An inspiration to us all

Andrew Benavides still supporting on the sideline

Idaho men’s football player Andrew Benavides will never make a play for the Idaho State University football team on the field again, but he is still doing everything that he can to help the Bengals win.
After suffering a career-ending injury, Benavides serves as the equipment manager for the team.
“Whatever I need to do to help these guys, I do. I make sure they are taken care of,” said Benavides.
In a season that has been marred with losing and negative publicity, Benavides provides a positive spotlight in a dark season for ISU football.
At halftime of a 50-10 loss to No. 12 seed Northern Arizona University (NAU), Benavides was honored for his commitment to ISU football by his team, coaches and fans.
Benavides is one of six players who are not playing but are on scholarship for the football team.
Benavides is still feeling the impact from his injury. Nerve damage has caused his left side to be a little weaker than his right. He still drags his left foot whenever he walks.
“It was a long road, just the start of it, when I was told that I would never walk again, I just wanted to prove them wrong,” he said.
His injury occurred in 2009 against the NAU Lumberjacks. Benavides was ISU’s premier kick returner and was returning a kick to start the second half.  Benavides can remember the play like it was yesterday.
It was a red-seven-break left.
He broke left for a 54-yard return. He was hit from behind and fell on his head. Instead of his head sliding into the turf, it stuck from the impact.
Benavides immediately grabbed his neck, got in the fetal position and was writhing in pain from the sensation down his back.
The medics told him not to move and carried Benavides off the field in a stretcher.  He was able to give the crowd a thumbs up as he was being taken to the hospital.
He suffered fractures in his L5 and S1 vertebrae.
As soon as Benavides got to the hospital he started to get a tingly sensation down his left side. He said he got an overwhelming hot-warm sensation and lost feeling in his lower half.
“The sensation of losing your feeling in your legs was insane, and then getting the feeling back was just as weird,” he explained.
Two weeks later, Benavides was able to wiggle his toes and roll over in bed, and that was all he needed to get the motivation to play college football again.
He was redshirted for the 2010 season as he regained his strength to get back on the field.
Benavides came back in the spring of 2011, and participated in non-contact drills until he was cleared for contact for the final spring game of camp.
In that spring game, Benavides would suffer another set back.  He separated his ankle and tore all of the ligaments.
At this point, most football players would give up, but Benavides proved that he is not like most football players, or even most people.
The day before the 2011 season, Benavides participated in practice and everything had gone fine.
Andrew woke up at 2 a.m. screaming. He was not able to feel or move his lower body. His roommate phoned 911 and Andrew was once again taken back to the hospital on an ambulance.
After a couple of weeks, the swelling in his spinal cord went down and Benavides began the recovery process all over again.  The doctors could not guarantee Benavides that if he was to suffer another similar injury, that he wouldn’t be permanently paralyzed.
Despite this, Benavides still wanted to play football.
After the incident, ISU head coach Mike Kramer pulled him into his office and said that he couldn’t have the burden of Benavides injuring himself again and potentially becoming paralyzed on his shoulders.
“It was hurtful, but I understood. I told him I still wanted to be on the team,” recalled Benavides. “Kramer is one of the greatest coaches I’ve ever dealt with.”
Kramer said, “Andrew wanted to play really bad, but in the fall of 2011, he was up the road in Idaho Falls and he was pretty unavailable. For him to close the book on his career and want to be a part of this team is pretty darn neat. I’m extremely proud of him.”
Benavides is set to graduate in May with a sports management degree and a minor in coaching.