Louisiana-Lafayette Offers Pleasant Grove Linebacker Xavier Benson

Xavier Benson became the seventh local junior football player to receive an NCAA Division I FBS scholarship opportunity thanks to a Saturday offer from Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Pleasant Grove linebacker and receiver announced the news through his personal Twitter account.

Benson (6-3, 200) played a particularly big role on defense and helped his squad to a third round appearance in the Class 4A Division II playoffs last season. He recorded a second-best 89 tackles through the 13-game campaign and tied for the team lead in total takeaways with four.

Pleasant Grove, operating out of the run-heavy, Wing-T offensive formation, targeted Benson nine times last season for 122 yards and two scores.

ULL reached its fifth bowl game in six seasons with head coach Mark Hudspeth this past season and endured its first bowl loss. Unfortunately, two of the first three bowl game appearances were vacated due to NCAA rules violations.

The Ragin' Cajuns finished fifth out of 11 teams in the 2016 Sun Belt Conference standings with a 5-3 league record toward a 6-6 overall record through the regular season.

Hudspeth and company offered six regional seniors in the last recruiting cycle, but they failed to land any of the targets. Their most recent wins within East Texas came in 2015 with commitments from former Jasper tight end Cody Mitchell and former Newton linebacker Tanner Holmes.

Benson, like all college football prospects currently in their junior year of high school, will become eligible to sign with any school that offers him in February of 2018.

2018 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

• Tre Allison, John Tyler, OLB, 6-0, 200 — committed to SMU; additional offer from Mississippi State (2)
• Chance Amie, Tyler Lee, QB, 6-3, 190 — offers from Bowling Green, Iowa State (2)
• Xavier Benson, Pleasant Grove, LB, 6-0, 200 — offer from ULL (1)
• Dekalen Goodson, John Tyler, DE/OLB, 6-0, 215 — offer from Mississippi State (1)
• Chasen Hines, Marshall, C, 6-3, 340 — offers from Baylor, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Minnesota, North Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech (11)
• Keaontay Ingram, Carthage, RB, 6-0, 198 — offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCLA, UTSA (17)
• DeMarvion Overshown, Arp, ATH, 6-4, 196 —offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Kansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Southern Miss, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, UTSA (14)