Less Beck Means Even More Football Player Leaner CV Star Regains Form That Led To His Big Reputation

Wil Beck has been known to destroy offenses.

When that happens, Central Valley coach Rick Giampietri simply moves him to offense.

Other Greater Spokane League football coaches don’t have that luxury when facing the Bears’ 6-foot-1, 285-pound nose guard.

“He was outstanding,” Ferris coach Clarence Hough said after facing the Bears and Beck in the season opener. “We couldn’t do anything we wanted to do. He occupied two guys and left us short-handed.”

“He’s really playing well,” Giampietri said. “He’s doing what we expected him to do as a junior… . He’s just a total football player now.”

In hindsight, Giampietri said expectations placed on Beck as a junior might not have been fair, although not unexpected. Beck was AllGSL as a 265-pound sophomore for the GSL champion Bears and All-State.

“I told a coach back then, ‘Wil makes more plays by accident than most people make on purpose,”’ Giampietri said.

The expectations on Beck were so high his junior year was judged a disappointment even though he was again All-GSL.

But even Beck admits last season was another chapter in his history of learning from hard lessons.

“I liked coming in as a sophomore, no one knew who I was. There were no double-teams or triple-teams,” he said. “The truth is I thought I was overrated. I was knocked off the ball a lot by single blocks.”

He wasn’t prepared for the constant attention - which means double- and triple-teams at his position - he received as a junior with a reputation.

“I was really heavy,” he said. “I slacked off. I lifted but I didn’t run. I learned my lesson. I thought I played better (at times). I was slower off the ball but I knew the plays. I did better toward the end of the season, once my conditioning came in. (Double teams are) part of the game. It’s what I have to expect, I have to live with it. Last year, it was quite a shock.”

Beck went to Fitness Unlimited, where Ken Benoscek devised a program that not only helped Beck increase his squat from 500 to 585 pounds, put also gave him an aerobic conditioning program. Benoscek’s wife has also helped with Beck’s diet and now he’s playing at 285 instead of the 320 he was at last year.

“What he’s really improved on is last year he ran himself out of plays. Now he runs down the line and keeps people from blocking their linebackers,” Hough said. “Sometimes you want to make plays by yourself but he’s become a good team player.”

Giampietri said, “The line of scrimmage doesn’t go anywhere. It opens others to make tackles. The linebackers complain they’re not getting any tackles. That’s a good thing. When a coach complains is when a defensive back leads the team in tackles.”

Beck’s first lessons came much earlier.

He started lifting weights in grade school after his father bought a weight set at a garage sale. He wanted to emulate an older brother of a friend. Still, he wasn’t drawn to football until sometime in his sixth-grade year when he was cajoled by classmates to participate at recess. Until then, he had more interest in fooling around on the playground equipment.

Then Beck immersed himself in the sport at the expense of other obligations and became a junior high legend for his size, strength and football ability - and complete lack of discipline in the rest of his life.

His future almost ended before it began.

First, he got into trouble. Nothing serious, just the kind of things that begin to add up.

“I got a lucky break from an administrator,” Beck said. “I was in trouble. He gave me one more chance. I really turned around. I haven’t been in trouble since.”

Karl Ota, the assistant principal at Evergreen Junior High, said, “He didn’t do anything major, but he did have a temper. Wil is a kid that had tremendous parental support and the key for him changing his attitude was his parents’ support of the school. He was respectful (of the consequences for his actions) and that came from home. His parents followed through.”

Then there were his grades, as important to his future as his physical attributes when colleges are concerned.

His grade-point average in core courses is around 2.5, way above average considering he was well below a 2-point “after a brutal freshman year.”

Now, everything is in order and it’s almost funny to think some people believe Beck is too small to play major college football.

“The only thing people come off on him is his size,” Giampietri said. “(Seahawks) Cortez (Kennedy) and Sam Adams are only 6-3.”

Even if Beck isn’t going to be an NFL All-Pro, there has to be a major college somewhere for him.

“I know I’m going to get a scholarship of some kind,” Beck said. “It’s my goal to get through college and teach school. My goal is Division I. I have to prove my height’s not a factor. That’s frustrating. I’ll do my best to show my height’s not a factor but if it is, I’ll go somewhere else.”

He’s learned his lessons well.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo