Continuing on with our annual Countdown to Kickoff, we move forward to day 67, where we highlight offensive lineman Kahlil Benson.

Benson began his career in Bloomington upon graduating high school, where he was a strongly rated 3-star recruit per 247 Sports Composite Rankings. He was a top 25 prospect in the state of Mississippi and was even higher when you look at solely offensive linemen from the state. Former coaches Kane Wommack and Darren Hiller recruited Benson and stole him away from the likes of Mississippi State, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and a handful of other schools.

In 2022 as a redshirt sophomore, Benson received significant playing time and started to make a name for himself, appearing in all 12 games and starting 5 of them, per iuhoosiers.com. Then, during the 2023 season, Benson burst onto the scene and had the breakout campaign everyone was predicting given his immense talent and strong showing the previous year. Bob Bostad - Indiana’s current offensive line coach - also arrived in 2023 and made sweeping changes to the program. No doubt, Benson benefitted from Bostad’s arrival as well.

During the 2023 offseason, amidst uncertainty in the Indiana program as the team had just fired their head coach, Tom Allen, Benson entered the transfer portal and took his talents to Prime Time in Boulder, Colorado. He played well, but had some health issues throughout the year that prevented him from playing a full season.

Now, he’s thankfully back in Crimson and Cream.

Benson projects to be a starting guard on the Indiana offensive line. He brings a plethora of experience, a passion and knowledge for what it means to be a Hoosier, and invaluable protection skills that will only be enhanced further under another year with Coach Bostad. Look for Benson to play an integral role in this offense and don’t be surprised if you see him on Sunday’s the following year as well.

The Hoosier Huddle Countdown to Kickoff continues each and every day so be sure to check back often for the latest profile piece!