hat by his teammate, whose father was the mayor of the nearby town.
"We started calling him the Mailman," said Kicklighter. "He liked it and everyone else liked it, so it stuck."
Bennett IV wore a blue Postal Service hat in an attempt to stand out.
He desperately wanted a Power 5 scholarship.
Bennett said that sometimes he didn't understand it because he thought he was smarter than the other guys. I didn't know what was happening. You just get used to it and then say, "Well, you've just got to show them sometimes."
He said height was the only reason his quarterback wasn't recruited more heavily.
He was always smaller than 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 He was fast, witty and had a gunslinger's mentality. He didn't dwell on the mistakes and moved on. He has that knack. Some kids have that 'it' factor. He has it.
Bennett's father and mother both attended Georgia, and Bennett grew up watching the games. UGA's coaches didn't seem interested.
When Richard LeCounte told Kirby Smart about the quarterback, that changed. Bennett and Davis Mills were both rated the country's top quarterback by at least two recruiting services.
"Davis Mills might be the best quarterback in the country, but he's only second best in Class A," LeCounte told Smart. I've played against both of them, and Stetson Bennett is better.
The nickname "Mailman" was earned by Stetson Bennett IV because of his accuracy throwing the football.
Bennett was a preferred walk-on and ran the scout-team offense. He was praised by Georgia's defense after mimicking Baker Mayfield in preparation for the Rose Bowl.
"Stetson Bennett is a beast," Mel Tucker said at the time. He puts a lot of pressure on our defense because he is fast and can throw. He can throw in the pocket and he can throw on the run.
Bennett was honored for his work on Georgia's scout team.
Lorenzo Carter, now with the New York Giants, said Bennett made him and Roquan Smith look silly in Rose Bowl practices.
Carter said that he's a quick guy. He can outrun a lot of people. He has made me look silly. A lot of people look silly because of him.
Bennett could see the writing on the wall when Georgia signed highly regarded freshman Justin Fields to compete with returning starter Jake Fromm. He threw for 1,840 yards and 16 touchdown in his first year at Jones College.
Bennett was going to sign with Louisiana when he got a call from Pender.
If they have you, would you return to Georgia? He was asked by Pender.
Bennett said yes. It has to be different this time.
Sam Pittman was the offensive line coach at the University of Georgia and he was friendly with the man who is now coaching at the Georgia coast. Bennett was helped by Pender.
Bennett said it was to have a chance to compete for the starting job.
Bennett played behind Fromm in five games in 2019. When Fromm left for the NFL, the Georgia brought in two transfers to compete to replace him.
Bennett seemed to be out of place again. Todd Monken told him a couple of weeks before the start of preseason camp in August 2020.
Bennett said that it was frustrating, but he kept working and trying to prove them wrong. I wanted to make sure I was ready to go whenever my number was called.
In September 2020, Newman announced that he was opting out of the season because of concerns about the coronaviruses. Daniels, who had missed all but one game at USC because of a knee injury, hadn't been medically cleared to play. Bennett and D'Wan were competing for the starting job.
In the opener at Arkansas, he completed 8 of 17 passes for 55 yards with one pick up, but he looked overwhelmed. Bennett came off the bench and threw for over 200 yards and two scores, leading Georgia to a 37-10 win.
888-548-5870 888-548-5870 is confident. "He's a competitor and he's confident in himself," offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer said at the time. "Stets gives it everything he has every day." He doesn't like to lose.
Bennett was passed over again for a healthy Daniels, who started the opener. Bennett started the next week after Daniels was injured against the Tigers. Daniels, a former five-star recruit, was back in the starting lineup the next week against South Carolina after he tied a school record with five touchdown in the first half.
I can't talk to them. Bennett said he wasn't one. Those guys will get every chance to fail before a walk-on gets an opportunity to succeed. I will say that way. It's just a business. If you recruit all these five-stars and then play walk-ons over them, who will the next five-star not see? Five-stars are usually better than walk-ons. That's how it usually goes.
Bennett never gave the job back to Daniels after he injured a lat muscle in the first half against Commodores. Monken admits he probably underestimated what Bennett could do.
Monken said that he thinks Stetson has probably under valued his skill set. "We've tried to elevate guys that have talent on our roster, and we do that at every position, and some guys just combat that and fight and scratch and continue to play well and try to prove you wrong, and that's what Stetson Bennett did."
Bennett has done what Smart wanted. He has thrown for 2,638 yards, 27 touchdown and seven pick ups. He still hears the skeptics. He is a game manager. He can't compete with a five-star recruit, a current Heisman winner, and a future top NFL draft pick.
Bennett struggled when Georgia faced Alabama in the SEC title game, as the Tide jumped out to a second-half lead. It led to questions about whether Smart should go to Daniels. Bennett threw for 313 yards and three touchdown against Michigan in the Capital One Orange Bowl, setting up a second game against Alabama. In the 34-11 win, the Wolverines couldn't compete with the defense of the Bulldogs. Can Bennett do that against Will Anderson?
Bennett said after the SEC title game that there was no doubt in his mind. I knew what I had to do. It felt like I needed to play well to beat a team like Michigan. It was not to prove to me that I could play football.
Bennett will face his most difficult test on the biggest stage yet on Monday night, when he will face a game that will define the legacies of so many players.
It will take a long time to get to the tiny football stadium in southeast Georgia.
Bennett hopes that after this season, we play well enough to beat a great team. "Then hopefully every single one of us can talk about how bright those lights were, and how we didn't see them." That was pretty great.
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