Why Georgia football QB Stetson Bennett has a new camp look as part of the 'Buzzcut Boys'

When Georgia football players reported to preseason camp on Wednesday, they posed for photos like grade schoolers by holding a sign. They wrote down their name, position coach, jersey number, friends’ names and years in the program.

Stetson Bennett listed “74” for years in the program. It might feel that way sometimes, but it’s actually his sixth college season and fifth at Georgia for the former walk-on who became a national championship quarterback last season.

The sign Bennett held that Georgia put out on social media didn’t create as much buzz as the close cut fade hair style Bennett sported in the photo instead of his curly locks.

Bennett’s new look came just in time for preseason camp where players hole up in the Georgia Center hotel close to its practice fields and football facilities for up to 12 nights. The team practices day after day for the most part before classes start on Aug. 17.

“I like it,” starting right tackle Warren McClendon said Thursday  before the team held its first practice. “I like the buzz cut. It’s different. I wasn’t expecting everybody to cut their hair but when they came in, I was like, “I like it.'”

Safety Christopher Smith said at least six players went with the shaved look. McClendon said he would as well if he could get more of his fellow O-linemen on board as well.

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Snapper Payne Walker called them the “Buzzcut Boys,” on his sign. He is one. So is tight end Brett Seither.

“The Buzzcut Boys, that’s crazy,” Smith said. “They were all in there cutting their hair together and stuff. They’ve all got new looks. I like it, man. Especially Stetson, he’s got the fade going and everything I like it.”

Smith said he thought it would bring those players together.

“I don't know what it's about,” coach Kirby Smart said when asked about Bennett’s look. “There's several guys more than Stetson that decided to get it. And that goes back to that lock in, lock out, lock into camp. You got no distractions. Lock out all the noise and all the social media things and get really focused on being the best version of yourself. And there were several guys that, I guess, decided to do that through their hair.”

Smith joked he’s a member of the “twist boys,” grabbing a hold of his dreadlocks.

Georgia has turned the page from the national championship won in January, but there are signs hard to avoid.

A new one on Thursday was the red Coke bottle placed in front of Smart for his press conference was a special national championship edition with the side including an illustration of the UGA national championship logo, confetti and Uga with a crown on his head.

Camp is about as far away as the championship parade as you can be.

It’s hot outside. Students aren’t back on campus yet.

“It's kind of when the mental and physical toughness starts to take place for your roster and your team,” Smart aid. “So there's no way to really build for it, other than to do it. And that's the stage we're in.”

Smith has learned how to adapt.

“Sleep, nutrition and hydration are really important,” Smith said. “It gets a little bit easier every year. It’s never easy at all, but it gets a little bit easier.”

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Nose guard Zion Logue, in his fourth preseason camp, gets his own room at the Georgia Center. He said that’s a perk from being one of the older players now.

“The guys that have been here three-plus, they put them in their own rooms,” he said. “The younger guys, they put them together so they can film study and things like that.”

The days of long summer breaks for college football players are long gone.

Players have been back on campus for the most part since early June and working out with teammates.

“I talked to our guys last night about separating summer or what you would call a minicamp or what you would call summer practices and training camp,” Smart said. “You've got to kind of step out of your mindset/routine and refocus. I talked about some of the guys I talked to in the NFL currently and what they do in trying to transition our brain from one stage to the next stage. And we talked about locking in and locking out. You know, lock into what you got to do and lock out everything outside of it and the noise. It's one unique time for a college athlete where you really don't have classes. Our guys are actually finishing summer school classes. But in the next coming days, they don't have any classes. They get to focus solely on football.”

Smart said he told the team he would never be the guy that said we had it harder back in the day and joked about he wouldn’t be the type to talk about having to walk four miles up the hill in the snow.

Smart was an All-SEC safety in the 1990s when they still had a two-a-day practices.

“You know, it's very evident when you see the old schedules and the format of two practices a day, full pads, Picture Day in the middle,” he said. “I mean, these guys are never going to have two practices in the same day. And required off time is different. So the demands were certainly more.”

This team has it different but it is preparing for a formidable opener against a likely top 15 team in Oregon on Sept. 3 in Atlanta.

“Just stack the days on top of each other because it’s going to come time,” Logue said. “Sept. 3 is going to be right in front of us and we’re not going to think about it. We’ve just got take every day and not take it for granted.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football QB Stetson Bennett changed his look for preseason camp