LARAMIE — The trouble with life is that every now and then it deals you a curve.
Wyoming’s versatile Robert Benjamin has had to deal with a couple of nasty breaking balls over the last 10 months that would have brought a lesser man to his knees.
Benjamin was living a dream last fall when the Cowboys recruited him. It was his opportunity to play major-college football. He was expected to enroll at Wyoming last January and even made the trip to Laramie. Curve No. 1 came when his academic transcript wasn’t in order. He returned to Arizona to take care of business.
The personable Benjamin had to wait until the last minute of summer before he was able to get things taken care of and enroll at Wyoming just before fall practice. The dream was alive.
Benjamin then worked his way up the depth chart and became the Cowboys’ starting quarterback when the 2009 season opened against Weber State.
His time as a starter lasted just three games before he was replaced in the second half of the Colorado game by true freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels.
Curve No. 2 came when Benjamin was informed that the switch was permanent, at least for this year’s team.
“That whole thing was a shocking experience for me,” Benjamin said. “I was disappointed in the situation. I felt like I could have been the guy for this team” It wasn’t that Benjamin had played all that bad.
In his three games as a starter, Benjamin completed 25-of-56 passes for 209 yards. He also rushed for 91 yards on 25 tries.
Even more important, Benjamin had protected the ball, something that new coach Dave Christensen had demanded.
The problem was Carta-Samuels had been just a little better and offered what Christensen and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo were looking for in running the spread offense.
It would have been easy for Benjamin to sulk, or perhaps just give it all up. But that’s not his makeup.
“I don’t feel like I belong on the sideline,” Benjamin said. “That’s just been my mentality of how I’ve always approached football. I feel like I belong on the field.”
“Robert’s a great team player, and he approached us and wanted to know if there were other ways he could help this football team,” Christensen said. “He’s got great athleticism.”
And for now, that is at wide receiver.
Benjamin got a good look in last Saturday’s game against Utah. Not only did he catch three passes for 17 yards and had a carry for 5 yards, he also teamed with Carta-Samuels on a 30-yard TD play. Benjamin lined up as a receiver, took a lateral pass from Carta-Samuels and then threw back to Carta-Samuels for the score.
