According to Ryan Bartow of Rivals.com Brent Benedict, former Georgia Bulldog, is now a Hokie.
The Athens Banner-Herald cites personal reasons as the cause for Benedict's transfer.
Benedict injured his right knee during his senior year of high school.
A devastating right knee injury suffered in a game against Yulee on Oct. 16 of that year ended his senior campaign and forced Benedict to redshirt last season at Georgia.
He participated in spring drills but was held out of some drills as he continued his recovery. Georgia listed Benedict as a backup at right guard.
"My knee is 100 percent," Benedict said. "I went through spring on it, and it's not an issue at all. This decision had nothing to do with the injury. Georgia's doctors did an awesome job.
"I was fine playing guard as well. I played center, guard and tackle while I was at Bolles. I'm a team player and will play where the team needs me the most."
That injury forced Benedict, a ready-made SEC player who Rivals.com rated the 12th best tackle in the country, to redshirt his freshman year. Depending on who you ask Benedict is either still recovering from, or has recovered it.
Benedict claimed in March to be "100 percent" recovered from that injury and was medically cleared to play. But he continued to show effects of that injury even in summer workouts.
Both Benedict and Georgia have said all the right things, and it's Georgia's policy not to restrict where a player can transfer. Shane Beamer took care of the rest.
Benedict's departure from Georgia was surprising. He committed to the Bulldogs on June 16, 2009, and never wavered in his pledge. At the time of his commitment, Benedict was considered one of the nation's top 50 overall prospects by most recruiting services and one of the top tackles.
As you can see, the potential is there, and Beamer Co. has to be hoping he can play up to it.
Welcome to Hokie Nation Brent!
Comments
Injury Specifics
What a terrible way for it to go down.
http://m.jacksonville.com/interact/blog/hays_carlyon/2009-10-17/bolles_s...
a monster
when healthy.
cross our fingers. a risk worth taking.
pure awesome
Well worth the risk...Maybe it's his SEC pedigree but I seem to be overly stoked about this regarding the bigger picture. The more quality we can get, right away and right now, and attribute it to all the staffing changes, etc. just seems to feed the perception that Beamer and Co. are serious and making moves...
Chip
This sets up nicely for us if the kid can get healthy. I hope he comes in with a sizeable chip on his shoulder and eager to prove his worth. LT3, happy early birthday!
Not done
While there's still work to be done on the OL, I feel much better about the future with Benedict and Wang as underclassmen.
He says he's 100
annnd the trainers/docs are sold via the Hokie Camp. Bulldog HQ mentioned that albeit saying he's healthy he looked like he still had some issue during the summer. I think there is a lot of Risk/Reward here. Even if we can't utilize him all four quarters the kids videos were astounding. I wouldn't use him on option plays but making a hole here and there for DW isnt out of the question.
I welcome the addition
The Hokie Nation continues to grow. He looks great in the highlight video. I wish him great success with the Hokies.
Confirms Transfer was Disagreement with Joe Tereshinski
This was the rumor I had been hearing all along.
via http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/2011/07/13/qa-brent-benedict-confir...
Their loss is our gain.
We will likely never know (nor should we) all of the details concerning this decision, or the maturity level of the decision itself. I have been very impressed, however, with Benedict's maturity and class to be honest yet private about the specifics.