Besides matching up in the second best game of the year on Saturday, #1 Tennessee and #3 Georgia share another striking similarity: the dinosaur college quarterback.
Stetson Bennett (25) and Hendon Hooker (24) are the two oldest Power Five starters in America.
How in the world did we get two mega-fossils starting for national title contenders?
For reference, these aren’t just two guys using a normal redshirt year. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who is in his FIFTH season starting for UCLA, is still only 22. And Joe Burrow, who did the whole redshirt-transfer thing just like Bennett and Hooker, was 22 years old at the start of his Heisman campaign.
Dinosaur Fun Facts
- Bennett is older than 16 NFL QBs who have taken snaps this season. Hooker is older than 15.
- Hooker was the 11th ranked dual threat QB in 2017. The top ranked dual threat QB in 2017 was Tua Tagovailoa, who will sign his second NFL contract before Hooker even steps foot in the league.
- Both are older than Justin Herbert, an established star, and Jalen Hurts, a front runner for league MVP.
- Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Justin Fields are young enough that Bennett and Hooker might’ve stolen their place in the lunch line had they gone to high school together.
- Not to mention Trey Lance, who at 22 is just a guppy compared to Bennett and Hooker.
You gotta feel for JT Daniels and Joe Milton, the two guys Bennett and Hooker replaced. Imagine working your ass off, earning a spot at an SEC school, and becoming upperclassmen. Finally, it’s your turn to start. Yet somehow, there’s still a guy three years older than you, breathing down your neck, just waiting for you to slip up.
I also enjoy how the media is portraying Bennett and Hooker as some heroic testament to hard work. It’s more of testament to, if you get more chances than everyone else, you will become good eventually.
The only real comparison I can think of is Brandon Weeden, who started college at 23, took three years to win the starting job, and then lit up college football at the ripe age of 27.
Then of course the Browns took him with a first round pick and we all know how that turned out. NFL teams aren’t making that mistake again.
Whoever takes Bennett and Hooker in next year’s draft will be disappointed upon discovering they will both need another six years to adjust to the NFL level (only half-joking).
