Hoax Stetson Bennett Video Features Fayetteville Police, Still Raises Question About SEC QB's Future

Georgia's 2-time national title winner may see NFL hopes crash like Rams' Baker Mayfield on Dickson Street

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Jan 30, 2023 4:20 PM EST
Original:
Jan 30, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Former Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett got picked up for public intoxication and suddenly Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas are all over the news.

Is This Just How It's Going To Be?

It appears that every time some famous quarterback gets drunk and does something unintelligent that the Fayetteville Police Department and the University of Arkansas will get dragged into it from now on.

In this case, Bennett, coming off a second consecutive national championship, was found banging on doors in East Dallas shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday morning. The social media trolls, never one to miss a chance to pull one over on people who will believe almost anything rather than take the extra step to verify information, almost immediately snagged "dash cam footage of the arrest" and dropped it onto Twitter.

Like plopping a cricket into a washout full of slick perch, it turned into a feeding frenzy.

The only problem was that video wasn't of Bennett getting arrested in Dallas. It was of Baker Mayfield getting de-cleated by members of the Fayetteville Police Department on Dickson Street near the University of Arkansas.

It appears people on social media were too interested in posting what were admittedly funny responses to take time to confirm whether they were dealing with a hoax.

Although one particular Georgia fan thought that it should have been obvious that it wasn't Bennett. The argument in this case being that even in a drunken stupor after being out literally all night, the Bulldog quarterback could still outrun the Fayetteville/Dallas police had he made a run for it.

Can We Check Out the Replay?

While the video of Mayfield getting rocked by the police will be eight years old next month, it's still jarring. The now Los Angeles Rams quarterback was reportedly so drunk he couldn't negotiate stairs and had food all over his clothes.

That hit sent him careening into a concrete wall really hard. As clean as it was and as hard as it snapped him, he could have been inches from never trying to sell us Progressive Insurance.

If his head hits the corner of that wall, it would have been very bad.

How Dangerous Was the Situation for Bennett?

Bennett should count himself lucky. Coming into Texas and knocking on doors uninvited is a very dangerous thing to do, especially at certain hours of the day.

Some Texas homeowners are very aggressive in protecting their homes and take the state's castle laws to heart. Had Bennett been shot, it wouldn't have been the first time someone got drunk, banged on a Dallas area door and ended up dead.

In 2007, Carter Albrecht of the bands Sorta and the New Bohemians, both well known bands in the Dallas music scene, was drunk and after a fight with his girlfriend led to him being locked out of the house, he tried to find his way back in.

At some point, Albrecht became disoriented and knocked on the wrong door three days after the castle laws came into effect in Texas.

Will Logg, who would later run a failed bid for the District 9 Dallas City Council seat, heard his wife scream and then the banging at his door. He fired a shot through the door, striking Albrecht in the head, killing him.

Fortunately for Bennett, he only got arrested.

Should There Be Concern for Bennett?

Word trickled out about four days before the incident that Bennett had turned down an invite to the Senior Bowl.

Because the event is coached by NFL coaches and heavily monitored by NFL executives and head coaches, it's always seemed to be a no-brainer for players expected to go in the mid to late rounds to accept an invitation.

It's the kind of on-the-job interview environment in which Bennett should have thrived. When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones failed to make the right moves to land primary QB target Paxton Lynch and back-up option Connor Cook in 2016, it was the time at the Senior Bowl that got Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott onto the Jones family radar when it was finally time to pull the trigger.

The Khan family, whose Jacksonville Jaguar coaches had worked directly with Prescott at the Senior Bowl, had listed Prescott as one of the most complete options they had seen.

The rest is history.

That Bennett is skipping out on an event that seems to be tailor-made for him to improve his stock has been a head scratcher. Instead, he's opted to prepare for the combine in the Fort Worth area.

That's why he was available to be arrested and have trolls post videos of Mayfield in Fayetteville and pretend it was him. However, yet another head scratcher has arisen from this incident.

The bars near where Bennett was arrested close at 2 a.m. The SEC's most notable quarterback was banging on doors at 6 a.m.

There was a four-hour period in there to sober up. Instead, it appears that Bennett drank until just before the sun came up.

Were he a 20-year-old Johnny Manziel type, it might make sense. However, Bennett is a 25-year-old who is supposed to be known for maturity and relative wisdom.

It's a second misstep that could cost him even more in regard to overcoming the odds to living out his NFL dream.

Any more and it will be his NFL future getting smashed into oblivion instead of Mayfield's body.