Oklahoma State Linebacker Xavier Benson is in a Good Place

STILLWATER – When you see his 6-2, 224-pound build and watch him move on the football field, you might be thinking how cool it would be to be linebacker Xavier Benson. He has the speed to make plays, the experience of knwoing the college game, and his God-given talents combined with the coaching he has received from the likes of OSU performance professor Rob Glass and his coaches on the field like Joe Bob Clements and Bryan Nardo has put him in a great spot.

Last fall he was in anything but a great spot. He was the starting linebacker for Oklahoma State, a team that was unbeaten and ranked in the top 10, but Benson admits, readily admits he has mental hurdles. Several times he hasn’t been able to make it over those obstacles and it has resulted in Benson winding up in a bad place mentally. I witnessed it last season. Benson has been through it before. 

It happened when he left Texas Tech after two seasons.

Last fall Benson needed help and he got it. He spent a lot of time searching for how he could put his mind, body, and spirit in alignment, so that he could be the best person he could be. Sometimes that just means coping with what is in front of you in your daily life. Other times it is coping with being on the huge stage where Division I college football put you.

Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports

Benson was struggling mentally, but still playing and trying to adapt on the field.

He came back this spring, smile on his face, learning a new defense from a young coach he and others connected with, and he was open and honest telling the media about his trials and successful results. Benson, I told him myself, was way more open than I think would have ever been about my mental frame of mind. 

“That is really the main drive and motive thing because I remember when I came out … What can I really do even though I feel good about myself, what can I do to serve others,” he asked himself. “I am a Christian man and the greatest service I can do is provide what I’ve learned and experienced to people that could be like me.”

I also asked him about the relationship with being in a positive frame of mind or like he says and I like it, a positive headspace. Does it matter in his football life?

“It does matter because I can involve myself in a more positive manner like I’ve always wanted to,” Benson said. “Even when I’m in a bad headspace. When I’m having ups and downs, I’m still going to play hard because that is what has been installed in me. For me, I want to do it in a more positive manner. I’ve had to learn how to figure that out.”

Last season Benson was our Pokes Report NIL reporter, but we had to suspend that midseason because of the issues he was dealing with. He’s found his ways to deal with those issues and at the same time seen so much positive come his way on the field with new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo and the 3-3-5 defense he and others have taken to.

"Amazing. The defense looks very sound, very complete. A lot of guys are understanding their roles and understanding everybody else's roles, so it makes the puzzles feel faster and quicker. That's what we want to do. We want to play fast and to play fast you have to understand what you're running. A lot of guys are taking the time out of it to understand it. And (Coach Bryan) Nardo's trusting us with what we see. We're just feeding off each other."

Jerod Hill/OSU Athletics

Benson (1) next to Collin Oliver (30).

Benson is feeling good, having fun, and loves the players he is doing it with, especially the 16 players that call the linebacker psoition room home.

"They love football,” he said of his fellow linebackers. “They really actually do. It sits with me because I come with this type of mindset every day: I gotta play harder. Even if I'm playing extremely hard, I got to play harder. And I have guys in the same headspace and mindset as me. Nobody's in a negative aspect."