Y’all feeling nervous yet? Check out the game preview and the depth chart/pronunciation guide while you wait. Man of the day is Mr. Ty Benefield.

#0, Ty Benefield, Junior, S

Source: broncosports.com

Stats

Height: 6–2

Weight: 205

High school: Crean Lutheran HS (Altadena, CA)

How’d he get to The Blue™?

Ty Benefield was a 3-star recruit out of high school, playing both as a DB and a WR, officially classifying him as an ATH. Oregon State, Washington State, and BYU all pursued him, but in the end, he couldn’t resist the call of the City of Trees.

Nickname

“Agent Zero”

His “official” nickname he goes by is Buck, but I’d like for him to channel a little JL Skinner this year.

Look-alike

NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo

Source: Erik Drost CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Probably a bit shorter than Giannis, but if all goes well this year he’ll be just as dominant defensively.

Career Highlights

Benefield lead the team in tackles (82) and interceptions (2) a year ago, starting all 14 games and earning him honorable mention All-Mountain West. This year he’s 1st team preseason All-Mountain West and slated to be a force in the backfield.

2025 Prospectus

Benefield is among the most talented players on the team. Like I mentioned above, he lead the team in tackles a year ago. However, like Coach Bob told me when I played safety at 10 years old for the United Water Bonecrushers, “it’s probably not a good thing when safeties get a lot of tackles”. Now that’s not an indictment of Benefield at all—more of the defense as a whole, but the next step for Ty is to be lockdown in coverage.

Wisdom says that pass coverage is difficult to quantify for a host of methodological reasons. That said, a look back at the 2024 Fiesta Bowl highlights for Penn State and you will see Benefield quite frequently. I genuinely can’t say to what degree he’s at fault there, he’ll have to be better for the Broncos to take their next step. I am very optimistic he’ll have a good season, and the degree of good season he has will probably mirror that of the team at large.

Is he on Twi/X?

He is! @BenefieldTy is the handle. Mostly retweets, but he throws in a few good ones every now and then. Here’s a good one after the MW championship game.

Completely made up fact

It has long been debated where the nickname “Buck” originates from. Benefield himself has kept it a mystery, but some have speculated it’s a reference to his size and speed, likening him to a male deer. The truth can be found in a visit to Benefield’s hometown, where they do annual American Frontier reenactments. As a boy, Benefield grew quite a reputation for being a successful fur trader in these reenactments, once complexly fleecing the town mayor in a trade for his buckskins. From then on, he become known simply as “Buck”.

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