LOOK: Oregon running back takes transfer visit to ACC school
Oregon running back Trey Benson officially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Wednesday, and as of Monday, he’s on his first official visit at Florida State.
Benson just finished up his redshirt freshman season at Oregon, after he was forced to miss the entire 2020 campaign — his true freshman season — due to an injury. Benson was seldom used in Oregon’s offense this past season under head coach Mario Cristobal; he rushed six times for 22 yards and a touchdown.
“Ultimately, I think each one of those conversations is a personal conversation with those players,” new head coach Dan Lanning said, when asked of his running back personnel last week. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be on here. A lot of that, again, is just conversation. It’s being able to have a conversation. When you’re in a different part of the world, you can’t have those. So when you get back here to home base and you’re able to sit down, I think there’s a lot that can be accomplished when that happens.
Benson was the second Oregon running back to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal after the departure of Cristobal, who left Eugene to accept the head coaching vacancy at Miami, his alma mater. His entry came just shortly after running back Sean Dollars entered the portal, too, though Dollars’ decision appears to have come with some second guesses — it began with Dollars entering the portal, withdrawing his name from the portal, then putting his name back in the portal. And lastly, he withdrew one final time, expressing his trust in new head coach Dan Lanning on Twitter.
“After talking with (Coach Dan Lanning) I’ve decided to take myself out of the transfer portal and stay at The University of Oregon,” Dollars said on Twitter. “I’m fully committed to putting my focus on the team and seeing everyone in Autzen this upcoming season! #GoDucks“
Benson may not have figured into the equation much at Oregon, given his lack of experience and Dollars’ return to campus. Benson, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound running back from Greenville, Mississippi prepped at St. Joseph Catholic School, where he blossomed into a four-star recruit via the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, making him the No. 34 running back and No. 6 overall recruit in the 2020 class.
“Some of these guys are still going through the process of making some of those decisions, and I don’t want to necessarily put a timeline on each person’s situation because each situation is different,” Lanning said before Benson entered the portal. “I will say this: I’m excited about the group of backs we have. We’ll continue to be aggressive in finding guys that can enhance our program and make us better, but I think a lot of those guys will be a part of what we’re doing moving forward.”