LaVonta Bentley seizing opportunity with CU Buffs – The Denver Post

When LaVonta Bentley chose to transfer to Colorado last winter, he wasn’t looking for a guarantee. He was looking for a chance.

Following four seasons as a backup linebacker at Clemson, Bentley came to CU to fight for a starting job, and with the Buffaloes’ season opener coming up Saturday at TCU (10 a.m. MT, Fox), he may have found one.

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“Better opportunity,” Bentley told BuffZone about his decision to leave Clemson for his final two seasons of eligibility. “Just trying to feed my family and I know this is the best place I can do that.”

Bentley, listed at 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, was very productive in his time at Clemson, recording 73 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in only 417 career snaps. But, he didn’t feel he had a path to a bigger role with the Tigers anymore.

“I felt like politics played a part over at Clemson,” he said. “I felt like I was next in line, but still got to do the work. I knew my information and all the plays and stuff like that, but God gave me signs that I needed to transition, so that’s what it was.”

Once he met CU’s new coaching staff, including head coach Deion Sanders and linebackers coach Andre Hart, Bentley committed to the Buffs. There were no promises made to Bentley, other than he’d have a legitimate shot to start.

“I know that I still gotta compete,” Bentley said. “But I know that with the knowledge that I have coming from Clemson and the leaders I had in front of me, like (former Tigers linebackers) James Skalski and Baylon Spector, that can transition over here. Football is football, which is knowing what you’re doing and what the people around are you doing and taking care of yourself.”

Bentley is projected as a starter, but CU hasn’t released a depth chart for Saturday’s opener. He has been in competition all month, however, with Marvin Ham, Alabama transfer Demouy Kennedy and Jackson State transfer Jeremiah Brown.

The Buffs are also hoping to get Florida State transfer Brendan Gant into the mix soon and last week added former Texas, Tennessee and Arizona State linebacker Juwan Mitchell to the mix. Mitchell led Texas in tackles in 2020 and had 43 stops at Tennessee last year.

Hart has been impressed with Bentley’s toughness and coachability all offseason.

“He’s old school,” Hart said. “You can get on him and he’ll correct it. He’s a leader. He doesn’t waver at all from us getting on him and we coach them hard.”

For example, earlier this month, Hart moved Bentley down on the pre-practice depth chart without telling him. He wanted to see how Bentley would react, and said, “Bentley had one of his best practices ever that day.”

Bentley said that sparked him, but added, “I feel like everybody needs that to not get comfortable.”

The daily competition and drive to succeed, Bentley said, is enough to keep him at his best.

“I come in every day, head down, going to work, and just try to put the best foot forward, just to be that leader,” he said. “Knowing that I need to know my information so I can tell the next person or the younger guys in the room what they gotta do or what they can do to get better.

“Just gotta show up at practice and do production. Know your stuff once you get out there. I’m showing up every day, making sure I’m doing film study after practice and recovery so I can have my A game the next practice. I know the coaches are watching everything that you’re doing. When I watch film, I’m watching everything so I can see what I did wrong or what I’m doing good so I keep getting better.”

Bentley said he will “bloom where I’m planted” and do his best in whatever role he earns with the Buffs. But, he has no doubt he can shine in a lead role that he came to Boulder to find.

“I know coach brought me in for a reason,” he said. “So I’m gonna do everything I can to get on the field, be that starter and ball out so I can get to the NFL. … (The transition to CU) has been pretty good because it’s business at the end of the day. (Sanders) is telling us that; that’s what it is. We just gotta show up. That’s what he brought us in for: To win, but you gotta show up and ball out.”

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