His highlight for the season might be difficult to top: Diving in front of a punt, then scrambling up in time to fall on the ball in the end zone, a play that led directly to the Gophers football team's victory over Miami (Ohio). And his best play last week, as far as his coach is concerned, resulted in a touchdown that was scored by someone else.
Judge Duane Bennett's season, and his Gophers career, by the typical statistical standards if you like -- 100-yard games, rank among Big Ten leaders, yards per carry -- but know this: None of that means much to Bennett himself.
"It's about making a contribution to the team, in any way I can," the fifth-year senior tailback said. "Just being consistent, doing whatever I can to put us in position to have a chance to win. A player can run for 200, 300 yards and that team can still get the loss. I'd rather have the win."
He got one Saturday, a 22-21 rivalry win over Iowa, and coach Jerry Kill pointed to Bennett's play as one key factor -- and he wasn't talking about any of the tailback's 20 rushes. Trailing by five, the Gophers faced fourth-and-goal from the Hawkeyes 3 late in the game, and quarterback MarQueis Gray's instructions were to look for a quick slant pass across the middle.
But the play was covered, and Gray went to his second option: bootleg right. Trouble was, an Iowa linebacker was stationed on the line of scrimmage to contain that very move.
Bennett made sure he didn't.
"It was kind of a routine play for me. I had been cutting [pass-rushers] inside the entire game, and I wanted to continue that," said Bennett, who made sure he stepped into the defender's left side, forcing him to move to his right. "He tried to olé me, jumped out of the way," too late to stop Gray from getting outside.
"The key play was Duane's block --he cut the guy in half, and [Gray] was able to get around on the edge," Kill said. "So not only did [Bennett] do a good job of running the ball, he blocked much better, and he just kind of ... came out of his shell and played with some confidence."