Look out, A.J. Green, Michael Bennett is gaining on you.
Normally the name of those two Georgia wide receivers aren’t mentioned in the same sentence. Green, a first-round NFL draft pick who now stars for the Cincinnati Bengals, is considered one of the Bulldogs’ greatest wideouts of all time. Bennett, a fifth-year senior from Alpharetta, is known mainly as a dependable possession who makes the routine play.
The truth is, Bennett also scores a lot for the Bulldogs. Bennett quietly hauled in two touchdown passes in this past Saturday’s 66-0 rout over Troy. That gave him 15 in his career.
To put that into perspective, that’s two more than Andre Hastings and one fewer than Juan Daniels, Hason Graham, Mohamed Massaquoi. Bennett is currently ninth on Georgia’s all-time list. He needs two more to move up to sixth and eight more — or about one per game the rest of the way — to catch Green, who’s second with 23.
Terrence Edwards’ school record of 30 TD catches would appear safe.
“We still know how to throw and catch around here,” Bennett said.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Bennett has proven to be the Bulldogs’ favorite target so far this season. He leads the team with 10 catches. His two touchdowns this past Saturday — one from starter Hutson Mason and the other from backup Brice Ramsey — were his firsts this season.
Kenneth Towns is the only other wideout with a TD catch and Georgia has just five on the season.
“As much as I would love us to throw the ball more, if you’re winning games and scoring 66 points and you’re putting up a ton of points in the run game and it’s working, why not stick with it?” Bennett said. “As much as it hurts to say that, at the end of the day, if we’re winning ball games that’s all that matters. There’s going to come a point when we’re going to have to throw it maybe a little bit more. Defenses might be stacking the box to stop the run and we’re going to have to throw. We have to stay ready for that opportunity.”
That could happen this Saturday. Tennessee is allowing just 129 yards rushing per game and features one of the best run-stuff linebackers in the SEC in senior A.J. Johnson (9.7 tackles per game).
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