WVU Sports Hall of Fame
Anthony Becht, who played football from 1996-99, finished his Mountaineer career second in tight end receptions (83) and tight end receiving yardage (1,178).
In 1999, Becht was voted MVP by his teammates and won the John Russell Memorial Award from the WVU coaching staff as the team's top lineman. He earned All-Big East Second Team honors, played in the Senior Bowl and was a Football News honorable mention All-American.
He had five touchdowns on the year with 35 receptions for 510 yards. Becht recorded five catches for a career-high 105 yards against Boston College, the first 100-yard game by a WVU tight end since 1995 and had two touchdowns against Navy.
A native of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, Becht had 29 receptions for 393 yards with four touchdowns as a junior in 1998, earning All-Big East Second Team honors. Becht had a career-best six receptions against Missouri in the 1998 Insight.com Bowl. As a sophomore, he had nine receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown and had 10 catches for 140 yards and one touchdown as a freshman.
For his career, Becht played in 46 games, had 83 receptions for 1,178 yards and scored 11 touchdowns.
Becht was selected as the 27th overall pick in the first round by the New York Jets in the 2000 NFL Draft. He played 11 seasons over 12 years at tight end in the NFL for the Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs. From 2000-10, he played in 161 straight games, trailing only Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in that span.
In the NFL, he started 140-of-176 games played, finished with 199 receptions for 1,621 yards and had 22 touchdowns. Becht set career highs of 40 receptions and 356 yards in 2003 for New York and caught a career-best six passes, including a 1-yard touchdown at Miami.
Following his playing career, Becht worked as a college football analyst for ESPN and is a host for the New York Jets Gameday. He coached tight ends in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl for seven years before accepting the same position with the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football in 2019. Becht served as a Trust Captain for the NFLPA Trust from 2015-20 and the Legends Community Southeast Coordinator from 2020-23.
Becht is currently the head coach of the St. Louis BattleHawks of the United Football League, where he led the team to a 7-3 record, which was the most wins among rookie head coaches in 2023. In 2024, the BattleHawks also finished with a 7-3 record and lost in the XFL Conference Championship game.
A graduate of West Virginia with a bachelor's degree in marketing, Becht and his wife, DeeAnn, have two children, Rocco and Olivia.
