On3 Roundtable: Malik Benson will be Alabama's top wide receiver in 2023

Alabama‘s WR1 could be an unlikely suspect this season. On a recent episode of On3 Roundtable, BOL team experts Clint Lamb and Jimmy Stein discussed Malik Benson being Bama’s go-to guy out wide.

“My bold prediction was that Malik Benson leaves this wide receiver corps and not only in receptions but yards and touchdown,” Stein said. “I’m predicting sort of boldly that he does become the wide receiver one we haven’t had since since Jameson Williams.”

Jameson Williams is a sacred name in Crimson Tide territory. So, who is Benson to compare? To start, he was widely-regarded as the nation’s top junior college prospect out of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College last season.

In his freshman season at Hutchinson C.C., Benson caught 43 passes for 1,229 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games, earning first team NJCAA DI All-America honors. The highly-touted talent followed up the fantastic year with 923 receiving yards and 10 more touchdowns as a sophomore, breaking the program record for receiving yards with 2,152.

Benson didn’t wait long after his season ended to announce his new destination. The 6-foot-1 junior committed to Alabama in December 2022. Benson will have stiff competition to become the Crimson Tide’s WR1.

“We underrate as a fan base Ja’Corey Brooks and how good he is, and how good really he’s been from the start,” Stein said. “He would be a starter and a top two or three receiver at any program in this league, all of them.”

Brooks is just one weapon in an extremely dangerous receiving group. Benson will also compete against Jermaine Burton, Kobe Prentice, Isaiah Bond and Kendrick Law for catches. Nonetheless, scouts believe Benson is equally, if not more, talented than these star wide receivers.

Benson was a four-star prospect, according to On3 Industry Rankings. Furthermore, On3 listed Benson as the No. 1 JUCO talent in the country. Other former talents to rise out of the JUCO system: Aaron Rodgers, Tyreek Hill and Alvin Kamara, who also attended Hutchinson C.C. Not bad company.

Benson certainly seems to be impressing Nick Saban.

“Benson’s had a really, really good spring and is capable of stretching the field and making big plays,” Saban said earlier this spring. “Good all-around player. He certainly is going to help us.”

Watch Benson take the field for the Crimson Tide on Sept. 2 as Alabama kicks off its season against Middle Tennessee.