A phone call made by Mark Mullen helped shape Keeanu Benton's future.
The former wrestling coach at Craig High School in Wisconsin saw a state contender in the heavyweight class go nearly unnoticed in the football scene.
That is, until Chris McIntosh answered Mullen's call.
Mullen convinced the then-Deputy Athletic Director and former All-American tackle at Wisconsin to take the 45-minute trip south from Madison to Janesville, Wis., to see who Mullen considered having "more talent than anyone I've ever seen."
That trip changed the course of history. All it took were a couple pullings-of-the-strings and, perhaps, a name-drop of former Steeler Donnel Thompson, who played football at Wisconsin but was coached by Mullen as a wrestler at Madison West High School in the 1990s.