BY BRAD FRANKLIN
R
OUGHLY A YEAR
ago, Kurt Ben-
kert wasn't with
h i s E a s t C a r o -
lina teammates when they
traveled to Gainesville for
a matchup against Florida.
Instead of trying to lead a
fourth-quarter comeback
against the Gators, the then-
ECU signal-caller was sev-
eral weeks into rehabbing a
knee injury.
He didn't even get to be
on the sideline. Instead, he
watched on television as his
team fell in a heartbreaker of
sorts for the Pirates.
More than 12 months
later, after going through the
grueling process of returning
to the field and making the
tough decision to transfer,
he's the starting quarterback
at Virginia. And it's been a
long, strange trip of sorts for
the Sunshine State native.
The 6-3, 225-pound Ben-
kert arrived in Charlottes-
ville this past summer after
deciding to leave Greenville,
N.C., at the tail end of spring
practice. The head coach
who recruited him, Ruffin
McNeill, was let go at the
end of the 2015 season. And
Benkert decided it was time
for a change himself.
"I made the decision to-
ward the end of spring ball,"
he explained. "I was think-
ing about looking around,
but when the new staff came
in and started getting go-
ing, I wanted to give them
a chance. I felt like I had a
lot of time left to play so if I
THE
RIGHT
MAN
Quarterback Kurt Benkert Could Not
Have Found A Better Fit Then At UVA
FOR THE JOB
