2013 Florida ATH Has ND In Top Five
If you look in the dictionary the term 'athlete' means, “A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.”
Brian Kelly knows how important it is to have talented athletes on your team who are versatile enough to play multiple positions if you need them to. Notre Dame has already targeted one of its top choices for the 2013 class in Richard Benjamin (Tampa, Fla. / Middleton).
Sure to be one of the top players in his class, the dynamic junior-to-be has already secured over 20 offers from some of the top schools in the nation including Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Miami (FL), Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Texas Tech, USC, Vanderbilt, West Virginia and Wisconsin, just to name a few.
“It's great to have all these offers, but at the same time you have to be able to back it up on the field,” said Benjamin. “On offense, I'm the type of explosive player that you don't know what's going to happen the next time I touch the ball. On defense, I'm just a physical, sound player. I enjoy playing both sides of the ball, so it doesn't matter to me where they want me to play.
“I think it's a little bit of everything that's getting me noticed. I've got the speed and the mentality that no one can stop me. I can shake and break you down in a small area or I can run past you. It's definitely going to take more than one person to bring me down.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect has already been hard at work getting himself ready for the 2011 season and that's one of the reasons it's been hard for him to get away from the “Sunshine State” for any visits.
“I've been to a lot of the local schools for like Miami, Florida, Florida State and South Florida, but I haven't been out-of-state yet,” he said. “Distance is not going to play a factor for me because I'm going to do what I have to do to play football and get the best education I can.”
Those two reasons are why the Irish have already caught his attention over some of these other high profile schools.
“I think Notre Dame is a great academic school and I could have the opportunity to go there someday if I choose,” said the Florida standout. “It's already one of the schools that are in my top five because of their football and academic style.
“Right now, Notre Dame is number three in my top five. When I get ready to start narrowing down schools the two things I'm going to be looking for is a good education and a good football program.”
With Benjamin already ranking the Irish high on his list, it will be an extremely important to getting him on campus and those plans have already been set into motion.
“I will be up at Notre Dame when they play South Florida on September 3,” claimed the Middleton star. “I'm really looking forward to getting up to the campus and seeing the game.”
The multi-dimensional athlete may not be the only talent coming out of Middleton this year because according to Benjamin there's a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered.
“I'm telling you right now watch out for Dwight Baker because he's going to be another Richard Benjamin,” said the sophomore. “He's 6-foot-3, 185 pounds and will be a junior like me. He hasn't got a lot of recognition yet, but I think schools will like him a lot once they see him in action.”
