by Matthew Suh ’24
San Jose, Calif. — It was bound to happen for #71. The question was when and to which college would the 3-star, 6 foot 5 inches, 270-pound offensive tackle commit. Bennett Anderson ‘24, a star offensive and defensive tackle at Bellarmine College Preparatory, recently committed to playing college football at Yale University this past July.
Bennett Anderson first started playing football in second grade for Cambrian Valley. Playing football was a family tradition in the Anderson family, so he always expected he would participate in the sport his family loved as well. Growing up, he looked up to NFL defensive star JJ Watt, as he was more focused on his defensive game. In fact, Bennett claims to still have a poster of JJ Watt hung up in his bedroom from when he was just 10 years old.
As Bennett transitioned into high school at Bellarmine, he started to become more serious about getting recruited to play football at the next level (in college). He invested hours of his time during the week studying film from previous games, attending early-morning workouts (before school), and practicing in pads after school.
Bennett’s late nights studying film and early-morning practices paid off as he received a total of 11 offers to play college football this past year. He received offers from Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, University of Pennslyvania, Brown University, San José State University, Army West Point, and The U.S. Naval Academy. It is safe to say he was not lacking offers, as he received an offer from every Ivy League School except for one: Dartmouth University.
Ultimately, on July 28th, 2023, Bennett announced his commitment to play college football for Yale. In an Instagram post announcing his commitment, he wrote:
“I’d like to thank my parents, brother, coaches, teammates, Bellarmine, and everyone else who has helped me achieve this lifelong goal of mine. With that being said, I’m excited to play the sport I love at Yale University!”
Bennett ended up committing to Yale because he believed “it was the best option in terms of all my prioritized factors, that being education, football, and internship opportunities.” From the beginning of his childhood, Bennett’s number one goal was to get into the best possible school for both academics and athletics, so committing to Yale was a dream come true.
When asked about the recruiting process, Bennett noted that the recruitment process isn’t as easy as it looks from the outside. There is a lot of work “behind the scenes” that goes into getting noticed by a college or university, and then the coaches have to reach out to talk to you. In Bennett’s case, a couple of coaches from Yale reached out and talked to him after his junior football season (middle of the football offseason). It wasn’t until the end of his junior year that the first Ivy League school made an official offer. Then, like a domino effect, college offers began to roll in one after another.
Bennett says his father has been his biggest supporter and played a pivotal role in his football journey. Throughout his journey, his father always makes sure that Bennett sees the bigger picture rather than fixate on the unimportant little things in life. Bennett also said that his mother and brother have been a huge source of inspiration and have guided him through this commitment process as well. Bennett gave a shout-out to his trainers, Andrew Dela Cruz and Dominque Wise ‘02.
Bennett’s advice to young athletes aspiring to play their sport at the next level:
“Have a plan, demonstrate interest, and talent will get noticed.”
Matthew Suh is a staff writer and contributor for The Bell Online, Talking Points Sports, and The Press Box. Follow Matthew on Twitter @matthewsuh for inquiries!