Highly Efficient Benoit Heading Home
09/22/17 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Phoenix native Kani Benoit is averaging 10 yards per carry and has six touchdowns on 16 carries entering Saturday's game at Arizona State (7 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network).
Odds are, Kani Benoit will need but a small opportunity in order to make a big impression on his hometown crowd Saturday night.
Benoit, the Oregon senior running back, will play with dozens of friends and family on hand when the No. 24 Ducks (3-0) visit Arizona State (1-2) on Saturday (7 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network). The Arizona native attended high school about 24 miles from Sun Devil Stadium, where Oregon will face ASU on Saturday.
Through three games this season, as a backup to starter Royce Freeman and while sharing reserve reps with junior Tony Brooks-James, Benoit has six touchdown runs, on just 16 carries. Only Freeman, with nine TD runs – on 82 carries – has more rushing touchdowns than Benoit among FBS players.
In all, 17 FBS players have five or more rushing touchdowns entering this week; other than Benoit, the lowest total carries in the group is 31, by Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald. Benoit also has the highest per-carry average of that group, at an even 10 yards, with 160 yards on 16 attempts.
"It's just a mindset, really," Benoit said. "Every time I get in I'm just telling myself, 'Make a play, first time you touch the ball.'"
That mindset has served Benoit exceedingly well so far as a senior. Against Southern Utah in Oregon's 2017 opener, the 5-foot-10, 209-pound senior scored three times on seven rushes. The next week against Nebraska – the opponent last season for Benoit's first career 100-yard day – he got just one carry, but turned it into six points. Then at Wyoming last week, Benoit scored twice on eight rushes.
Prior to this season, Benoit had seven career rushing touchdowns. He's nearly doubled that total through just six games as a senior.
"It's great," he said with his ubiquitous wide grin. "I'm playing loose. A lot of times last year and years before, I was kind of tight, just not wanting to make mistakes. But with this coaching staff, you can play so freely."
Given the wealth of talent Oregon has had at running back during Benoit's career, his fear of a short leash is understandable. After redshirting in 2013, his career has aligned with that of Freeman, potentially the most prolific back in school history.
The Ducks were so deep entering this fall, the first under head coach Willie Taggart and running backs assistant Donte Pimpleton, that they moved electric jitterbug Taj Griffin to slot receiver. Still, Benoit must contend for carries behind Freeman with the lightning fast Brooks-James – and possibly also Darrian Felix or CJ Verdell, should the coaching staff opt to introduce a true freshman into the mix.
But coaches say they have no hesitation turning to Benoit when needed.
"I'm good with any one of those guys in the game," Pimpleton said. "He can do it all – catch, run the ball. I'm just glad to have him."
A shoulder injury prevented Benoit from getting more carries in the second half at Wyoming, Pimpleton said. Thus, the staff moved Griffin back to running back as an emergency fill-in; that may also have them considering the use of a guy like Felix going forward.
But the shoulder injury didn't linger for Benoit. And thus he'll be an option again this week, looking to put a show on for friends and family who hit him up for tickets.
"That's gonna be real fun," Benoit said. "I haven't gone home since spring break, and they really want to see me. So that's gonna be really exciting.
