Devy Digest: Trey Benson

The Devy Digest, highlighting Florida State running back Trey Benson.

• Trey Benson
• Position: Running Back
• Florida State Seminoles
  
• 6’1”, 221 pounds
  
• Age: 21
  
• Draft Eligible: 2024
• Devy Digest RB 2024 Draft Rank: 5

Who is Trey Benson?

Trey Benson was a 4⭐️ in the composites. He attended St. Joseph High in Mississippi and originally committed to Oregon. Benson was part of the 2020 class.

As a True Freshman, Benson did not see action early on. On December 1, 2020 during practice, Benson suffered a knee injury where he tore his ACL, MCL, lateral meniscus, medial meniscus, and additional tendons. Benson had surgery, missed spring camp of 2021, lost twenty pounds, and miraculously worked his way back in time for the 2021 season. Oregon worked Benson back in slowly to ensure his health was the focal point. Trey Benson would appear in 10 games with only 6 carries for 22 yards. He would enter the portal that offseason.

Benson would wind up playing for the Florida State Seminoles. With another year removed from his injury, Benson immediately made an impact for the Seminoles in 2022.

Coming into 2023, Benson garnered a lot of buzz in the Devy community. He began the year slow, only rushing for 189 yards after the first four games of the regular season. He would turn his season around against Virginia Tech, where he rushed for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Benson had an up and down year in totality and has declared for the 2024 NFL Draft.

Strengths

Trey Benson shows grit and determination; not only from his comeback from his injury, but you see that in his running style. Benson is known to be amongst the leaders in yards after contact and missed tackles. He also has good contact balance, which helps him fight through the first line of defense and find his way to the next level.

Benson has good short area acceleration and burst. It helps him get away from defenders and turn a 4-yard gain into a 14-yard gain. He is a patient runner who has good, but inconsistent vision. He will work his way through a maze to gain additional yards.

Trey Benson had 41 MTF during the ‘23 season. pic.twitter.com/ng8vlMe4t0

— Nick Penticoff (@NickPenticoff) February 3, 2024

Trey Benson has a strong lower body. As he has worked his way back from his knee injury, the young RB wanted to turn a weakness into a strength. He utilizes his lower half to finish runs and is a powerful runner due to that.

Benson prefers to get downhill once he finds a seam to work through, rather than dancing around. Benson will run between tackles for the needed yards and will do the dirty work. He has also become a good pass protector, which the NFL will appreciate.

The young running back has soft hands as a receiver. The lack of a receiving profile state-wise is more on the system than the player. There are reps on film where you see his receiving chops translating to the next level.

Areas of Improvement & Concern

Medicals are a concern with Trey Benson. His knee injury has been described as gruesome and catastrophic. However, it was nice to see Benson return the very next year without any setbacks. More importantly, he did not have any at Florida State.

Florida State likes to use a three-back system. It would have been nice to see Benson take on a workhorse role more often. There were only three games where Benson carried the ball more than 15 times, and five games where he carried the ball 10 times or less in 2023. I truly question if Benson will ever be a back that averages more than 12 carries during an entire season.

There are games where Benson just disappears. While he does have short area burst, he does lack the long speed and is not considered a home run threat. Even though Benson has runs on tape where he breaks loose a 50+ yard run and has been utilized as a kick returner, when you watch the tape, it’s more of space and defenders taking bad angles. Benson has enough of a short burst to get by a defender with enough clearing that he can get home. By no means are defenders threatened of him to break it loose to the house if there is a seam for Benson to work through. It’s not to say Benson is slow, he just doesn’t have that long speed at the elite level.

While a patient runner, there are times where Benson is too patient. Occasionally, he will wait too long and becomes hesitant, instead of attacking a hole and getting to the next level. We mentioned his vision is inconsistent – there are many reps where you see him choosing the wrong gap and has to fight for yards.

Trey Benson isn’t a smooth runner or a fluid mover. He shows more of a choppy stride and can be tight at the hip, which causes him an extra couple of steps instead of being able to laterally get out of the way and head upfield.

Devy & C2C Value

In Devy drafts, you probably spent a good amount on Trey Benson this past offseason due to the buzz that circulated around him. It’s likely you won’t be able to get back what you spent. However, if you’re able to package him with other players and try to upgrade a position you are weak at, I would certainly add him in to improve the overall construction of your roster.

In C2C leagues, he was viewed more as a Devy asset and likely went early as well. With the inconsistency in his tape and the lack of true upside, I would consider Benson a sell. If you can move him, you should make that trade. Benson’s peak value was July-August and if you didn’t move him then, it’s likely you’re stuck with him.

It’s not out of the question that he can have a similar landing spot that we saw with Tyjae Spears. If you are holding him and he has a similar situation like Spears in Tennessee, you could have a spike in value. Some teams that could be interesting with a similar situation are Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals.

NFL Outlook

Trey Benson reminds me of Alexander Mattison at the next level. That is, someone who will always intrigue in limited work, but will disappoint as the lead back. If we get clear medicals and he isn’t red flagged, he could be a middle-to-end of Day 2 player – or early Day 3 if you bake in the medical risk.

Benson has excelled in zone blocking schemes. If he ends up in a similar run scheme, I can see it working out well for him.

Personally, I question what drills he’ll test at the NFL Combine. He might be one of those backs that come in for their height and weight measurements and then wait for their Pro Day to workout. If he does do some testing, it’s likely the bench press. Benson is in the mold of a power back and would be wise to show off his strength while protecting his speed and agility measures for his Pro Day.