Massachusetts Pirates

Quarterback Alejandro Bennifield is back with the Pirates for the 2024 season. This will be his fifth year with Massachusetts.

Last year Bennifield was injured in game one against Green Bay and missed most of the season. He appeared in only three regular season games with his only start coming in the season opener vs. the Blizzard. In that contest he completed 18 of 21 passes to set a Pirates single-game record for completion percentage at 85.7 percent. He threw for 188 yards with three touchdowns against no interceptions. At the end of the season Bennifield was 35 of 46 passing for 365 yards and seven touchdowns. He also ran 24 times for 66 yards and three scores.

Bennifield did start in the Pirates playoff game at Sioux Falls where he was 10 of 16 for 68 yards and a touchdown. He added 38 yards on the ground on seven rushing attempts with one score.

The 6’2” 225 lb. quarterback from Lovejoy, GA is the Massachusetts all-time leader with 30 rushing touchdowns and his 415 rushing yards are most by any Pirates QB. Bennifield also holds the franchise single-season record for passing efficiency at 193.0 which he set last season. His 76 percent completion percentage last year was also a single-season team record. 

In 2022 Bennifield missed six games due to injury, yet was ranked in six of the IFL’s top ten statistical categories for quarterbacks. Bennifield made his mark as an IFL signal caller in the 2021 season. He came off the bench in week one as starter Sean Brackett was injured and guided the team to a victory over Louisville. He remained the starter and led the team to its first ever championship defeating the Arizona Rattlers in Phoenix in a 37-34 overtime victory. In that game, Bennifield was 10 of 23 passing for 83 yards and a touchdown against two interceptions. He also ran ten times for 56 yards and scored two touchdowns as was named the MVP of the United Bowl. The team finished 13 and 4, its best single season record.

Bennifield first played for the Pirates in 2019 and appeared in four games making just one start. Prior to joining Massachusetts, he played in the Your Call Football League in Jacksonville, FL. in 2018. 2017 saw Bennifield in rookie mini-camp with the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League as an undrafted free agent and later with the Memphis Express in the Alliance of American Football.
 
Bennifield started his football journey at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga where he played four seasons, was a team captain as a senior and earned  All-Southern Conference Second Team honors as a junior.