Michigan DT Rayshaun Benny 'felt like a kid again' in monster season debut
Michigan Wolverines football senior defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny left the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl with a broken fibula. He had to watch as his team knocked off Alabama in overtime, then beat Washington 34-13 to win the national championship.
He was happy, but there were mixed emotions.
“Yeah, that was probably the biggest thing, the hardest part,” Benny said of having to miss the national championship game. “But the guys, we won, so that made it a lot better, to be honest.”
Benny began a long journey of rehabbing that lasted up until fall camp, where he hit the practice field at long last.
“It was hard. It was hard, to be honest,” Benny said of his rehab. “But my teammates made it better for me, just keeping me positive, keeping me around, letting me know what I’m not alone.
“Guys always just check on me. That’s something you don’t have to do, so it just meant more when they randomly asked me, ‘Hey, how you doing?’”
The 6-foot-4, 296-pounder out of Detroit Oak Park said the hardest part was that he “felt alone.”
“Not that I was alone; I just felt alone,” Benny said. “It was just different for me. It was a different type of serious injury.”
Benny knew from the beginning of fall camp that he’d be able to play at the start of this season, even though he had a gradual ramp up to become a full practice participant.
“It was pretty slow,” the Michigan standout said. “It wasn’t too slow. I got straight to it, pretty much. I would get mad at [head] Coach [Sherrone] Moore and [defensive line] Coach [Lou] Espo[sito] when they wouldn’t play me as much, when I felt like I could play more and I felt great. But it was all just to protect me.
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“I put in a lot of work to get back to where I’m at now. It was pretty much like as we got closer to the season and got closer to August and camp was coming, we came up with a plan. That’s pretty much when I got to believing. And once camp came, I was on the go. And then I felt it and I felt great. I knew.”
Benny impressed with a huge performance against Fresno State, Michigan winning 30-10. He posted 5 tackles to tie for the team’s lead, including 2 stops for loss and a sack.
“It felt great, just to be back out there and just to move around,” Benny said. “I felt like a kid again, almost, like a big kid. I was so happy.
“But the most happy people were my teammates, for real. I don’t know if you saw on the sack, J-Stew [senior EDGE Josaiah Stewart] ran up on me. I didn’t even know where he came from. I looked at the film — he ran all the way from the other sideline to hype me up. So that was good.”
No. 3 Texas looms for Michigan, which checked in at No. 10 in the second version of the Associated Press poll.
“Every game is a big game,” Benny said. “The next game is always the biggest one, but we’re all excited, because we know the opportunity that’s ahead of us. Trying not to treat it like a different game. It’s a pillar game. Everything we do on a daily basis, and that’s just what’s going to lead us to victory.”
