Honorary Captain of the Week Highlight: Weber State Tight End Noah Bennee

This week on FCS Nation’s spotlight series in the third ever season of Northwestern Mutual x FCS Nation x Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Challenge, FCS Nation is introducing Weber State’s senior tight end Noah Bennee. Bennee is the fifth honorary captain of the week where we highlight the powerful impact that each and every athlete who have chosen to take a stand for a cause against childhood cancer have had on the movement since its inception just two years ago.

Full Interview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fcs-nation/id1436799349?i=1000728634243

Alex’s Lemonade Stand, founded and sustained by Liz Scott who FCS Nation had a chance to talk to earlier this week, began when Scott’s late daughter Alexandra was diagnosed with neuroblastoma right before turning a year old. At the age of 4, Alex expressed her wish to start a lemonade stand to raise money for other kids like her. Since her passing in 2004, Alex has inspired lemonade stands across the world to raise funds for other children who fight relentlessly every day.

Bennee transferred to the Wildcats just over a year ago after completing three seasons at the University of Utah. During his time there, he saw action in six games in the 2023 season. Since joining the Wildcat pack, Bennee hasn’t forgotten to remind everyone that he was named the Utah 5A Defensive Player of the Year back at home and came into the last season with six receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown in the 11 games

he played for the Wildcats.

A Holladay, Utah native, Bennee was raised in the heart of the sports world. He not only earned All-State honors at Olympus High School which he went for football, but he was also a successful athlete in basketball, soccer, volleyball, and track and field when it wasn’t football season. With strong family ties to an NBA basketball legend, his uncle Danny Vranes, and a mother who played volleyball, track and field and Utah, Bennee knows exactly how far perseverance and ambition can take you, whether that’s on or off the field. Bennee is majoring in finance, with an impressive academic resume earning him the Big Sky Academic All-Conference Honors in Finance in 2024.

In a conversation with FCS Nation, Bennee, alongside Sawyer Monson, managing director of the Grabner Network Office out of Utah, explained that he took part in an internship with Northwestern Mutual and was introduced to Alex’s Lemonade Stand then, saying that as a Weber State athlete, the opportunity does not come around too often and he was flattered, he said. “The NIL money you hear these days is basically just a dollar amount with no real meaning behind it, I think it totally changes everything,” Bennee said.

Monson, who talked through his process with FCS Nation in deciding why Bennee was a great fit for this cause and to be the face of something that means so much, said that Noah’s name popped up in his head right off the bat. This was not only because of a personal relationship and friendship, but being a former intern, Monson knew personally just how naturally talented, driven, a strong communicator and natural born leader Noah was, which jumped out to him.

Bennee has a personal tie to the impact cancer has on someone as young as him. His previous tight end coach’s son, just a senior in high school, is battling cancer to this day. His mother comes home every day having seen firsthand how people live with the disease, as a nurse practitioner. In 2009, his mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. But with the resources available to them, thanks to funding from organizations like Alex’s Lemonade Stand, she beat it in the nick of time. “I think this cause, what they stand for, the research in helping children, is perfect for Weber State out here in Utah,” Bennee said.

To donate on behalf of Bennee, all it takes is visiting fcsnationradio.com and finding Noah’s name along with the Grabner Network Office where you can leave a donation as well as a message.