Bennett was a five-time Pro Bowler, being elected in 1988, and 1990–1993, and won the AFC Defensive Player of the Year award twice (1988 and 1991).
Bennett was an all-state performer for the football team his senior year, amassing over 1,000 yards on 101 rushes.
As a senior, he won the Lombardi Award, SEC Player of the Year honors, and finished 7th in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.
His most famous play was in 1986 when he leveled Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein, immortalized in a painting by artist Daniel Moore titled simply, ‘The Sack.’[8] In 2005, Bennett was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
[11] The 1987 draft class was deemed the "Year of Linebacker", but Bennett was considered to stand "head-and-shoulders above the rest.
[18] In May 1997,[19] Bennett committed "vicious acts"[20] during a sexual assault of a woman at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Buffalo.