re: Stetson Bennett’s mysterious Rams absence likely to stretch through entire season

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This is one of the weirdest fall from graces I've ever seen. Georgia fans did he have any issues while he was there. Did he have any discipline issues, drug/alcohol issues etc?

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He was 97 years old by the time he ran out of eligibility.

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This is one of the weirdest fall from graces I've ever seen

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Ehhh

I wouldn’t have predicted it, but the signs were there.

Who cares

'Stetson Bennet: Mysteries' sounds like something my grandma wouldn't have thought about missing on CBS in the 1980's.

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Even though he was old to still be in college, he is not old enough to have a serious alcohol problem...at least from a physically addicted standpoint. H

This is one of the most ignorant statements I've ever seen.

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Edit: I mis-read the original post. What the RESPONDANT wrote is true. It's 100% possible to be physically addicted to a substance like alcohol at Bennett's age.

I don’t think many realize the amount of verbal abuse he likely heard from 2020 on. Hell, even after a championship, people criticized him for staying another year. Just because people finally accepted him and celebrated him at the end of 22, do you really think a person forgets the previous nastiness? I imagine the underlying bitterness becomes quite toxic.

It is interesting to me also that Smart obviously used public criticism of his play to motivate him. While it seemed to work well, it also set up an adversarial relationship which one would imagine cut off an avenue of trust in being able to express any deep problems. Bennett basically mentioned a few times that he couldn’t trust his coaches to have his back if he screwed up on the field. I also remember an interview where Bennett talked about getting the phone call to sign a scholarship with UGA, where they told him they would give him a real chance to compete for the job, and then promptly signed a number of transfers and buried him on the depth chart. So he probably started his second stint at UGA in a place of deep mistrust of most of the coaching staff.

So you end up with a lot of stress from being in a highly public position and no particularly good outlet to talk about that stress without fearing the job would be taken away.

I’ve noticed this year, Smart doesn’t say anything but praise for his QB publicly. I assume because he realizes different strokes for different folks. But if Bennett is paying any attention, that has to rankle just a bit.

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That's what I meant. Someone saying a 26 year old is too young to be addicted to anything is a ridiculous statement.

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I would give you the usual cheers emoji, but given the circumstances...

I see 2 factors here:
1. He was a high functioning alcoholic in college and now that he has the pressure of an NFL contract, he is non-functioning alcoholic.
2. Psychologically, he has been an underdog his entire football career.
He was a walk-on at the University of Georgia which has recruited at a very high level under Kirby Smart.
Bennett obviously developed the no respect chip on his shoulder syndrome.
After winning his second NC, the college chip was removed only to be replaced by the not a pro respect chip as few saw him a high draft pick.
And finally, the emotional stress became too much for him and his ability to cope with his alcoholism collapsed.

I hope that rehab can help him but he will always be an alcoholic, but he might be able to learn to manage it by not drinking at all. It's going to be tough because as soon as he feels he has it under control, he will be tempted mightily to drink again thinking that he will be able to return to his life as a high functioning alcoholic.

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WilliamTaylor21

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I'm not one of those message board folks who would gladly tell another poster to kill themselves, but whenever I read anything you write, I totally get it.