Stetson Bennett IV is the most popular man in the state of Georgia today. The 23-year-old former walk-on quarterback for the Bulldogs led Georgia’s comeback win over Alabama in Monday night’s national championship game, cementing his place in Georgia football lore. Winning a national title for Georgia will earn Bennett an awful lot of opportunities in the future. He’ll have tons of endorsements and a job in sports radio/TV waiting for him, as well as a standing tee time at Augusta National just about whenever he wants it.
He also won’t pay for a drink in the greater Athens area for as long as he lives, and that was also the case on Monday night stretching into Tuesday morning in Indianapolis as he got after it, as he should have, celebrating the Dawgs win. The only problem with that was Bennett had an early morning interview with Good Morning America on his schedule, and the result was pretty hysterical.
"You gotta bet on yourself." — Stetson Bennett on his journey from walk-on player to @georgiafootball's starting quarterback!
Congrats to @universityofga on their big #NationalChampionship win. 👏 #GoDawgshttps://t.co/tMSQXrGRV4 pic.twitter.com/LnXErJXz7D
— Good Morning America (@GMA) January 11, 2022
Bennett’s stumbling response to Michael Strahan asking if he slept much the night before is sensational, as he was out there trying his best to gut through this interview with something approaching a coherent response.
You might be thinking it’s a bit presumptuous to assume Bennett is still drunk in this video. Maybe he’s just not an early riser and is having a tough time getting his thoughts organized so early in the morning. Sure, that’s possible, but I’d like to submit to you this photo of Stetson pulling Pappy Van Winkle straight from the bottle, which was only the start of his celebration in Indy last night.
A mop head bro in a graphic tee under a suit jacket taking a bottle of Pappy to the face… it’s just so SEC I could cry pic.twitter.com/yuYCRiSQM0
— Jimmy G (@jimmygards) January 11, 2022
In my heyday I was known to get after it, and if I know one thing, it is that a bottle of whiskey to the face to start your night is a stone cold lock for still feeling the effects at 8 a.m. As someone who once got told at 11:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, a half a bottle of Maker’s into my night, that I needed to do a 9 a.m. video the next morning when I worked for CBS Sports, I feel a great kinship to Bennett here.
Kudos to Bennett for still doing the interview, as he surely agreed to this before taking part in the festivities of the evening, where there were enough Georgia teammates, fans, and boosters in town wanting to have a beverage with the title winning QB to ensure that his night stretched well into the wee hours of the morning. A lesser man would’ve called out of Good Morning America, but Bennett’s a grinder and wouldn’t let Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts down, just like he refused to let the Dawgs down on Monday night.