Georgia football quarterback Stetson Bennett had good reason to make phone call gesture

Georgia football quarterback Stetson Bennett received between 600 and 700 phone calls from Tennessee fans on Friday after his cell phone number was leaked to the public, he said on Saturday after No. 1 Georgia's 27-13 win over the No. 3 Volunteers.

That explains why the Bulldog senior was eager to hold his hand to his helmet with a phone call gesture after a 13-yard scramble resulted in Georgia's first touchdown. 

He did it again after connecting with Ladd McConkey for a 37-yard touchdown pass on Georgia's next possession.

This time, Bennett turned and pointed to the northwest corner of the stadium where most of Tennessee's orange-clad fans and band were sitting. He held his hand up to his helmet once again, mocking them to call him.

"I'm sure everybody else knows what it was about, but I was just in the moment," Bennett said.

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He said he got calls and texts throughout the night but learned how to silence them.

"I figured out a way to hide them all so they wouldn't show up," Bennett said.

Bennett said he didn't answer calls or return messages

Bennett said the calls and messages began appearing around noon. He did not answer the calls nor return any of the text messages.

"I didn't return any," Bennett said. "I just sat on them — ate them."

The calls didn't provide any motivation to perform well on Saturday, he noted, but it bothered him enough for him to mock Tennessee's faithful.

"I wouldn't say motivation, but there's probably something there, yeah," he said.

Teammates downplayed the moment, several acting as if they didn't know about Bennett's experience.

"Phone calls?" McConkey said with a bit of a smile. "What is it? I'll have to ask him about it."

After informing McConkey that Bennett had received that many phone calls the day before, the sophomore receiver shrugged.

"Stetson is Stetson, he doesn't need motivation," McConkey said. "He just goes out there and has so many to prove it to day in and day out, he just goes out and plays and he's awesome. I'm so glad we have him."

Running back Kenny McIntosh couldn't contain his smile while seeming dumbfounded about Bennett's situation.

"Nah, I didn't know that, that's crazy," McIntosh said.

He soon deflected to Georgia's fans showing up in force.

"I guess their fans tried to do their way to get in our quarterbacks head or anything like that, but as you can see, Georgia fans definitely helped us out," McIntosh said. "You can say their fans did that and Georgia fans did us a favor out there today yelling and screaming and causing penalties. I just want to say 'thank you' to Georgia fans. I love y'all."