Saturday, August 05, 2006

Beck Goes AWOL

Well, so much for Harrison Beck's improved maturity. Beck skipped practice today after a team meeting, apparantly upset over the number of repetitions he's receiving in practice.

Late this afternoon, Beck's mother said she had received a text message from Beck saying "I'm safe", and then Beck's mother told the Lincoln Journal-Star that Beck was frustrated with his position on the team:

“It’d be different if (Beck) was sitting behind Matt Leinart or Brady Quinn,” Evelyn Beck-Bothwell said. “Zac’s OK; I wish him all the best, but he’s just OK. The bottom line is, my son isn’t learning anything. He’s just on his own. If he got more time and attention from the coaches, he would be ahead of (Taylor). That’s just my opinion, but I’m his mother.

“He knows that playbook. It’s just an issue of not getting respect from the older players.”

“Maybe if he would’ve stayed in the SEC, he would’ve been playing,” Beck-Bothwell said. “Maybe he made the wrong decision, I don’t know.

“I know he has some growing up to do, but it’s not like he’s getting in trouble. He’s doing everything he’s supposed to do.”
Beck-Bothwell then told the Omaha World-Herald that Beck was opening fall practice as the #4 quarterback after his recovery from his shoulder injury. The comments that Beck's mother made today are eerily similar to the comments posted in June by "HuskerGma" (Husker Grandma?) to a post on Beck before the Spring Game:
husker mike you are out of your mind! you wouldn't know how to evaluate a great QB if you had to!!just cause the kid sings with a band to let out some steam doesn't mean he's not a good QB! And where did you get this 40% completion pass bullcrap?? How about the receivers run their routes correctly and attempt to catch his bullet passes without dropping them?Harrison is the best drop back passer to arrive at UNL EVER! zt ISN'T EVEN WORTHY OF TYING HIS SHOELACES!! people in Lincoln should watch some SEC Football games--and see how a QB should play!! Harrison shoud have chosen anSEC conference team...he would have gotten more respect that he deserves!! tha kid gets a 3.8 Gpa doesn't drink or get into trouble and is the strongest and most physically gifted QB on the team!! people need to shut up and give the kid a chance to show his stuff this year and not worry about the few little drivels of playing time he got last uear--a total waste of his redshirt to be sure!!
I traced this response back to a Florida ISP, and at the time, I felt this came from a friend or family member of Beck.

What does this mean for Beck? Well, unlike many Kool-Aid drinkers, I'm not going to throw him under the bus yet. I've criticized his maturity level in the past, and today's actions certainly don't help him there. But I'm hoping that Beck will contact the coaching staff ASAP and work through his issues. He's still only 19 years old.

2 comments:

A J said...

Lesson 1 in recruiting a bunch of stud offensive players.

It's pretty obvious that Blake and whomever offered this kid the world when he signed up a few years ago. It's also obvious ( to me..what a shock) that when Callahan first got to Lincoln, he was desperately trying to pull in whomever he could.

This is a byproduct of having a good recruiting class, using a coach who is relatively new to the college game. I"m shocked it hasn't happend to more players, but I guess it's only August 5th.

Recruit big...better get used to this kind of stuff.

PS - Excellent post as usual

BLV said...

As a friend of mine said after the Bomar incident, "no news is the only good news during the pre-season." Well, we've had our share of news over the weekend, and while I thought the Beck incident was bizarre enough, seeing this old comment only adds to the insanity.

With Beck's mother so obviously batty, it certainly seems like his days at NU are numbered. "Stayed in the SEC?" I presume this means Florida. Beck would be much better off there behind Leak and Tebow. I'm just dumbfounded.

Or maybe it's a ploy to finally get that attention that Beck and his mom so desire. They've certainly set the message boards abuzz. I don't see how he returns after this.