John Beck Describes BYU QB Zach Wilson As A ‘Football Junkie’
Jul 13, 2019, 4:21 PM | Updated: 4:28 pm
PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 29: Quarterback John Beck #12 of Brigham Young University looks to pass the ball during the first quarter against Air Force October 29, 2005 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
(Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – John Beck is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks and players in the history of BYU Football. When he shares insight or opinions on players in the current BYU football program, it matters.
Beck hopped on Cougar Sports Saturday on KSL Newsradio to discuss BYU’s current starting quarterback, Zach Wilson. Beck, who works with 3DQB in Southern California, is a trainer for Wilson and the two had wrapped up a 90-minute workout hours prior to Beck joining the show over the phone.
Wilson hasn’t been able to train as often as he had hoped with Beck this off-season due to recovery from the shoulder surgery that kept him sidelined during spring practices this past March. But now that Wilson is starting to throw passes again, he’s been training with Beck and the former Cougar great weighed in on what he’s seen with Wilson’s progress thus far.
“I think the progress is exactly where we want it to be,” said Beck. “Zach’s a really hard working guy. He has goals he wants to hit and this is just a little bump in the road for him and he’s doing everything that he can the right way. We’ve seen improvement right where we want it to be. For him, it’s about being ready for that Utah game. Up to this point, I’m really optimistic about where he’s at and what that kind of holds as he’s going into camp.”
Any injury can pose challenges both physically and mentally to a quarterback. Beck knows this from his days as a BYU quarterback. While going on to pass for over 10,000 yards at BYU, Beck suffered a broken hand injury his true freshman season against Boise State in 2003 and he also battle ankle injuries his senior season.
Quarterbacks have to be able to play through it as it is part of the job according to Beck. The good thing for Zach Wilson is that he loves the process and the grind that comes with football. In fact, Beck feels it is Wilson’s biggest off-season strength.
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“What I feel like his biggest strength is? Football junkie,” said Beck on Cougar Sports Saturday. “Some people get tired of the grind and Zach doesn’t. Zach’s switch is always on. I feel like there’s two types of people. There’s people that you have to help them keep the switch on and then there’s people that you need to remind to turn the switch off. He’s always on that side (turn the switch off).”
Beck continued, “He probably needs a little bit of coaching up on, hey, you need to be able to step away a little bit. You’ve got to be able to turn the switch off. You’ve got to turn the brain off here and there. The good part about that is the amount of time he’s investing into himself and improving as a player. Because it’s (switch) always on, he’s going to see that climb in his performance. At this stage, I’d much rather have a guy like Zach where I’m having to say, alright we’re done. Take a step away go walk the beach for a little bit, don’t put your iPad on yet. Take a little break and then later on in the day, come back to it.”
Cougar fans hope that when Wilson “comes back to it” this season in 2019 he builds off of the success he had his freshman year and has an even better sophomore campaign. The positive is that the work is being put in, now it’s just a matter of the results playing itself out on the field and those results will be here before we know it.
Listen to the full interview with John Beck from Cougar Sports Saturday below.
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Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
