Iowa football: What could have been with star back Eno Benjamin?

Eno Benjamin shocked the Iowa football world when the former four-star recruit decommitted from the Hawks. Now, he’s a star at Arizona State.

Can you imagine Eno Benjamin in an Iowa football uniform? The idea is tantalizing and painful especially considering how well he is playing now for Herm Edwards in Tempe, Arizona. How it got to that point was weird and surrounded by controversy, and today we wanted to take a quick walk down memory lane and discuss what could have been.

Eno Benjamin, a consensus four-star recruit from Wylie, Texas committed to the Iowa football program in April of 2016, and it was a huge get for the Hawks. Benjamin was widely considered one of the top running backs in the country and was the 75th ranked prospect overall.

His marriage to the Hawkeyes seemed like a match made in heaven. The young back would have the opportunity to play behind a historically great offensive line under a head coach who favors a pro-style offense and loves to run the ball.

Unfortunately, the honeymoon period didn’t last long, and the breakup was messy.

Just five months later, Benjamin decided to decommit and reopen his recruiting process.

https://twitter.com/eno_benjamin5/status/790329330559700993

To sum up what happened, it sounds like Benjamin didn’t necessarily respect the Iowa football policy to stop taking visits after committing. According to Benjamin, he didn’t realize that was actually a policy. Either way, it caused an ugly fight that led to one of the best recruits in Iowa’s history never stepping another foot on campus.

Three months later, the 5’10” 206-pound back from Texas committed to the Sun Devils.

Fast forward two years, and he looks like he is all that he was cracked up to be. This isn’t to say the Iowa football team is in dire needs at the running back position, but he surely would have beat out each running back in Iowa’s trio of backs toting the rock this season.

As it stands now, Eno Benjamin is the fifth-leading rusher in the NCAA this season with 1,113 yards rushing and he is 11th in the nation in touchdowns with 11. For reference, that’s just 300-yards less than all three of Iowa’s backs combined. The leading rusher for the Iowa football team, Toren Young is ranked 146th in the nation with 466 yards.

Although it means nothing now, it’s interesting to think of what could have been had Eno Benjamin stuck with his commitment to the Iowa football program.