BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. – A couple of ideas were floated to foster a greater off-season unity on Wisconsin's defensive line. Float was the operative verb, too. Getting together in a swimming pool on a weekly basis was allegedly considered. But wrestling won out. Singlets over Speedos? Prudent.

Keeanu Benton is no stranger to a steamy wrestling room. He was a three-year varsity wrestler at Janesville Craig High School and posted an overall record of 127-8 on the mat. Besides competing in the state tournament each year, he twice made it to the finals in the 285-pound weight division.

"Everybody always asks me about how I feel the leverage when I'm clubbing guys and all that stuff," said Benton, a 2021 second-team All-Big Ten pick at nose tackle. "I tell them that it's my wrestling background. And people will say, 'I wish I wrestled, I wish I wrestled.'"

Benton helped grant that wish this summer. To make it happen, he contacted UW wrestling coach Chris Bono and inquired if it would be all right to use the team's facilities in Camp Randall Stadium. Bono was receptive and turned over the room to Benton and his teammates on Wednesdays.

"The first day, I kind of showed them what a six-minute match feels like – just moving around, shooting and sprawling and …" said Benton, breaking into mischievous smile, "… and they were dead." Dead tired. "Then I showed them how it (wrestling) correlates to football so well."

Benton got in front of the group and demonstrated some fundamentals. Like how attacking an opponent's legs by shooting (single or double leg) can correlate to tackling. Like how hand placement and utilizing leverage techniques can correlate to a pass rush. "I kind of broke it all down," Benton said.

An entirely different matter was wrestling with his decision on whether to declare for the NFL draft or return for his senior year. In mid-January, via Twitter, Benton announced that he was coming back; a topic that will likely be revisited next week at the Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.

Anticipating all the questions, all the interviews, Benton shook his head and sighed at the potential repetitious nature of Q & A's. But he plans on having fun and admitted, "I love talking football." Right now, he also loves talking about how he's feeling physically going into the 2022 season.

"Coach Snee got me right," Benton said of Shaun Snee, the second-year Director of Football Strength and Conditioning. "Working hard, coming in every day, grinding, I've been increasing my bench, increasing my squat, increasing my power clean, increasing my vert. I've been increasing everything.

"Which is why I came back for another year – to build up my work capacity."

It was something that came up during his NFL draft evaluation.

"Being able to last four quarters," Benton said. "Staying fresh throughout the whole game."

It was something that Snee addressed with Benton. Work capacity.

"It was something me and him talked about last year towards the end of the season that we definitely needed to work on with him, and he agreed," Snee said. "The decision he made to come back; I would say he has taken advantage of that. And he's definitely set himself up to have a great season."

Snee watched Benton make steady gains throughout winter conditioning to the extent that by week three, he was sustaining his energy at the end of workouts even as they increased and got harder. "I would say we're going to see a different Keeanu Benton in the fourth quarter this year," Snee said.

Recently, Benton hit PR's in the clean (335), the squat (620) and the bench (405). So did outside linebacker Nick Herbig in the same three lifts (310 in the clean, 550 in the squat and 355 in the bench). Snee and his staff selected MVPs from summer conditioning. Benton and Herbig were among them.

"Personally, I think Keeanu is the best defensive player in the country," Herbig said. "Keeanu is a beast. He's the focal point of our defense. Without him, there's no way we're the No. 1 defense in the country. I felt he was overshadowed because we had studs, we had Leo (Chenal) and Jack (Sanborn)."

Chenal and Sanborn, inside linebackers and the UW's leading tacklers, have moved on. If you're wondering if Benton feels like he must handle more responsibilities up front to compensate for the loss of experience on the second level of the defense, the answer is yes. "But you've got to adapt," he said.

Beyond adapting, you've got to lead. Especially as a veteran And Benton is prepared to do so, alongside of Isaiah Mullens, the other returning starter on the D-Line. "I still give people chances to step up as leaders," Benton said. "I don't want to overdo it. But when I need to step up and talk, I do."

Truth is, Benton likes to talk – making him a natural for media functions. Like the one that he will participate in next week with Herbig and quarterback Graham Mertz, Wisconsin's three player representatives at Lucas Oil Stadium. Off his summer, Benton has plenty to talk about.

In June, he got his first taste of IndyCar racing at Road America near Elkhart Lake. Along with offensive linemen Logan Brown and Michael Furtney, he was the guest of driver Scott McLaughlin, whose spotter (Adam Fournier) is a native Cheesehead and passionate fan of the Badgers.

"I've never seen a car go that fast – I saw them going around on yellow and I thought that was fast," said an incredulous Benton, who got his picture taken in the pits with many of the drivers. While posing with one, Brown chimed in, "You know that's Jimmie Johnson, a NASCAR legend."
Benton had no idea. "But I looked him up, and it was like 'Wow,'" he said.

The 29-year-old McLaughlin, who was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, had essentially the same "Wow" reaction after spending some time in Madison with the football team. He toured the Camp Randall facilities and met players and staff. He even took part in a light workout.

"We gave him a sense of what football is like," said Benton, who stopped short of taking McLaughlin to some of his favorite fishing holes on Lake Kegonsa and the Rock River. Maybe on his next visit. "I fish all the time. Bass. Pan fish. Blue gills. Perch. Caught some walleyes. Really good eats."

In building his work capacity, Benton has paid more attention to his diet. "I'm still strong as an Ox but I'm more conscious of what I eat," he said. "I was a late night snacker. Now, I try to have that meal at 7 o'clock instead of 9 o'clock and it definitely helps not eating past 9, and not snacking."

Ironically, Snack Break just happens to be the name of a developing podcast on UNCUT Madison with Benton and Rodas Johnson, a leading candidate to replace Matt Henningsen (now with the Denver Broncos). Benton and Johnson discuss various topics while eating spicy chicken wings.

"It's hard when the wings are hot and you're crying," said Benton, who nevertheless was able to reminisce in the first episode about one of his more memorable games at Wisconsin, his 2019 college debut at South Florida. As a backup to the backup, he had two tackles and a TFL.

That year, he had a sack in each of the two meetings against Ohio State. In 33 career games, he has 4.5 sacks, two versus Minnesota in the '21 regular season finale.  It was no coincidence his Twitter post (on returning to the UW) featured a picture of Benton sacking Tanner Morgan, the Gopher QB.

An expanded work capacity may now allow him to snack on quarterbacks more often. "He's going to feel a lot more pop and be able to play at the top of his game all four quarters, the whole season," Snee said. 

It's something that Benton will be happy to talk about with the Big Ten media.