ASU Football: Eno Benjamin Sees Similarities with Jayden Daniels and Kyler Murray
In halfback Eno Benjamin's third and final season at Arizona State in 2019, he got to play alongside a young, mobile quarterback starting in his first season in Jayden Daniels.
Now, Benjamin is a member of the Arizona Cardinals, working to make a roster led by a young, mobile quarterback who started every game as a rookie last year, Kyler Murray.
Benjamin detailed the similarities he sees between Daniels and the reigning NFL Rookie of the Year Murray on Thursday.
"They're both those types of guys where if there's a [rusher] who wants to risk it and take something, as far as coming off the edge and not holding his gap, the quarterback will pull the ball," Benjamin said. "So, you have that both in Kyler and Jayden, and I see a lot of similarities between those two."
The two quarterbacks certainly don't look the same while running.
Murray is 5-foot-10 with short and quicker steps that resemble the Looney Tunes Roadrunner while Daniels is 6-foot-3 with longer strides that gain more ground.
But, as Benjamin alluded to, they can both change the outlook of a game by running when the defense gives them a hole.
Daniels showed this in ASU's victory over Washington State back in October.
The edge rusher got behind Daniels, and the quarterback took the B-gap with enough space ahead of him to reach the end zone. Daniel was hit as he reached the goal line, but he spun in the air and landed in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
Another comparison between the two quarterbacks is that they are facing high expectations entering their second seasons, whenever that may come for Daniels after the Pac-12 suspended play until January.
Daniels was named to the Maxwell Award watch list, an award that honors the most outstanding college player each year.
Multiple sportsbooks have Murray with the fourth-highest odds to win the NFL MVP.
Murray is a former number one pick, and Daniels will need to be nationally recognized as dominant during his remaining years at ASU to reach that potential. Still, Benjamin does see a bit of the same tendencies in both, perhaps a strong compliment from one Sun Devil to another.