Indiana continued its recent hot streak in the transfer portal on Saturday, landing another reinforcement along the offensive front.
Former Indiana offensive lineman Kahlil Benson, who spent the 2024 season at Colorado, has committed to the Hoosiers and will return back to where he began his collegiate career, per reports.
Now the 14th transfer to pledge his commitment to Curt Cignetti this offseason, Benson is the second addition Indiana has made along the offensive line in as many days. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
Benson's college football career began all the way back in 2020. A three-star recruit out of Webb, Mississippi, Benson suffered an ACL injury during fall camp prior to the start of his true freshman season. The 6-foot-6, 305 pound offensive tackle then spent the entire 2021 season watching from the sidelines.
Finally seeing the field in 2022, Benson appeared in all 12 games, making five starts, during Tom Allen's penultimate season at the helm of the Hoosiers. During that season, Benson allowed just one sack over the course of 424 Indiana pass attempts.
In 2023, Benson started 12 times at right tackle for the Hoosiers, completing a streak of 24 straight appearances for the cream and crimson during the final two years of his four-year stay in Bloomington.
During this most recent 2024 campaign, Benson appeared in nine games for Colorado in a season that saw the fifth-year senior miss time due to injury. Benson spent time at right guard, where he started the first four games of the season for the Buffs, left guard and right tackle over the course of his 405 offensive snaps. Benson allowed two sacks, one quarterback hit and three quarterback hurries this past season.
Benson joins Ohio State offensive tackle transfer Zan Michalski as new members of Indiana's offensive front. As the 2025 roster currently projects, the Hoosiers look like they'll have six players (Benson, Michalski and returners Carter Smith, Drew Evans, Bray Lynch and Nick Kidwell) to cover the five spots along the offensive front.
The addition of Benson--and Michalski--provides the Hoosiers with depth up front, something Cignetti noted was one of the handful of differences between his team and the two teams, Ohio State and Notre Dame, that beat Indiana this past year.
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