EUGENE -- Before the Oregon Ducks could build their first 3-0 start since 2014, they first had to build trust, between coaches and players, and players and their teammates.

In those early days last winter Kani Benoit, a running back about to enter his fifth and final season at UO, was not easily persuaded.

"You could tell he really needed to learn to trust you as a coach before he'd give you everything he had," UO coach Willie Taggart said. "There was times where I didn't know what Kani was going to be able to do for us."

Half a year, a critical offseason of improvement and three games later, Benoit has become one of the country's most efficient backs.

The 5-foot-10, 209-pound back from Phoenix has carried the ball 16 times and scored six rushing touchdowns, a TD total that's tied for second among all rushers in the Football Bowl Subdivision behind only teammate Royce Freeman, while also averaging an eye-popping 10 yards per carry.

"I'm playing loose," Benoit said ahead of Saturday's Pac-12 opener at Arizona State. "A lot of times last year and years before I was kind of tight, not wanting to make mistakes. But with this coaching staff, you can play so freely you don't have to worry about being yanked.

"... That's why they recruited us, to make plays, and that's what I've been able to do."

In Oregon's crowded backfield, Benoit and junior Tony Brooks-James will always be the role players to Freeman's star. That parallels their very different recruitments: While Freeman was a jewel of the 2014 recruiting class, Oregon began pursuing Benoit heavily only right before signing day in 2013, as Dontre Wilson was in the process of decommitting from Oregon in favor of Ohio State.

Last week, Taggart said his priority as play caller is to "feed Royce unless Royce says he doesn't want to be fed," and the stats bear out the pecking order -- Freeman has 82 carries, Brooks-James 28 and Benoit 16.

Together, UO's rushers have gained 285.3 yards per game, the 12th-best average in FBS, and have kept defenses guessing because of the versatility of all three veteran rushers. Though Benoit said he's more likely to be used in certain goal-line situations -- hence the high number of touchdowns on few carries -- he and running backs coach Donte Pimpleton said his usage isn't defined strictly by down-and-distance.

UO has even used a three-back formation, with a pair of rushers flanking quarterback Justin Herbert in shotgun, with a third standing directly behind the QB.

"Royce is, he's big, powerful and has some speed and quicks and Tony's fast, but (Kani) is both," Pimpleton said. "You look at him and might not think he's as fast as he is, but you see him get the ball, he hits it quick."

Taggart may have once questioned Benoit's buy-in, but he is no longer surprised by the success of the senior back, who entered this season with seven rushing touchdowns in 26 career games during his previous three seasons.

"As we got around spring ball, it was football time and you started to see the competitive side of him come out a lot more," Taggart said. "I started to realize then the kid has something to him, because whenever Royce did something, he wanted to go in and do something just as good as he did, or whenever Tony did.

"That's when you started to see the running back room was really close, but they're very competitive, too, in pushing each other. That was good to see. Kani is one of those guys that he's out to prove that he can play at this level."

Benoit has proven he's capable of big plays before, with touchdown runs of 62 yards against ASU in 2015, and 41 yards against Nebraska in 2016. And this season, he has not feasted on short-yardage touchdowns alone, with four of his 16 carries going for at least 20 yards. Speed and vision weren't Benoit's issue, Pimpleton said, but offseason study habits were.

As Benoit committed to a deep dive on blocking schemes and defensive tendencies in the offseason, he learned "how to counter and where the holes are going to be," Pimpleton said.

"When I first came, I don't think the preparation was really where it needed to be and where it is now," he said. "I told him if he gets to that point he's as good as anybody, if he knows what he's doing and where to go. He took that and ran with it and put in the work -- and now you can see the results."

That preparation has extended to game days, too.

When standing on the sideline between snaps, Benoit repeats a mantra.

"Make plays, make plays, make plays," he said. "It's been working out pretty well."

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif