Anthony Bennett (born October 4, 1996) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He played

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

football for the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accept ...

and

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...

for the

Regina Rams The Regina Rams represent the University of Regina, located in Regina, Saskatchewan in the sport of Canadian football in U Sports. The Rams joined U Sports in 1999 and have competed in the Canada West Conference since then. The program has won ...

and was selected in the first round of the

2023 CFL Draft The 2023 CFL National Draft was a selection of National players by Canadian Football League teams that took place on May 2, 2023, at 8:00 pm ET. 72 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, ...

by Winnipeg.

Early life

Bennett was born on October 4, 1996, in

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His father, Charles Bennett, was drafted into the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and played three games with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

in 1987 as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. His mother, Patricia, who was born and raised in Canada, was a trainer and manager for the

Regina Cougars The Regina Cougars are the athletic teams that represent the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Cougars compete in all sports except football; the university's football team is known as the Regina Rams. A number of the R ...

basketball team.

Early career

Bennett attended

Cypress Bay High School Cypress Bay High School is a public high school located in Weston, Florida open for students in grades 9−12. Cypress Bay is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. The school offers a wide variety of academic pursuits including 33 ...

, where he competed in football,

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, and discus. Bennett entered

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

in 2015 and began playing for their Owls football team. He totaled four

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking up ...

and a forced fumble while playing ten games in his time with Florida Atlantic. After the 2019 season,

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

left the coaching position and was replaced by

Willie Taggart Willie Author Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is an American football college coach. He has held the head coach position at five NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football, Western Kentucky (2009 to ...

. Willie Taggart disliked the idea of having Bennett on the team as a redshirt senior and said, "I'm gonna recruit some other guys". Bennett left the Florida Atlantic Owls over the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-affected NCAA season. Bennett moved to Canada and resumed his college career at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchew ...

, where his mother had earned an education degree. With two years of

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

eligibility remaining, he joined the

in 2021, obtaining a starter role and led the team's defensive linemen in tackles with 25. In his final year of eligibility, 2022, he had career highs with 38 tackles, 12.5 and nine sacks, breaking a record for most sacks in a single season, and tying the school record for most tackles-for-loss in a single season. For his performance in the 2022 season, he was named to the U Sports All-Canadian First Team and as a Canada West All-Star. He finished his U Sports career with 63 total tackles, 11 sacks, one forced fumble, and one interception in 14 games.

Professional career

Ranked as the third-best U Sports prospect for the

and the 16th-best prospect overall, Bennett was chosen eighth overall by the

, an unexpected rise in the draft order. He signed with the Blue Bombers three days later. Bennett progressed through training camp in May and made the roster for opening day. He dressed in all 18 regular season games and had eight defensive tackles and three special teams tackles.

Personal life

Bennett's uncle,

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, cousin,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

, and his older brother, Andrew, have all played football professionally in the NFL and CFL.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Anthony 1996 births Living people Canadian football defensive linemen Players of Canadian football from Florida Florida Atlantic Owls football players Regina Rams players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players