By Keith McMillan
D3sports.com
Tony Beckham won’t get to play for the team he grew up following, the Chicago Bears, but lining up for his favorite PlayStation squad will make him just as happy.
The Tennessee Titans made the UW-Stout cornerback the 17th pick of the fourth round on Sunday, leaving Beckham just a little bit dazed about the whole thing.
"It ain’t even hit me yet man," he said Sunday afternoon, about 90 minutes after he was selected. "Maybe when I get in front of 100,000 people it will, but it hasn’t hit me yet."
Widener’s Michael Coleman, a seventh-round choice of the Atlanta Falcons, joined Beckham as the only Division III players selected in the 2002 draft, although several others are expected to sign free-agent contracts.
Beckham became the second Blue Devil to find an NFL home in as many years, and the fifth WIAC player in as many seasons to do so, according to Stout coach Ed Meierkort.
But that’s just one of several unique circumstances that were part of Beckham’s draft experience.
Former teammate Jeff Hazuga, a defensive lineman, went undrafted but caught on with the Minnesota Vikings this past season, so Beckham saw first-hand what being courted by the NFL was like.
"I think Tony has a good blueprint [for success]," said Meierkort. "He played with Jeff last year, and saw how Jeff outworked opponents, and outworked people just to make the roster."
There was still nothing like the actual draft experience, especially since Beckham (left), a projected third- or fourth-rounder, watched what he thought was inferior talent get selected on Day 1.
"It was real stressful," said Beckham, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound Ocala, Fla., native who watched the draft with his family.
Beckham found out that he would be a Titan by phone, but it almost didn’t turn out that way.
"They call you right before," Beckham said. "Actually Cincinnati called me and told me it would either be me or a kicker (Purdue’s Travis Dorsch), and they took a kicker... so I was really like ‘aww.’ Then Tennessee called and said they were taking me."
And so the team that Beckham uses when he plays PlayStation against Meierkort’s children, who he’s babysat for four years, will become his first post-graduate employer. Quite frankly, it couldn’t have worked out much better.
"I know," Beckham said. "That’s my favorite PlayStation team, I love Eddie George, I love their style."
"My 7-year-old already wants to buy the 2003 version of the game so he can be Tony," said Meierkort.
On Sunday, Beckham was already praising the Titans coverage style and reeling off names of guys, like Samari Rolle and Andre Dyson, that he’d like to learn from — and eventually beat out.
The WIAC has a good reputation among NFL scouts and Beckham had been on their map for months, Meierkort said. He said Beckham’s 4.39 was the fastest 40-yard dash time for a corner at the NFL combine, so his selection didn’t come as a shock. But Meierkort had heard from the Bears, Ravens and Packers, and never the Titans. That he’s headed to Nashville is a surprise to Meierkort, but it’s logical.
"It makes sense," Meierkort said. "Coach [Jeff] Fisher is a heavy man coverage guy, and that’s [one of Tony’s strengths]."
Beckham’s winter workout partner, Wisconsin cornerback Mike Echols, was selected by the Titans five picks before.
"What are the odds of that, that they both go to the same place?" said Meierkort.
Coming out of Forest High, Beckham thought he was headed to Central Florida with Daunte Culpepper and Kenny Clark, both of whom are now with the Minnesota Vikings. But Beckham said his test scores didn’t measure up. When he coached at Division II Southwest State in Minnesota, Meierkort recruited Carlton Lance, who later became Stout’s co-defensive coordinator. Lance, who now coaches at his alma mater, returned the favor while at Stout by convincing Beckham to make the trek north.
"I just believed," Beckham said. "I didn’t even visit."
Meierkort thinks that characteristic, the one that made him go from sunny Florida to Wisconsin, where it snowed on draft day, makes Beckham a good bet to make it in the NFL.
"He’s a survivor," Meierkort said.
Beckham, while waiting to be picked, started to believe playing in Division III hurt his stock. His family — remember, he’s from football-happy Florida — even questioned why he didn’t play Division I. They’d never seen UW-Stout on TV.
Despite the questions, Beckham says he doesn’t carry the burden of proving Division III players can play.
"I’ve carried a burden all my life, being black and down south," he said. "I don’t feel a burden. I know I can play with the talent I’ve seen at the combine and at the bowl games I went to."
Though he feels like he’s made it, Beckham is aware that the hard work has yet to begin. "I don’t take anything for granted," he said.
Scouts say he has a lot to work on, particuarly footwork and tackling. Beckham says he’s ready to work on "everything."
Meierkort, who is close with Beckham and said his selection "hit home," told him there will be good days and bad days on the field.
For now, Antonio Beckham is happy to be living what some may have thought impossible.
"It’s been my dream ever since I was small," he said. "I thought I would play for the Bears like Walter Payton."
Coleman joins an Atlanta squad that has offensive firepower in the form of running back Warrick Dunn, a new signee, and last year’s top pick Michael Vick.
Coleman caught 74 passes for 1,681 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Pioneers, who went 12-1 and advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2001. The 5-11, 195-pounder also returned kickoffs for an average of 20.6 yards. He was taken 217th overall.
St. Norbert linebacker Jerimiah Janssen (New York Jets) and Hardin-Simmons wide receiver Kirk Rogers (Kansas City Chiefs) are expected to latch on in the NFL as free agents.
UW-La Crosse’s Jeremy Unertl, Menlo’s Nate Jackson, Widener’s Jim Jones and Montclair State’s Ed Collins are also among the leading candidates to sign free agent contracts to come to training camp.
Going undrafted is not the end of a player’s career, either. Division III’s top active player, Pro Bowler London Fletcher went undrafted before signing with the St. Louis Rams. The John Carroll graduate recently signed a large free agent contract to play for the Buffalo Bills.
NEW SEEDING CRITERIA: The NCAA’s Division III football committee recommended a change to the NCAA playoffs that won’t change the way teams are selected but should change the way the brackets look. In previous years, high seeds have gone to unbeaten teams, regardless of strength of schedule.
This year, if the change is approved by the Division III championships committee this summer, things could change. The recommended addition is that the committee be allowed to consider the record of a team and conference in postseason play from previous years as a seeding criteria.
If that had been used this past season, it would have been unlikely that Westfield State had gotten a No. 2 seed, or even a home game, since the NEFC has never won a playoff game. Thomas More went 10-0 and made the playoffs for the first time in a decade, as a second seed, but was blown out in the second round by No. 5 seed Wittenberg. And RPI got the top seed in the East bracket but lost to No. 6 seed Ithaca by three scores.
Consider, instead, the more reasonable scenario of Rowan getting the top seed in the East and Wittenberg getting a home game in the North. Seems like a reasonable change that could enhance the competitiveness of the 2002 playoffs.
2002 SCHEDULES: We’re busy compiling the 2002 season schedules and will post them on the site when we have all of them in hand, but some interesting things come to mind after looking at what we already have.
UW-Whitewater is taking strength of schedule to the extreme, playing both two-time defending national champion Mount Union and 2000 runner-up St. John's in non-conference play, on top of the punishing WIAC conference slate.
Christopher Newport is trying to get more experience as quickly as possible, playing Rowan and Bridgewater on back-to-back Saturdays in September.
It's too late to fix their strength of schedule woes from the last two years, but Millikin made wholesale changes, losing Knox, Eureka and Blackburn from 2001 (combined record 3-26) and picking up Franklin, Aurora and Anderson (combined 18-11).
The Midwest Conference and Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference need to go back and check their NCAA master schedule sometime. They scheduled their conference games to end two weeks before the playoffs begin, meaning that if one of their teams gets a bye, they will have two consecutive weeks off before their playoff run begins instead of just one. That is, everyone except Gustavus Adolphus, which used Week 11 (Nov. 16, for those of you scheduling at home) to take a trip to California to play traditional NAIA power Azusa Pacific. For everyone else, it means not taking advantage of the chance to save a little money in housing student-athletes before classes traditionally start.
Brockport State plays all five of its home games in a row, from Oct. 5-Nov. 9. (They have Oct. 26 off.) Hometown fans had better catch them then, unless they like traveling.
La Verne managed to create an entire nine-game schedule without leaving the state of California. In fact, all three home games are also against California schools. They accomplish this by playing Azusa Pacific and Division I-AA San Diego.
Contributing: Pat Coleman
