FSU Running Back Trey Benson Named To Paul Hornung Award Watch List

The award is presented annually to the most versatile player in major college football.

Florida State running back Trey Benson has been named to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List, it was announced Thursday. The Paul Hornung Award presented by Texas Roadhouse is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football.

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Benson, who earlier this week was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List and voted to the Preseason All-ACC Team, rushed for 990 yards and nine touchdowns while adding 144 yards on 13 receptions and 192 yards with one touchdown on five kickoff returns in his first season with the Seminoles. The second-team All-ACC performer earned ACC Running Back of the Week four different times and became the first player in conference history to win the award outright in three consecutive weeks. He re-set his career-high rushing total in each of those three weeks, becoming the first FSU rusher since Dalvin Cook in 2016 with three straight 100-yard games. His final game in that stretch was a 163-yard performance at Syracuse that was the most rushing yards by an ACC player in a road game in 2022 and the highest for an FSU rusher in an ACC road game since Cook at Syracuse in 2016. Benson finished the year with five 100-yard rushing games, the most in a season by an FSU runner since Cam Akers in 2019.

Benson’s average of 6.46 yards per rush led the ACC and ranked 13th nationally, and he was second in the ACC and ninth in the country with 14 runs of at least 20 yards. The Greenville, Mississippi, native broke PFF College’s single-season record by forcing 0.51 missed tackles per rush to better the previous record of 0.48. Benson’s nine rushing touchdowns ranked sixth in the conference, and his 10 total touchdowns were 10th. In FSU’s 44-14 win over Boston College, Benson totaled a career-high 177 all-purpose yards and became the first player in program history to score two offensive touchdowns and a kickoff return touchdown in the same game. His kickoff return touchdown was the first opening kickoff return for a touchdown in Doak Campbell Stadium history.

The Seminoles open their 2023 season in primetime on Sunday, Sept. 3, vs. LSU. Their season opener kicks off inside Camping World Stadium in Orlando at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ABC.

*Press release courtesy of Florida State Athletics

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