Former NFL running back and University of Texas star Cedric Benson died Saturday night in a motorcycle crash, according to the Austin American-Statesman. He was 36.
The accident occurred on Mount Bonnell Road in West Austin after 10 p.m. Saturday, according to the report. Austin-Travis County EMS said on Twitter it responded to an “auto v motorcycle” incident and reported two adults deceased with two other adults suffering non-life-threatening injuries.
Hours before the crash, Benson posted a photo of a BMW motorcycle to his Instagram story, writing “My Saturday evening.”
Mack Brown, Benson’s coach at Texas, responded to an Instagram post about Benson’s death with “We lost a great one way too soon. #RIP.”
Chad Johnson, a former Bengals teammate of Benson’s, posted a photo of the running back and wrote “R.I.P Cedric Benson.”
Three days before his death, Benson pleaded no contest to obstructing a passageway in a deal which saw a drunken-driving charge from a 2017 arrest dismissed. Benson was sentenced to two days in jail which he had already served, according to the American-Statesman.
Benson has the second-most rushing yards in Texas Longhorns history with 5,540 yards in his four seasons, and his 64 rushing touchdowns are also second-most in program history. He earned the Doak Walker Award as the top running back in college football as a senior in 2004, and he became the No. 4 pick by the Chicago Bears in the 2005 NFL Draft.
It took several years before Benson found success in the NFL. He had 1,593 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in three seasons with the Bears before signing with the Bengals.
In 2009, during his second season with Cincinnati, Benson finally broke through with 1,251 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He followed that up with two more 1,000-yard seasons and had at least six touchdowns in each of those years. He last played with the Packers in 2012.