Atlantic's Nicole Auerbach: "Stetson Bennett, I apologize...."

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Stetson Bennett has had so many doubters over the years, I was surprised to be singled out as a particularly heinous hater.

But many Georgia fans took exception to my hottest take of the season, tweeted on the night that the Heisman Trophy Trust unveiled its four finalists for 2022. I wrote that Bennett didn’t deserve a trip to New York City and that, from my vantage point as one of nearly 900 voters, too many of my peers simply voted for the quarterback of the team that had spent most of the year ranked No. 1 in the country. At the time, I didn’t believe that Bennett was even the best player on his own team. I think I still believe that, although I realize now that the thought doesn’t matter.

The point is this: Stetson Bennett is now a two-time national champion, the first quarterback to lead his program to back-to-back titles in the College Football Playoff era and the first back-to-back champion QB since Alabama’s A.J. McCarron won consecutive championships at the end of the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Before that, no quarterback had done it since Nebraska’s Tommie Frazier in 1994-95.

Bennett is, without a doubt, an all-time great college quarterback. His is no longer just a made-for-Hollywood story of a walk-on turned champion against all odds. You don’t throw for 304 yards and account for six total touchdowns in a 65-7 national title game win on accident, one year after throwing for 224 yards and two scores in another national title game. You do it because you are talented, because you have a mastery of your craft and because you have an innate feel for the game your offensive coordinator wanted to call. You do it because you were three steps ahead of the opposing defense, spectacularly quick to recognize coverages and both smart and effective enough to win with your arm or your legs.

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Bennett was the right quarterback at the right time for a program on the brink of beginning a dynasty. And so, it is time for me to apologize — to Bennett and to every Georgia fan who defended him.

I still fervently believe that there were better individual performances over the course of the 2022-23 season, which is why I personally voted for three non-Bennett players on my Heisman ballot. But I no longer feel the need to criticize anyone who sees what Stetson does and wants to call it exceptional.

And that is what he is. Exceptional.

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