Syracuse Football: Orange add dynamic 2019 TE Luke Benson
The Syracuse football squad has added a versatile 2019 tight end prospect in Luke Benson. Here’s what he can bring to the fold for the Orange.
This has been an extremely busy time for the Syracuse football program as they add prospects to their 2019 class.
The latest addition will help out Tommy DeVito at the tight end position. His name is Luke Benson and he comes way of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
The talented 6-foot-4 220 pound tight end held 22 offers (per 247 Sports), prior to committing to Syracuse on Sunday night. This is the seventh commit for the Orange in the 2019 class, but even more impressively six of those have come within the last 11 days.
Also note worthy, this is the first tight end commit of the 2019 class and per Syracuse Insider Mike McAllister (SU only had one tight end commit in the 2018 class in Gabe Horan).
Tale of the tape…
A few things to note here before we get into the tale of the tape. First off Syracuse hasn’t maximized the tight end position the last handful of years. They’ve often ignored the position and it’s about time that changes.
Despite the fact that Benson isn’t ranked by any of the major recruiting services, he has the potential to be that guy for the Orange.
First impressions are important and that’s why the first play in the highlight package brings me great joy. Benson lines up in a traditional in-line stance and runs a modified out-and-up concept that blows past the weak man-on-man defense for the long touchdown.
But to be a tight end at the collegiate or pro level, you have to be multidimensional. In his tape you see several pancake blocks and Benson clearly isn’t afraid to get his nose dirty. Speaking of getting dirty, he does also play on the defensive side of the ball as a defensive end and showed some fire.
The reason that’s worth pointing out is because he will likely have special team assignments and has to be tough. But getting back to his work as a tight end, for 99% of his highlights he’s a traditional tight end, but at the 2:47 mark he was flexed out. On this play he wasn’t the primary target and the quarterback went through several progressions before he found Benson over the middle.
Security blanket…
I always talk about three things when we talk about tight ends: red zone, security and seam. The security was displayed on this highlight because not every play you’re running deep for a touchdown. Sometimes it is simply finding the hole in the zone and camping out until your quarterback finds you or has no other option and dumps it off to you. You’re the quarterback’s special blanket that he cuddles up to late at night when he’s a kid and afraid of the dark.
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Final nugget and my final takeaway from observing his junior highlight reel. This kid has that ‘nasty’ factor, he seems to always be looking for contact when he’s a defensive end or engaged run blocker. It’s hard not to get giddy when he’s driving defenders on the second level into the dirt and consistently finishes off blocks. Look out for this cat in 2019.