FRISCO, Texas — Elijah Wellman grew up a country boy dreaming of being a Mountaineer. Al-Rasheed Benton was the Jersey kid who nearly went to Penn State.
Now, they’re fifth-year seniors and odd-couple teammates having forged one of those forever friendships at West Virginia.
As the sun set on Big 12 media days, they sat on adjacent stages, reminiscing about their career paths and the final season yet to come.
Wellman is one of the league’s top fullbacks. Benton is entering his second year as WVU’s middle linebacker. Both would jump at the chance to play a few snaps at the other’s position.
“He likes to say he’s the black Eli and I’m the white Al,” Wellman said. “It’s kind of cool.”
Upon arriving as 2013 signees — by far the highest-rated class in Dana Holgorsen’s six-year tenure — Benton and Wellman had little in common aside from loving the most physical aspect of football. Wellman was the home-grown kid from Spring Valley High and the top defensive player in the state, albeit one that wasn’t producing many D-I prospects. Benton had grown up in Newark, an area rich with talent but not nearly so hospitable.
One of their first interactions remains a point of contention: A pad-popping Oklahoma drill that each claims to have owned.
“I won but he ain’t going to tell you that,” says Benton.
“Absolutely I won,” counters Wellman. “I’m not going to let him take credit.”
They also razz each other about another episode from freshman year, some locker-room wrestling where the staff matched up newcomers from opposite sides of the ball. Those 3 minutes of grappling and stalemated leverage ended in a draw.
“It went on forever and no one ever went to the ground,” Wellman says.
“We wrestled until we were both so tired we couldn’t go no more,” Benton says. “And they all got tired of watching us and put some new guys in there.”
From that mutual respect spawned as redshirts, they have shared in three consecutive winning seasons — each one a rung better than the previous (7-6, 8-5 and 10-3). Whether their senior year will produce another improvement depends on who’s making the projection. Mock top-25s from national sportswriters include WVU, yet the Big 12 media picked them only sixth in the league.
This irks Benton to a degree where you’d think he was the home-state kid.
“Pure disrespect,” he says.
Benton even became riled by the Big 12 promotional video that looped inside The Ford Center. He saw clips of other teams holding trophies, but noticed that West Virginia’s portion was “a guy standing there holding a beer in the middle of the game. That’s not what West Virginia’s all about.”
Benton repeatedly references making a legacy at WVU, something that wasn’t at the forefront of his mind as a high school junior when he “came within two seconds of committing to Penn State” after attending the Nittany Lions’ spring game. That’s when one of his coaches intervened and said, “Take your time and wait it out a few days.”
Benton’s first and only official visit came a few months later, when he witnessed the Mountaineers’ sold-out Big 12 debut — the 70-63 thriller over Baylor.
“I knew right then there would be no place like Morgantown,” he said. “The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything I’d ever seen. That’s what sold me. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the Mountaineers for the rest of my life.”
A decision reinforced whenever Benton recalls life back in Newark.
“I can walk around Morgantown and I don’t have to worry at all. It’s so much safer. That’s something I couldn’t do at home, where you never knew who was around this corner or who was hiding somewhere. I can walk around Morgantown and just clear my head.”
And come scrimmage time, he can ram his head into his pal Wellman, the kind of toughening collisions both relish.
Recalling their days as two-way starters in high school, each player craves a chance to flip sides of the ball, if only for a few snaps. Coaches told Benton his No. 3 jersey was a problem last year because quarterback Skyler Howard wore the same number.
“But Will Grier’s got No. 7 now, so we’ll see how it goes,” he said.
As vigorously as Benton petitions for a turn at fullback, he sounds equally enthused about seeing Wellman play Mike linebacker so he could “run downhill and smack somebody’s head up.”
These two were made for impact, and made to be teammates.
“If I was from Huntington, I’d be Eli Wellman,” Benton says. “That’s my guy. We’re brothers. I’m just glad I came to West Virginia and met a guy like that.”