Grady Benton

Grady Benton was born on February 20, 1973.^[1] He played high school football at Mesa High School in Mesa, Arizona.^[2] He passed for 1,350 yards and nine touchdowns, helping Mesa win the state title his senior year in 1990.^[2]

Benton was initially planning on attending Mesa Community College in 1991 but ended up receiving Arizona State's last scholarship that season.^[2] He redshirted the 1991 season for the Sun Devils.^[2] He was suspended for the first game of the 1992 season after pleading no contest to using a stolen credit card.^[2] Benton became the team's starter after Garrick McGee was also suspended for the first two games of the season after pleading guilty to burglary charges.^[2] Benton completed 149 of 225 passes for 1,707 yards, eight touchdowns, and nine interceptions that season.^[3] His 66.2 completion percentage was the highest in the country.^[3] He began the 1993 season as the starter but Jake Plummer eventually took over the starting job after Benton was injured.^[4] Benton completed 63 of 132 passes (47.7%) for 760 yards, six touchdowns, and nine interceptions that season.^[3]

In 1994, Benton transferred to play for the West Texas A&M Buffaloes.^[5] He earned Dr. C.M. Frank second-team All-American and Football Gazette third-team All-American honors for the 1994 season, and also finished fifth in voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy.^[5] He led the Lone Star Conference in passing yards with 2,077 his senior year in 1995.^[5] He also played baseball for the Buffaloes during his senior season.^[5] He finished his stint at West Texas A&M with 5,618 total passing yards.^[5] Benton also set single-game school records for most pass attempts with 69 and passing touchdowns with eight.^[5] He was inducted into the West Texas A&M Hall of Champions in 2018.^[5]

Benton went undrafted during the 1996 NFL draft and spent the 1996 season in the Arena Football League (AFL). He completed 19 of 53 passes (35.8%) for 273 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions for the Memphis Pharaohs in 1996.^[6] He also played in eight games for the Texas Terror during the 1996 AFL season, completing 45 of 80 passes (56.2%) for 616 yards, seven touchdowns, and four interceptions.^[6][1]

Benton was the offensive coordinator at Randall High School in Amarillo, Texas from 2000 to 2006.^[7] He was the head football coach at Slaton High School in Slaton, Texas from 2007 to 2011, accumulating a record of 14–36.^[7][8] He was the head football coach at Haskell High School in Haskell, Texas from 2012 to 2016, accumulating a record of 21–30.^[9][8]