On a night in which rushing yards were bountiful at Sun Devil Stadium, sophomore Eno Benjamin etched his name into the ASU football record books.
Ahead of Saturday’s game against Oregon State, the Beavers came to Tempe allowing an average of 280.3 rushing yards per game. On Saturday, Eno Benjamin single-handedly increased that number, running for a program-record 312 yards in a 52-24 win.
Chunk by chunk, Benjamin barreled through the OSU defense and into ASU football history, initially setting the first-half rushing mark with 185 yards before setting a new single-game benchmark.
Though his newly-acquired popularity made him a trending topic of conversation throughout the college football spectrum, Benjamin opted to remain quiet, allowing his performance on the field to do the talking.
“We had a gameplan. We knew we were going to be able to run the ball on them,” Benjamin said. “The way we practiced this week, you would’ve known it was going to happen and that’s a testament to our offensive line.”
Prior to arriving at Arizona State, Benjamin’s reputation preceded him. He rushed for over 4,700 yards and 54 touchdowns in three seasons at Wylie East High School.
It was there that he and running backs coach Matt Tietjen established a plan for Benjamin to grow and have success at the next level. The two started sculpting the blueprints from the time Benjamin was a senior in high school.
Outside of his parents, Benjamin noted Tietjen as his biggest supporter. All three were in attendance Saturday night.
While the nature of the moment might seem scripted to a degree, consider it a culmination of what the two had worked toward together.
Just five starts into Benjamin’s career, the true sophomore has already left a lasting impression on both the ASU program and coach Herm Edwards, with the latter making a staggering comparison to analyze Benjamin’s physical composition and style of play.
“He reminds me a little bit of Curtis Martin,” Edwards said. “About the same stature, doesn’t look big, doesn’t look like he can break tackles but he does. He runs inside for the tough yards, has enough burst to get outside and has pretty good hands.”
Supplementing his Hall of Fame comparison, Edwards credited Benjamin for his instincts in addition to his capabilities as a blocker.
Though the analogy likely serves as positive reinforcement to Benjamin, he still has the remainder of this season and all of next before the possibility of the NFL comes knocking.
For now, Benjamin is just living in the moment.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.