Shooting stars happen when space debris is moving too fast and it burns up in the atmosphere. Trey Benson is a shooting star. Not overly wiggly in the open field, but plenty of speed and burst. Let's jump into some Trey Benson film.
Exhibit A: Zoom. Benson's 40 time wasn't a fluke and is apparent after he gets rolling. He's not overly sudden in his cuts, but gliding all across the field while flying at the speed of light makes him a difficult tackle at best.
He's not just speed. He uses his 216 pounds very well at the collision point and can accelerate well to make angles disappear. Take this clip for example, where he stutters to set up his blockers, then sheds the arm tackle before dropping his gravity hammer to close out the run.
The clunkiness is apparent at times, but rather than having that be a detriment to his game, Benson leans into it (literally). Here he makes a man miss in the backfield, preventing a negative play, and rather than going down at first contact he stumbles into an extra couple of yards. These plays aren't Sports Center Top Ten material, but an OC is going to feel more comfortable giving him touches if he keeps this up.
Some running backs are Maseratis. Beautiful, lightning-fast, fun on the track. Benson is an asteroid capable of extreme speed, but bouncing from collision to collision to fly through space. Another clip of him stumbling, but riding the stumble into the second contact and picking up a couple of easy yards.
Running backs have three categories of pass-catching ability. They either can't, can, or are a receiver masquerading as a running back. Benson is firmly in the CAN category. Natural hands catcher who is capable of some higher-level routes out of the backfield, but he's not putting his foot in the ground and sinking his hips like Xavier Worthy can. What he can do is transition from a pass catcher to a rusher smoothly and immediately, and delete angles with his speed. That linebacker down there is a projected top-100 pick in the NFL Draft, and Benson makes it look like he took a terrible angle.
Benson put Jeremiah Trotter Jr. through the Space Academy this game. Trotter does a great job recognizing the play, getting to the ball carrier, and completing the play. Except in slow-moving tackles like this, Benson looks like he has a built-in gyroscope and uses it well. He rolls over Trotter, gets up, and grabs more green. Another example of his smooth transition from receiver to rusher. This is top-50 tape in and of itself
Bottom line on this Trey Benson film review, he's an asteroid bouncing through space with the speed, body type, and hands to be a difference maker at the next level. Benson is a front-runner to be the first running back off the board and is what we're hoping to find through our telescopes for late first-round or early second-round rookie picks.
