Cougar Tracks: Beck in the Saddle Again

Less than four weeks after finding out he had been cut by the Washington Redskins, former BYU quarterback John Beck took the practice field on Monday of this week as a Houston Texan.

It was Beck's OTA (organized team activities) debut for the Texans, his fourth team in his sixth NFL season. Yet, despite the new surroundings and getting accustomed to yet another set of coaches and teammates, Beck felt unusually at ease on day one, thanks to some unexpected visitors.

"I had been out (in Houston) for a little more than a week, doing the offseason stuff," Beck said in a telephone interview I had with him on Wednesday, "but it was my first put-on-the-helmet, put-on-the-jersey, put-on-the- cleats, full practice. I walked out on the field and there were all these BYU shirts."

The shirts were being worn by the seven members of BYU Football's defensive coaching staff, led by head coach and coordinator Bronco Mendenhall. The coaches had gone to Houston to spend three days studying the Texans' 3-4 schemes (BYU also runs a 3-4), and they ended up surprising the QB who started all but one game for Mendenhall in his first two seasons as BYU's sideline boss.

"It was definitely like old times, having a lot of those coaches standing around me and talking with me after practice," said Beck. "I couldn't have had a better feeling on that first day, than to have that. It's a new team, you're starting to learn the guys, you're just getting used to (the offense), and then I see all these familiar faces. It was kind of cool, and just helped me a feel a little more comfortable."

If there is anything Beck could use after a rough-and- tumble introduction to NFL life, it was a little bit of a comfort zone in which to start his latest professional adventure. And a little comfort food never hurts, either; Beck says he and the BYU coaches went out for barbecue on Monday night, and Mexican food on Tuesday night, after which the former Cougar QB and some of the coaches went to a Houston Astros game.

Of course, for Beck and the BYU coaches, it was all business during the day, with the 30-year old signal-caller and the visitors intent on soaking up as much information as possible.

"Coach Mendenhall has gone to (visit) the Steelers before, and I know he has used a lot of NFL tape before, but I'm sure there was something on this team that kind of caught his eye," said Beck. "When I asked the (BYU) coaches if they thought it was a productive few days, they all had smiles like 'oh, yeah, we were able to learn a lot; there are a lot of good things that are going to help us out.'"

Beck says he and Mendenhall discussed the 3-4 defense Wade Phillips runs as the Texans' coordinator, and about the difficulties it poses for QBs in practice.

"(We) were talking what gives quarterbacks fits--the things that are tough for me to see (in the Houston 3-4)," Beck told me, "because ultimately, defensively, if you can confuse the quarterback, or get him out of his rhythm or his game, you have a better chance of shutting that offense down. I was telling coach 'hey, these are some of the things that this defense does that are a little bit different than most defenses, and these are things that make it tough.'"

Time will tell if the Houston expedition pays dividends for BYU in 2012, but Beck already believes that the change in scenery has paid off for him.

"I felt like it was a great opportunity (in Houston), a great fit, because it's pretty much the identical offense that I had been in, in Washington," said Beck. Current Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan held the same position during his final two years on the staff in Houston, and Texans head coach Gary Kubiak ran much the same scheme as the offensive coordinator under Shanahan's dad Mike in Denver.

"I felt like one of the biggest things that has made my time in the NFL difficult was that I always had to switch offenses and systems, and I had never been able to stabilize in one system, and grow in it," says Beck, "and when Houston called, it was an opportunity to stay in the same system with the same reads, the same teaching--and their starter (Matt Schaub) is out for the offseason, so it was also an opportunity for me to get reps in this offense."

Beck says while with the Redskins, he watched a lot of Schaub's Texans tape, because he "did such a good job running this offense the last couple of years," and given the chance to work alongside Schaub represented to Beck "a great opportunity to be here and just try to finally get a chance to build off of something that I found in an offense."

While Beck's NFL tenure has seemingly flown by, in many ways it has been a long time since Beck was going out on top at BYU; the legendary Beck-to-Harline touchdown pass to win at Utah in 2006 was followed by a dominant win over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl and then an NFL Draft in which Beck went in the second round, 40th overall to Miami. Beck's rookie season included four starts in five games played, but the hapless Dolphins finished the 2007 season with a 1-15 record, changed coaches, drafted QB Chad Henne and signed QB Chad Pennington before the 2008 season, then released beck in the spring of 2009.

Beck signed with Baltimore but did not play in the 2009 season, and was traded to Washington before the 2010 campaign. A third-stringer behind Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman in 2010, Beck and Grossman went back-and-forth as starters in 2011, with Beck starting three games in four games played.

"My first three, four years in the league, that was the thing that was the most frustrating: I felt like the situations were always changing on the teams I was on--new coaches were being brought in, new offenses, new everything, it was constantly having to change, change, change, change," Beck says. "It's tough to have that confidence level when things are always changing on you."

The most recent change occurred during the 2012 NFL Draft, which featured the Redskins picking QBs Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins, with Beck being let go during the final day of the draft. Beck discovered the news during an eighth anniversary trip with his wife.

It was just another day in the star-crossed pro football life of a quarterback who is now simply battling for a roster spot on a team featuring a presumptive starter in Schaub, a promising backup in T.J. Yates, and college football's alltime passing yards leader in free agent (and University of Houston product) Case Keenum.

Yet, Beck thinks he is in the best possible situation at this stage in his career, wanted by a coach who called him personally to get him to Houston. The call came earlier this month, and Beck was a day away from making a trip to visit with the Saints in New Orleans, when his phone rang.

"I said, 'who could be calling from Houston, Texas?' and I picked it up and it was Coach Kubiak," said Beck. "He was like 'listen, I want you to come here, I think it would be a great opportunity for you, a great fit for you,' and I told him I was actually headed to New Orleans, and he was like 'okay, but I don't want you to make that commitment-- take care of business there, but don't make your final decision until I've had a chance to really talk to you.' It felt so right to come here, so I just called New Orleans and told them I appreciated the opportunity, but that I was headed to Houston."

Asked what the Texas have told him to expect heading into OTAs and training camp, Beck said "I've experienced enough things to know that what is said doesn't really matter."

"I don't really believe what anybody says anymore," Beck said. "All I really know is they gave me an opportunity to come be a part of the team, and practice and compete. I'm just going to go out there there and do the very best job that I can."

Despite a crowded, high-caliber QB battle that has him fighting for his professional life, Beck is eager for the challenge, and grateful for the opportunity.

"It has been a roller-coaster but I try to take positives out of everything. I feel like it's a huge blessing to be here right now. I'm happy," said Beck.

"This road I'm on has gone nothing like I ever expected, but I still have an opportunity to be on an NFL team, and compete and practice and play football. That's why I still chase this thing, because I love playing football. All the garbage and stuff I've had to go through, it is frustrating; sometimes it does keep you up at nights. But right now, I'm just trying to focus on what's ahead of me, and the opportunity that I have. I feel good about being here and playing football in Houston."

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Beck says that "the more time you are away (from the BYU Football program), the more disconnected you get from it," but he says he "was able to catch a few of the games last year, and I was really happy to see (QB) Riley (Nelson) do what he did, because I know that he was busting his butt, working for when his opportunity came and it was great to see him take advantage of it; it was great to see him really add a spark to everything, and I'm sure that there is a lot of excitement for this upcoming season."

Beck told me that that as he and Mendenhall walked off the Texans' practice field the other day, "I asked Coach Mendenhall 'what is the team going to be like?' and he said 'we're going to be really good.'"

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Beck, former BYU teammate Cameron Jensen and a host of other onetime Cougars will be back together again for another of their Next Level summer football camps this July. The camp has been scaled back to a single-day event for youth from Grades 4 through 9; interested campers and their parents should go to nxtlevelfootballcamp.com to register.

"A lot of the parents say 'I just think it's great that I get to come out here and my kid gets to come home with a big smile on his face because he caught a ball from Max Hall or Jonny Harline was the tight ends' coach, or Harvey Unga was his running backs' coach,'" said Beck on Wednesday. "As great as that is, we also want to add some great teaching to it, because these are players that have made a lot of great plays and been a part of a lot of great teams at BYU, and we feel that all of that great experience and all of that ability to teach, it now goes to the next generation and what could be BYU football players."

"I always felt like, when I was a young player, having great fundamentals and a little bit of knowledge can make a big difference and that's what Cam and I have focused on in the camp: let's take the fundamentals that we have been taught as players, and then there are small things that you can add to those fundamentals that really make a big difference."

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Speaking of Harline, I was reminiscing with Beck about their famous TD play, and how often I get reminded about it or end up naming it when asked for my favorite BYU Football plays. Beck says he can relate.

"I'm so glad (the game-winning play) fell together like that," Beck told me. "I can't tell you how many times I'll be somewhere and people have your (play-by-play) call saved on their phone. Every time I come back to Utah, I always run into a handful of people that have it."

Beck will head back to Utah after the Texans' OTAs conclude in mid-June; a family reunion and the youth camp will precede a training trip to San Diego to prepare for Texans camp in late July. Then, Beck will resume his "chase," and BYU fans will be pulling for him, every snap of the way.

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