Trey Benson Draft Profile | Florida State, RB Scouting Report

One of the engines of a stacked Florida State Seminoles offense, does RB Trey Benson have a claim for the top spot at his position in the 2024 NFL Draft? 2022 was a big year for his scouting report, but Benson needs another year of production and growth to seal the deal.

Trey Benson Draft Profile and Measurements

• Height: 6’1″
• Weight: 223 pounds
• Position: Running Back
• School: Florida State
• Current Year: Redshirt Junior

There have always been whispers that Benson was special. The high school numbers helped with that. A two-time captain at St. Joseph Catholic, Travis rushed for 3,616 yards and 48 touchdowns in his final two seasons. He fielded four-star billing as a recruit and signed with Mario Cristobal and the Oregon Ducks.

Benson’s track record was strong, but he never got a chance to show it at Oregon. As a true freshman in 2020, Benson suffered a catastrophic knee injury during a practice — tearing his ACL, MCL, and meniscus. The next year, on the heels of a grueling recovery, he only saw six carries for 22 yards and a score.

Benson’s two-year stint at Oregon provided more adversity than prosperity. A transfer to Florida State helped revitalize his career. Alongside Jordan Travis in Mike Norvell’s offense, Benson racked up career highs in all metrics in 2022, amassing 990 yards and nine touchdowns on 154 carries, while also catching 13 passes for 144 yards.

Just like that, Benson is now a highly regarded 2024 NFL Draft prospect at the RB position, and as his scouting report details, he has the traits to sustain production at the NFL level.

Trey Benson Scouting Report

Strengths

• Hyper-dense back with a powerful, compact frame and a strong lower body.
• Flashes uncanny foot quickness and stride freedom for his size on corrective cuts.
• Has great explosiveness when throttling up to take advantage of fleeting windows.
• Can quickly identify open lanes in the B and C-gaps and instantly trigger upfield.
• Shows glimpses of stellar interior vision, slithering through A-gaps with smooth control.
• Can effortlessly absorb solo tacklers with his thick midsection while maintaining speed.
• Is extremely hard to slow in space with his urgent strides, mass, and constant leg drive.
• Displays a sneering indifference to contact threats, attacking defenders with stiff-arms.
• Has a finisher’s mentality in open space and will drag defenders with his leg churn.
• Has shown he can get skinny to attack lanes, then scrape through pursuit defenders.
• Adaptable zone runner who can quickly identify backside lanes and cut back inside.
• Can offset solo DBs in space with sudden stutter and gallop-steps while staying vertical.
• Flashes promise as a receiver and can corral tight passes with proactive hands.
• He can run delayed outs from the backfield and extend past his frame to convert.
• Willing pass protector who actively squares up defenders and relishes the contact.

Weaknesses

• Doesn’t quite have the long speed to breach contain consistently on outside runs.
• At times, misses optimal pathways in congestion, failing to press behind blocks.
• Occasionally hesitates and wastes motion when space ahead is negated.
• Can sometimes be quicker to react to early contact threats and adapt early in reps.
• Sometimes drifts too far upfield off the exchange and rolls into congested areas.
• Doesn’t quite have elite hip flexibility and can’t always swivel freely in congestion.
• On occasion, slight hip stiffness can cause him to drift upright on cuts in space.
• Sometimes lacks balance and control when stacking cuts in space to offset DBs.
• Lacks volume as a receiving back and has room to expand his route tree.
• Sometimes has room to be more patient in pass protection, giving up positioning.

Current Draft Projection and Summary

On my 2024 NFL Draft board, Benson grades out as a top-five RB prospect, worthy of early Day 2 draft capital. He’s ultimately in the mix for the RB1 title with players like TreVeyon Henderson and Raheim Sanders, but he starts a notch below them in the preseason on my rankings.

As a projected volume back, Benson brings plenty to like. He has a strong, compact build at 6’1″, 223 pounds, with a powerful lower body. He’s an explosive vertical runner with constant leg churn who uses forward-pressing physicality, tenacity, and elite contact balance to routinely withstand tackles and glean maximum potential from runs.

MORE: Top RBs in the 2024 NFL Draft

Even past the physical element, there are appealing qualities as well. Benson flashes surprising foot speed and throttle freedom for his size; he has some sharp cutting ability as well. He has good vision and can identify initial lanes inside or divert to cutback lanes and adapt. At the second level, he has the angle IQ to stem solo tacklers with initial rushing angles, baiting them into improper pursuit paths before exploding into space.

The questions for Benson lie in his two-phase utility and his ultimate ceiling as a runner. While his vision and creative instincts are both good, he doesn’t know how to consistently deal with backfield penetrators — he can be more efficient using his space behind the line. While reasonably agile and fluid, his hips are a bit stiff, limiting range and flexibility on lateral cuts. And as a receiver, while he’s flashed, he needs more volume to prove himself.

Nevertheless, Benson has the size, explosiveness, foot speed, contact balance, baseline vision and feel, and relentless physicality to be an exceptional workhorse back at the NFL level. The flashes of route-running ability, hand-eye coordination, and RAC utility also provide optimism for his receiving projection.