It wasn’t hard for Benson, who took up football while growing up in Mississippi. He saw the older Akers excel on the gridiron from his days as a talented middle-schooler to a standout quarterback at nearby Clinton High, where he would lead the Arrows to a state championship in 2016.
“I watched Cam since he was in middle school and I was in elementary school,” said Benson, who attended school at nearby St. Joseph Catholic in Greenville. “I watched him growing up when he was at Clinton, scoring seven touchdowns in the state championship game and then going to Florida State.