Come back every Tuesday for Recruiting Horror Stories™, athletes' first-hand stories on what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

Zach Benwick, a Junior at Jacksonville University, was once a star kicker, but his football career was cut short.

Starting at the age of five, Zach has a passion for football. He played throughout his childhood and eventually wanted to become the kicker for his high school team. The mentorship of ex Jaguars kicker, Josh Scobey, only increased Zach's love for his position as he started his highschool career. He was first the holder his sophomore year of high school and worked his way up to the starting kicker his last two seasons of high school.

Recognition

During Zach's senior year of high school, he began to market himself by attending kicking camps across the state of Florida. Zach was able to perform well and got recognized at a Florida Atlantic University kicking camp, then attended his first unofficial visit to Florida Atlantic University in the fall. Although he wasn't offered a scholarship, Zach was in communication with the coach and had a preferred walk-on spot on the team the following season. He also received offers from Buenavista University, Gordon State College, and Carolina A&T, but was only interested in FAU. 

On February 6, 2019, the coaching staff for FAU switched, and Zach no longer had a spot on the team. With no desire to sign to other schools, Zach thought his search to play college football was over, so he applied to Jacksonville University as a student and was admitted in March of 2019. He decided to enroll as a student at JU and was put into contact with Denard Robinson, a former Michigan Wolverine and Jacksonville Jaguar, and Steven Sylvester, a special teams coordinator. They told Zach that he could walk on but they could not promise he would make the training camp. Months later, and only a week before camp starts, Zach received a call from the head coach, inviting him to attend fall training camp on August 1, 2019. After not being on the depth chart at all, Zach earned the starting kicker spot just two days before their first game against University of Richmond. 

Freshman Season

After a phenomenal freshman campaign, Zach finished the season with two missed extra points and three missed field goals. On December 2, 2019, the team was emailed at 10PM that they had an 8AM meeting the next morning. The next morning the team gathered in the auditorium and were told the Jacksonville University Football team would be discontinued due to finance and funding issues. 

Related: College: College Ruined his Love for Baseball

Zach went from having a walk-on spot, to no options, to some sight of hope, to then starting for a Division I football team, to no longer being able to play football… All in one year. Zach is currently still enrolled at Jacksonville University, studying aviation management and is attending college for free due to the football program being cut. In spite of his whirlwind journey, he has no regrets for attending JU.

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* Originally published on April 5, 2022, by Finn Rice