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| Position | Running back | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | April 23, 1970 Santa Clara County, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 183 lb (83 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Tulare Union (Tulare, California) | ||||||||||||
| College | Pacific | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1993: undrafted | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career Arena League statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |||||||||||||
Ryan Lamont Benjamin (born April 23, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for one season with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pacific Tigers, earning first-team All-American honors in 1991. He was also a member of the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Memphis Pharaohs/Portland Forest Dragons of the Arena Football League (AFL).
Ryan Lamont Bemjamin was born on April 23, 1970, in Santa Clara County, California. [1] He attended Tulare Union High School in Tulare, California. [1]
Benjamin first played college football for the College of the Sequoias Giants. [1]
He played for the Pacific Tigers of the University of the Pacific from 1990 to 1992. [2] He earned Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors in 1991 and 1992. [2] Benjamin led NCAA Division I-A in all-purpose yardage and became the first player in conference history to record 50 passes while rushing for at least 1,500 yards. [2] His 2,996 all-purpose yards were second only to Barry Sanders' NCAA record in 1988. [2] He was named Pacific's first Associated Press first-team All-American and was also the second player in Big West Conference history to earn the honor. [2] Benjamin garnered AP and UPI All-America second-team recognition after rushing for 1,441 yards and compiling 2,597 all-purpose yards his senior year in 1992. [2] He was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2004-05 class. [2]
Benjamin was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals on April 28, 1993, after going undrafted in the 1993 NFL draft. [1] [3] He played in one game for the Bengals during the 1993 season. [1] He was released by the Bengals on August 10, 1994. [4]
Benjamin signed with the Shreveport Pirates in August 1994 and played for the team during the 1994 season. [5]
Benjamin was a member of the Memphis Pharaohs/Portland Forest Dragons from 1995 to 1999. [6] He was named team captain and earned team MVP honors. [2] He left the team after the 1998 season. [7]