Illinois' Arrelious Benn making mark as early enrollee

	As one of the nation's top recruits, wide receiver Arrelious Benn chose Illinois over Florida State and Notre Dame. AP
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - It's nearly 1 p.m. and Arrelious Benn is curled up on an oversized leather couch in the Illinois players' lounge. VH1's Flavor Of Love: Charm School playing in the background as he tries to get some much-needed rest.

These days, it's the pursuit of a nap that has become the freshman wide receiver's biggest challenge.

On this day, he is out the door at 8 a.m. to attend three classes. Then he gets taped for practice, goes to special teams meetings followed by meetings with his position coach, works through a 2 1/2-hour practice, eats dinner, hits the books at study hall -- and then he watches game film. He is lucky to be in bed by midnight.

"We spend most of our time here [at the football facility]," Benn said. "It's very rare that you get out and have any free time."

For all intents and purposes, Benn should be living it up back in his native Washington D.C., milking the last few weeks of his senior year. Instead, the five-star recruit, ranked No. 24 by Rivals.com, is in Champaign. Benn joined the growing trend of players graduating high school early to enroll in college and go through spring practice. It's a chance to become acclimated to the rigors of college academics without the havoc of the football season and -- most importantly -- to make an immediate impact on the playing field. Prom be damned. "I did that last year," Benn said smiling.

But Benn isn't completely giving up high school; the 6-foot-1, 210-pounder says he'll return to Dunbar High for graduation. But he has his sights set on bigger things, like starting for the Fighting Illini in their season opener against Missouri -- and waiting until summer camp to showcase his skills wasn't an option.

"I look at it [as] if I would have come in with all the other guys, there would have been no way I would have been ready to play," Benn said. "Just going through everything, just learning the playbook and stuff, it was just going to be a lot."

And he's not alone in that thinking. Quarterbacks Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) -- Rivals' top-ranked recruit -- Ryan Mallett (Michigan), Willy Korn (Clemson) and Cameron Newton (one of nine Florida early enrollees) are among the many players who are already on their respective campuses.

"Coming early is not for everybody, but if a guy is mature enough to handle it, it's a great thing," Illinois coach Ron Zook said.