Stetson Bennett never did a lot of reminiscing when he was in the midst of leading Georgia to back-to-back national championships.

However, during a Monday Zoom session with reporters announcing him as the winner of the Manning Award, Bennett finally agreed to talk about “the journey.”

“I’ll let you people who are good at writing write about that,” Bennett mused. “But I think for me, I hope the people who were around when it started, all the way to when it was finished, that it will keep going.”

His career at Georgia was one Georgia fans will never forget.

From walking on in 2017, leaving for junior college, returning on scholarship; all the highs, all the lows, the redemption. Bennett said he would not change a thing.

“The fans who were there, Nick (Chubb), Sony (Michel), all the ones that came before us, the fans that traveled to Notre Dame in 2017, how we overtook that stadium, and we went to the Rose Bowl that same year. I hope everybody can remember what it was like on that ride because it was nuts,” Bennett said. “Them hating me, me hating them, falling in love again, coming back, playing football—it was special, and I wouldn’t change a single thing. I don’t think I’d be here without it being that way. I hope that everybody who was there and everybody who was with me and I was with … just know that I appreciated the heck out of it.”

As for the culmination of his journey that ended with Georgia whipping TCU 65-7 to win the program’s second straight national title, Bennett compared the performance to the 1978 film, The Last Waltz.

“I don’t know how it’s going to be remembered for posterity, but I know I’m going to appreciate it. Looking at it all; I took a few days a little bit ago just to think about it,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if you guys ever saw The Last Waltz, but I think that last game against TCU was kind of that. It was an ode to an era that’s over now. But it was pretty special.”

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 and only tallying one interception.

He earned Offensive MVP honors in all three, after winning Offensive MVP honors in the 2021 Orange Bowl against Michigan and the National Championship against Alabama.

So, how did he do it? “I don’t know. Maybe I need to lock in better on the other ones?” Bennett joked. “No, we had a good sense of the immediacy of it. We lose, we’re done. That’s how we viewed the Tennessee game—as a playoff game. We viewed the SEC as a playoff game, we viewed the playoff game as a playoff game, and the national championship as the championship, obviously.”

Although Bennett always received a large share of the credit, it was the entire team’s DNA that made it possible.

“We could always turn on that switch whenever we needed to as a team. Because of the position, you talk about quarterback more than the other positions. I was just doing what everybody else did. Everybody played good, everybody else turned it up,” Bennett said. “We had a sense for the moment, we had a sense for what’s important, and we had a sense for knowing what would happen if we didn’t play that way, which I think is the most important thing. You can play hard all you want, but if you realize, Hey, we’re done if we lose this game, it’s a healthy respect, a healthy fear for the game.”

Bennett agreed that getting center Sedrick Van Pran back for one more year is huge for next year’s Bulldog team.

“Sed is that constant, right? He doesn’t get hurt, he plays every single play, every snap, and he wants to. He loves football. I don’t know if he loves his teammates or football more, which is special, especially when it’s that position. Those guys don’t get the credit they deserve, but Sedrick doesn’t care about that, because he loves football, he loves his teammates, and he’s really good at it,” Bennett said. “He’s going to help whoever, Carson (Beck), Brock (Vandagriff), Gunner (Stockton). He’s going to help if nothing more than the comfort level, because he’s been there, he’s been on the biggest stage in the biggest games, and he’s performed. He knows how to be a leader.

"He was that leader for us this year, and even more so this coming year, I’d imagine. He knows if we’re going to do this again, we’ve got to do it right. I have no doubt he will.”

When the subject turned to Willock and LeCroy, Bennett paused briefly. Like every member of the Bulldog football program, this one hit hard.

“Yeah, you know—they were both special people. I don’t know. It’s tough to swallow,” Bennett said. “I don’t know. They’ll always be with us. We won’t ever forget them.”

Bennett said he’ll soon be headed to Fort Worth, Texas where he will train at the APEC Athlete Performance Center leading up to Georgia’s Pro Day in March.

“Hopefully they can turn me into a football player,” said Bennett, who was asked about the possibility of having the opportunity to play in the Senior Bowl on Feb. 4, or one of the other college all-star games.

“We’re still working on that decision as of right now,” Bennett said.

The Blackshear native knows the same questions he’s been answering the past five years will be asked again in the pros.

“I was a starting quarterback in high school. People knew my name, but it was a small town. Once you get to Georgia, it’s the same thing. Once you get to the NFL, I imagine it’s the same thing. People are going to have their opinions. My job is to go out there and play football, get the ball into the athletes’ hands, play hard, and play to win,” Bennett said. “People can say whatever; I hear it, but it doesn’t really bother me because you can’t listen to them when it's good, and not listen to them when it’s bad, and vice versa.

"I just kind of hear it. But I know what my job is, I know what I’m supposed to do, and how to work to be able to perform at that level. It’s really hard, but I can’t be too focused on what everybody else has to say.”