Rayshaun Benny spent much of his Michigan career buried behind Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, but by the time he cracked the starting lineup as a senior, NFL teams had seen enough flashes to keep him on the radar. The one-year starter never piled up eye-popping production, yet his size, arm length and motor gave evaluators reason to believe he could hear his name called in the 2026 NFL draft.
Benny played the 2i-, three- and four-technique spots in Wink Martindale’s four-man front and used long arms to lock on, shed blocks and keep moving through traffic. He could be inconsistent when it came to putting down roots, and his pass-rush flashes came too infrequently for a player trying to rise from rotational status. Even so, his athletic twitch and contact balance gave him a profile that could translate to early rookie snaps while an NFL staff continues to develop him.
That projection comes after a winding path through football. Benny was born and raised in the Detroit area by his mother, Regina McCain, attended Oak Park schools from second grade on and did not play organized football until eighth grade. He has two brothers and a 3-year-old son. At Oak Park High School in the inner Detroit suburbs, he played JV as a freshman, then as a 260-pound sophomore moved up to varsity, tried tight end and settled in as the starting left tackle while also playing defensive end. He helped Oak Park to a 9-2 record and the 2018 league title.
His junior year turned him into a national recruit. Benny earned second-team all-area honors at left tackle, posted 75 tackles, five sacks and three forced fumbles on the defensive line, and drew his first scholarship offer from Central Michigan in January 2019. Kentucky followed a few months later with his first power-conference offer, and before the start of his junior year he had offers from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Texas A&M. He was a four-star recruit in the 2021 class, ranked the 26th defensive lineman in the country and the No. 6 recruit in Michigan.
The rest of his high school career tested his durability. Benny suffered a left knee injury in a car accident before his senior year and chose surgery right away after the 2020 football season was expected to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He missed the first five games after surgery, then returned for Oak Park’s sixth game after accelerating his rehab. From there, he helped the team win four straight Division 2 playoff games and come within one game of the state championship. He finished with 32 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks, and did not allow a sack at left tackle.
Michigan’s staff then saw the same blend of traits and inconsistency. Benny got stuck behind Graham and Grant for much of his underclassman time, fought through health issues and finally broke through as a senior. The numbers were modest, but the tools were obvious enough that pro evaluators kept coming back to the same conclusion: he is not yet the sum of his parts, but he is coachable and has the talent to see the field as a rookie.
