Stetson Bennett, the quarterback for the University of Georgia (UGA) football team, was arrested on Sunday in Dallas for public intoxication.
The Dallas Police Department announced the 25-year-old Bennett was arrested at around 6 a.m. on Sunday in the 1600 block of Tribeca Way, local news station WFAA reported. Police said they were responding to calls about a man banging on doors in the area when they found Bennett walking around inside a gated area.
Bennett told officers that his friend lived at the location but he was unable to call them. Police then determined that Bennett was intoxicated and they arrested him.
Bennett was held at the City Detention Center until being released at around 11 a.m. on Sunday.
WFAA released footage of Bennett’s release from prison. The footage showed Bennett wearing a jacket with the hood pulled over his head. Bennett kept his head down and didn’t answer any shouted press questions as he stepped into a waiting SUV and was driven away.
The arrest comes just three weeks after the UGA football team won the College Football National Championship in a 65-7 game against Texas Christian University (TCU). During the game, Bennett ran a 21-yard touchdown, threw a 37-yard touchdown pass, ran another 6-yard touchdown and threw three more touchdown passes.
The game was the second College Football National Championship that Bennett played in and won. He was named offensive MVP in both championship games and was a finalist for the 2022 Heisman Award last year.
Bennett was in Dallas preparing for the NFL Combine, which precedes the NFL draft. Bennett is expected to be a fourth rand draft pick.
The arrest could weigh on the quarterback’s NFL draft prospects. Former Dallas Cowboys scout Glenn Smith told WFAA about the concerns an NFL team might have, both with Bennett’s overall stature and now with the arrest.
“He’s a 5’10” guy so you’re already going to have scouts start knocking him,” Smith said. “He’s not tall enough, now he’s out drinking till the world looks flat, now he’s out till 6 in the morning, now all of a sudden things start stacking up against him.”
The NFL draft is scheduled to run from April 27 to 29.
