Bennett wins Manning Award
Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett is the winner of the 2022 Manning Award, Archie Manning announced on Monday.
Bennett -a finalist for the Heisman Trophy – beat out 17 other finalists for the award, a group that included Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams, and TCU’s Max Duggan.
In three postseason games this year (the SEC Championship, CFP Semifinal, and CFP Championship), Bennett completed 64-of-88 (72.8 percent) passes for 976 yards and 11 touchdowns while also running for three scores. He only tallied one interception.
For the full season, he was 310-of-454 (68.3 percent) for 4,127 yards. He had 27 touchdowns to go with a team-best 10 rushing TDs. For his career, Bennett passed for 8,428 yards and 66 touchdowns, despite only starting for two seasons. He ranks in the top five in Georgia history in pass completions, passing yards, passing touchdowns, total offense, completion percentage, and average yards per play. Most impressively, he posted a 29-3 record as the Bulldog starting quarterback.
"We started the Manning Award 19 years ago as a way to recognize the country's top quarterback for the full season, including the postseason," said Archie Manning. "I'm not sure we've ever had an honoree who showcased his ability and proved his worth all the way through the postseason like Stetson did this year. We're thrilled to recognize him as this year's Manning Award winner."
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates' bowl performances into consideration in its balloting.
Bennett led the Bulldogs to their second straight national championship two weeks ago with a 65-7 demolition of TCU at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Bennett has a well-chronicled and borderline unbelievable story. After walking on to the Georgia football team for the 2017 season, he opted to transfer to a junior college to get playing time and experience. After a successful year at Jones College in Mississippi, he returned to the Bulldogs on a scholarship but remained an afterthought on the depth chart in 2019.
In 2020, he started five of 10 games and was a solid, though unspectacular performer. In 2021, Bennett rose to the occasion and led the Bulldogs to the CFP Championship – earning Offensive MVP honors at both the CFP Semifinal and the CFP Championship. However, the recently completed 2022 season was when Bennett silenced nearly all of the critics, turning in outstanding performances all season long before leading the Dawgs to the SEC title and another CFP title.
"If anyone exemplifies what we had in mind when we helped start the Manning Award, it's Stetson Bennett," said Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley. "Even though he led Georgia to a perfect regular season, there were still some people who doubted his status as an elite quarterback. After what Stetson did in the postseason, there shouldn't be any doubters left. The Allstate Sugar Bowl will be proud to present the Manning Award trophy to Stetson Bennett, a two-time national champion and the Most Valuable Player of the last five postseason games in which he played."
