Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett is unique, and not just because he started his college career as a walk-on. The ego-less signal-caller prepared for his final season in Athens in interesting fashion.

In need of a new phone, he downgraded. Bennett purchased a flip phone.

“They actually still sell them at Verizon stores,” Bennett said. “Apparently, a lot of old people still use them. I guess it was June or July, I went — I had a bunch of school coming up the next semester, I had football, I was, like, I spend, whatever, an hour on my smartphone a day doing what? Doing nothing, nothing that’s going to help me.

“I’ve thought about it before. I’ve thought about it for years. And I was like, well, I’ve got all this stuff to do, all this important stuff. Let’s try not to let anything get in the way of that focus and just go get a flip phone.”

Clearly, it worked. When starter JT Daniels suffered a lat injury, Bennett took over and never looked back. He’s dealt with ample criticism, particularly after his two interceptions in the SEC Championship game loss to Alabama, but the undersized 5-foot-11 senior has persevered. He threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns in the Orange Bowl rout of Michigan, and tossed 27 scores in 13 games.

“Stetson doesn’t really pay too much attention to what’s being said of him,” Georgia linebacker Quay Walker said. “I mean Stetson has a flip phone. I don’t think he cares too much about the outside noise.”

Starting offensive linemen Emil Ekiyor (shoulder) and Chris Owens (foot), who were injured in Alabama’s win over Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl, were expected to play Monday night. … The winner marked the 12th time in the last 16 years that an SEC team won the national championship.

The All-SEC title game was the second time in the College Football Playoff era that the two finalists came from the same conference. Alabama and Georgia met four years ago for the championship. Prior to that, Alabama faced LSU in the 2011 BCS Championship game.