Everyone likes a good nickname, right? In college football, that seems to be especially true.
From Johnny “Money” Manziel to Deion “Prime Time” Sanders and even more current nicknames like Tank Bigsby or Kool-Aid McKinstry, having a nickname seems almost like a rite of passage in today’s college football landscape.
Among the current generation of players with a nickname is Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett, whose nickname “The Mailman” might be among the fittest on the nickname-position relevance scale in recent history.
And so far this season, Bennett has lived up to the moniker, delivering with relative ease. He completed 64.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 2,638 yards and 27 touchdowns with just seven interceptions, as he has been Georgia’s offensive leader as they prepare for a national title game against Alabama.
So Bennett’s nickname suits him well. But how did he do it?
Sporting News takes a look at how he got the nickname.
Why is Stetson Bennett called ‘The Postman’?
Honestly, it’s very fitting how Bennett got the nickname. For starters, Stetson is perhaps the preeminent cowboy hat brand and style in this country and Stetson University even calls itself Hatters.
Well, five years ago Bennett, then in high school, was on shows across the country when he showed up wearing a very specific hat, yeah, you guessed it. It was a US Postal Service cap, which he proudly donned while still impressing as a passerby.
Even back then, the hat became a topic of conversation.
Bennett wore it to all the shows and competitions he attended while recruiting and it was his idea as a way to make him stand out.
“My friend’s father is the mayor of a small town around here, and he always gets great things,” Bennett. told Bleacher Report in 2016. “I saw the hat one day and asked if I could wear it. I first wore it at a camp in Valdosta [Georgia]. I’m not very big or physically flashy, but I wanted to have something that people would remember me for. “
Bennett was recognized on the show circuit for his hat. Now, five years later, he could be recognized for leading Georgia to its first national title since 1980.
A lot will have to go well, but if you can channel your inner mailman and be on time with your pitches and deliver them cleanly, it might be just what Georgia needs.