Bryan Harsin can’t help but see a resemblance to his greatest protégé when he turns on the tape of Georgia’s Stetson Bennett.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Bulldogs quarterback’s journey is well established at this point: He’s a former walk-on who climbed the depth chart at Georgia, ultimately leading the program to its first national championship since 1980 last season. Despite his continued success and solid production, Bennett often still gets overlooked by many in college football.

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It reminds Harsin of former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore, whom he tutored as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for three seasons.

“I’m impressed with him,” Harsin said of Bennett. “There’s more guys that are bigger and more athletic and all that. I was fortunate to coach a guy that wasn’t very athletic that won more games than any college quarterback ever. And they would say the same thing about him. I mean, the guy’s a winner.”

Moore was a three-star prospect when he arrived at Boise State, but he finished his career as the winningest quarterback in college history while posting a 50-3 record as a starter. He completed 69.8 percent of his passes over four seasons as Boise State’s starting quarterback, throwing for 14,667 yards, 142 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. He was a Heisman finalist in 2010, finishing fourth; it was one of three times he finished in the top-10 of Heisman voting during his career.

Despite his success at the college level, Moore was overlooked by NFL teams due to his smaller stature — he was listed at 6-feet tall as a senior — and concerns about his arm strength. He went undrafted but spent six years in the league with the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. He’s now in his fourth season as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator.

Bennett’s NFL outlook is being treated similarly to Moore’s was nearly a decade ago: He’s a good and successful college quarterback, but his lack of size and questions about his arm strength have many expecting him to go on Day 3 or undrafted at this point.

That shouldn’t detract from what he has done — and continues to do — at Georgia, though.

“He’s plenty fast enough to run the ball,” Harsin said. “He’s plenty fast enough to scramble around and make plays. He finds the open receivers. He’s accurate. And he manages their offense really well. And that’s one thing. I’ve got a chance to see him and watch those guys for a couple of years and watch him as a player, and he’s done a very good job.

“Really, I don’t see a whole lot of weaknesses in his game. I think he’s got really good command of what they’re doing. And he’s plenty good enough to hurt you in all different ways.”

For his career, Bennett has completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 5,837 yards, 44 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while averaging 9.2 yards per pass attempt. He was particularly impressive last season while guiding Georgia to the College Football Playoff title, throwing for 2,862 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven picks while completing 64.5 percent of his passes and rushing for another 259 yards and a score.

He has gotten off to another quality start this year while leading Georgia to a 5-0 record and 2-0 start in SEC play. Bennett is 116-of-168 passing (69 percent) for 1,536 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. He has also rushed for four touchdowns in five games.

“You watch these guys on offense and look at Stetson Bennett, start with him,” Harsin said. “He’s playing confident. He’s in my opinion a very good player. Run, throws, can create, and has shown that all through this season, last season.”

The former walk-on turned national champion and Heisman contender will carry those numbers into Saturday’s matchup with Auburn, when the second-ranked Bulldogs host the Tigers in the 127th installment of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on CBS in Athens, Ga.

“You have to know where he’s at,” Harsin said. “You have to do a great job in coverage. You have to do a great job in trying to pressure the quarterback. You’ve got to do a great job of when he scrambles of trying to get to him. And you’ve got to play the entire pay with him too because that’s what he does.

“So, if you’re going to let off, he’s going to take advantage of that. You’ve got to play the whole entire play against a quarterback like him.”

In other words: You can’t overlook him.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.