Stetson Bennett: Six years of college down the drain?

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Six years of college down the drain?

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Go over there, Bluto. Apparently you have a good reputation as someone who has studied more than two years at university, more than the four years required to get an undergraduate degree anywhere without ever graduating.

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In the fantastic, fictional classic film of the seventies animal housee, John Belushi’s Bluto character had a mid-semester GPA of 0.0 in his seventh year at Faber College.

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Allegedly, blood’s real competitor for such indistinguishability is Stetson Bennett IV.

According to reports from south of the border, quarterback for the two-time NCAA champion University of Georgia Bulldogs — and now an NFL rookie with the Los Angeles Rams — Bennett left school earlier this year without ever graduating, after six years years of post-secondary education.

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Bennett, now 25, came to the University of Georgia as a substitute in 2017/18 and has not played this season. He spent the 2018-19 school year at Jones College in Ellisville, Miss., where he played the lead role before returning to the U of G in 2019-20. Bennett endorsed Jake Fromm that season.

Then, in the COVID-shortened 2020–21 season, Bennett assisted D’Wan Mathis and JT Daniels.

Typically, NCAA players can play a maximum of four seasons in their sport at a university or college in any five-year period. But all players across the country affected by the pandemic have been granted a fifth season of eligibility over a six-year period.

He finally took over Daniels’ starting job in Bennett’s fifth year, 2021-22 — and then shone by leading the Bulldogs to victory over Alabama in the highest NCAA championship game.

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This past football season, his fifth season out of high school, Bennett helped the Bulldogs to another NCAA title as quarterback and also earned another championship game MVP honor.

Apparently, however, Bennett wasn’t the star of the classroom.

NCAA, Southeastern Conference, and school rules listed online at the University of Georgia website state in part that every fifth-year graduate (i.e., Bennett entering the 2021-22 school year) “must have earned a minimum of 105 credit hours.” in the last four years, with at least 18 obtained in the previous regular academic year; must have declared a major; (must have a) cumulative GPA requirement (grade point average) of 2.0 per semester; and 75% of the degree must be completed for (student athletes returning for the fall semester).”

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Stetson’s biography for the 2022 season on the school’s website revealed his focus on learning design and technology.

Reports since the weekend have speculated that after six years of post-secondary study — five in Georgia, one at community college — Bennett hasn’t even completed a basic BA in Georgia.

Maybe for the past two years, Bennett just kept failing the last class he needed to excel.

Neither Bennett nor his camp disputed those reports as of Tuesday afternoon.

You know it’s embarrassing when Cardale Jones – the Ohio State quarterback who infamously said in 2012 about his performance at this amazing university, “We don’t come to play SCHOOL, the classes are pointless” – on Sunday tweeted above a photo of Bennett: like this:

“Buddy definitely didn’t play at school!”

Maybe Bennett liked to stick two pencils up his nose for fun.

JoKryk@postmedia.com

@JohnKryk

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