’27 DE/LS has plenty of frame and skills for D-1 Football
We scour the commonwealth of Kentucky looking for playing talent on whom to report as Coach Long told you in the blurb which appears on the front page of the magazine. Here’s a guy who has one of the better frames for where he deploys you are likely to find (6’6,” 235-pounds). Griffin Benke plays both DE and is a Long-Snapper. Benke has to be among the more imposing players across Northern Kentucky playing the high school game today. First of all, Benke plays for one of Kentucky’s more storied programs. Benke runs the 40 in 4.82-seconds, shuttles in 4.7, has a 30-inch vertical, presses 310-pounds, reps the high school rep weight (185-pounds) 28-times, squats 400, and power cleans 245. This kid is being courted by a ton of D-1s from FCS through the Power 4s. First, Benke has to get the Bluebirds back where they belong, in the championship winner’s circle. That is the Fall ’26 first order of business.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Fort Thomas, KY: If you believe D-1 college football programs are scouting Griffin Benke, from Highlands High, because they are searching for a Long-Snapper, you might need to find another online magazine to read on the toilette. Six-foot, six-inch DEs that weigh 235 don’t grow on trees. Neither do high school players with those dimension who are as explosive as Benke, strong as Benke, powerful as Benke, or has Benke’s bend, speed, and sink.
That is especially true among prospects in the KHSAA. That is equally true of prospects in Northern Kentucky (or anywhere else for that matter).
Highlands is no ordinary program. The Highlands Bluebirds football team has won 23 football titles, its latest in 2014. The football team is second-most among Kentucky high school football teams in titles won (second only to Trinity’s 30) and among the winningest programs in both Kentucky and America.
Highlands holds the state records for most consecutive state football championships, with six (6) in a row, from 2007 to 2012, and in number of undefeated seasons at 13. The Bluebirds, overall, have won more than 950 football games. That is quit a lot.
How does a program win that many games? The answer is basically one word…Talent!
Benke, at 6’6,” 235 and playing DE and LS, runs the 40 in 4.82-seconds. That isn’t all. Benke shuttles (5-10-5) in 4.7, has a 30-inch vertical, presses 310-pounds, reps the high school rep weight on the bench press (185-pounds) 28-times, squats 400-lbs., and power cleans 245-lbs.
Highlands is no ordinary KHSAA football program…
Friday Night Fletch
Last season, in a 10-3 worksheet which had Highland looking like an elite team in Class 4A for much of the season, Benke posted 33-tackles, 10-TFLs, and three (3) QB-sacks bending off the end. Benke posted statistics in 12-games according to the KHSAA website.
That doesn’t mean Benke didn’t play in game number 13. Sometimes the assistant charged with entering the statistics onto the KHSAA page just never gets around to it after the season has ended, unless that particular team won it all.
In this instance there are some players which post statistics in 13-games. It may be that Benke missed a game somewhere along the way.
Benke is a guy who looks to have the classic, DE-frame. Benke has plenty of functional strength, power, bend, and sink. Benke plays for a program which will produce plenty film of his playing top-flight talent in the Northern-Kentucky, greater Cincinnati-OH area. College programs already know how to get to Fort Thomas, KY. They have been scouring the area for years.
There is the matter of a championship to chase in the Fall of ’26. Maybe this will be the year Benke can get The Bluebird program back where it traditionally has belonged.
We shall see…
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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