Football: Beckstrom gets one more shot
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
A preseason arm injury sent Jason Beckstrom to the sideline in what should have been his last season in an Irish uniform.
But Beckstrom, granted a fifth-year of eligibility, returns to the practice field hungry to earn a starting spot at cornerback — a spot that has long-eluded the Irish veteran, and a spot that, thanks to the injury, may be closer than ever to Beckstrom's grasp.
A week into spring practice, the quest is well under way to find the player who can fill the void left by Shane Walton, Notre Dame's most decorated departing senior. Two-year starter Vontez Duff is firmly entrenched at one cornerback slot, and while Beckstrom figures his experience gives him the inside track to the other opening, he knows he is going to be pushed by players like rising junior Preston Jackson and rising sophomore Garron Bible.
But had Beckstrom been healthy last season, he figures he might have been the guy challenging, not trying to hold onto, a starting position.
"It could be a blessing in disguise for him," Irish secondary coach Trent Walters said.
A year ago, Beckstrom was slotted as the third defensive back behind Walton and Duff, likely to play only in situations where nickel and dime defensive packages were used.
It could have been a disappointing end for a player who dreamed about starting for as long as he could remember.
It could have been the end of an otherwise unremarkable career for a player who had missed only three games since he arrived on campus in 1999.
But then Beckstrom charged downfield on a kickoff drill, reached his arm around the ballcarrier and felt a twinge in his arm. He continued practice that day, and the next two days, thinking all he had was an arm cramp.
The doctors, however, told Beckstrom that the MRI results showed that if he didn't have surgery, he'd lose a lot of strength in his arm. And although he thinks he could have played the last few games of the season, Beckstrom decided to sit the entire year out to heal.
"As the season went on and I got healed, I wanted to play even more," he said. "It was the worst thing I've ever done as far as my ego, to sit on the sidelines."
Despite the injury, Beckstrom refused to lose his trademark enthusiasm for football. While his teammates donned uniforms and pads on game days, Beckstrom's left arm rested in a sling while his right arm carried a clipboard. He ferried some players from the field to the telephone so they could talk to coaches in the press box and helped give other players advice.
"If you can't play, you do whatever you can to help out," he said, "and that was my way of helping out."
In the process, Beckstrom learned a lot about football he said he never would have noticed had he been healthy.
"A player gains a great deal of experience watching other players do things — if he has the right mindset," Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham said. "I think Jason had that."
Stuck on the sidelines wearing a baseball cap instead of a helmet, Beckstrom studied tendencies of receivers he is likely to be assigned to cover come fall. He watched how the linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties all worked together in various defensive schemes. He analyzed adjustments made to the game plan and how those adjustments could affect his teammates.
"I got a chance to sit out and see how the defense works and my responsibility and the game plan," Beckstrom said. "Now this year, I get a chance to go out and showcase my ability."
His strength now at 100 percent, Beckstrom was able to begin working out with the team during preparations for the Gator Bowl and entered an intensive lifting program in the winter.
Right now, Beckstrom is trying to impress coaches who only saw him on the field during a handful of spring practices and even fewer fall practices. He's trying to catch up to teammates who played an entire year in a new system that Beckstrom has committed to memory but hasn't yet put into practice.
But he'd rather be rusty, as Walters jokingly described Beckstrom's progress, than finished.
"If he'd graduated last year, he'd have played sparingly," Walters said. "This year, if he keeps playing well, he has a chance to be the guy."
All Sports Stories for Monday, April 7, 2003
