Boise State’s all-conference safety, title game MVP to enter transfer portal
Boise State football’s secondary took a big hit on Saturday morning.
With less than a week to go until the college football transfer portal officially opens, which is Jan. 2, junior safety Ty Benefield announced via social media that he would be leaving the Broncos to enter the portal.
“While Boise has been my home for three years, sometimes you have to leave home in order to grow,” Benefield, a native of Altadena, California, posted on Instagram.
“I will be entering the transfer portal with gratitude in my heart, excited for the next chapter and the challenges God places before me,” Benefield wrote later in the post.
Benefield began his Boise State career in 2023 as a freshman and quickly became an integral part of the defense, playing in 13 games.
He went on to start all 14 games in each of his sophomore and junior years, and became a leader on defense, earning honorable mention All-Mountain West in 2024 and All-Mountain West first team in 2025.
He won three straight Mountain West championships during his time at Boise State, featured in the College Football Playoff in 2024, and was named the defensive MVP in Boise State’s Mountain West championship game win over UNLV earlier this month.
Benefield led the team in tackles in 2025 with 107, including a team-high 70 solo.
Benefield’s departure may come as a surprise to head coach Spencer Danielson, who said last week that he believed Benefield would either enter the NFL Draft or remain at Boise State.
“I do believe that Ty and his family know, through how he’s been able to develop here, how he’s been able to play, the amount of NFL attention he has right now,” Danielson said last week. “If he decides not to go to the NFL, I believe that we would absolutely have a really good shot to keep him here, because he knows the best thing for his long-term future is being here.”
Danielson said that Benefield filed paperwork with the NFL in mid-December to receive a draft projection before deciding on his future.
Benefield will end his Boise State career with five interceptions, 235 total tackles and 18 tackles for a loss.
This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 1:43 PM.
