Exercise in Patience
April 07, 2004 11:27 AM | General
April 7, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Vince Beamer’s first season at West Virginia University was an exercise in patience. Beamer’s trials and tribulations actually started last July when a hamstring injury forced him to miss the Big 33 all-star game.
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| Freshman Vince Beamer is still getting acclimated to West Virginia's defense. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“Not playing in your hometown all-star game where everybody wants to see what you can do and others who haven’t seen you yet … I didn’t get to play and I was frustrated,” he said. “Then I came up here for summer camp wanting to play D-I football all your life and the first year of camp you can’t play and that’s even more frustrating. I kind of had to go with the flow and take care of my hamstring and get better.”
Beamer’s hamstring and a delayed ruling on his SAT score forced Beamer to miss a good three weeks of summer camp putting him too far behind to make an impact last year.
Mountaineer coaches were anxious to get Beamer onto the field and see what he could do in pressure situations. The Harrisburg, Pa., resident was one of WVU’s most highly touted prospects last year. West Virginia, which beat out rival Pitt in a last-minute recruiting battle, landed a player with outstanding size and sprinter’s speed.
Because West Virginia’s scholarship numbers were still down last fall, Mountaineer defensive coaches wanted to take a hard look at Beamer and see if he was ready to contribute immediately. His tender hamstring made the decision for them.
“It really didn’t matter that I sat out because I knew I was probably going to get redshirted,” Beamer said. “I watched but the only thing I missed was game speed.
“I would have looked forward to paying but whatever happened, happened,” he added.
Beamer used that time to get into better shape and become more acclimated with college life. Now after nine months in West Virginia’s strength and conditioning program, he has gone from 195 pounds last fall to his current weight of 215.
“I’m trying to get it on the right way,” he admitted. “Now I’m 215 and I’m trying to get up to 220 and still be able to move so we’ll see.”
Imagine having a free safety standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 220 pounds? That’s a lot of weight to throw around in the secondary and Beamer’s size will certainly get the attention of on coming wide receivers this fall.
Yet because Beamer is bigger than most free safeties he says he has to pay close attention to his footwork.
“I want to get better with my footwork because I’m taller than most safeties and I’ve got to get my balance down,” he said.
Beamer also is still getting used to the speed of the game and making split-second decisions that could lead to touchdowns if he guesses wrong.
“I think I read well but it’s just seeing that instant that’s still kind of hard. I’ve got to work on that,” he said.
The journalism major believes the video tape room will help him take care of that.
“I’m in there everyday. It is kind of like a competition I guess but we’re just trying to get in there and get a feel for it,” he said. “Film is one of the most important things. If you can’t read the film you might as well not even play. Jahmile and (former DB) Brian King were film rats and I’m trying to get that down.”
During Tuesday’s practice Beamer admitted that he missed a couple of assignments but says he has veteran Jahmile Addae to lean on.
“I’m coming along strong and just looking to see if I can get better and let Jahmile help me if he sees anything,” said Beamer.
Right now Beamer is taking most of the reps because Addae, a junior, has been held out of contact work after having shoulder surgery last fall. Defensive backfield coach Tony Gibson says he would like to have both players ready to play this fall with a third waiting in the wings ready to go.
“Vince has been real impressive,” said Gibson. “I’m real happy with where he’s at right now.”
Beamer is happy his coach is pleased but he says he isn’t out to impress anybody.
“I’m just trying to get better,” he said. “I’m not out here trying to prove anything; I just want to come out and help the team win some games this year.”
The one area Beamer says he still needs to work on is becoming more vocal on the field. The soft-spoken 19 year-old sometimes finds it difficult speaking up.
“I’m a real shy person,” he says. “They tell me that the free safety is one of the people that have to talk on the field. They tell me I need to speak up once in a while.”
Beamer believes that will come once he gets a better feel for the defense.
Notebook: West Virginia resumed full-contact work on Tuesday and has practices scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week … Thursday’s practice will constitute West Virginia’s third scrimmage of the spring … Mountaineer coach Rich Rodriguez is still trying to get over his team’s poor performance during its last scrimmage last Saturday, “It was miserable to watch it the five or six times I did and then I had to turn it off,” he said of watching the tape … the coach was happier with the intensity Tuesday but he’s still concerned about his offense’s execution, “The intensity was there but the execution is still not where it needs to be. I’m a little frustrated by that because it shouldn’t happen with some of the veterans and that part we need to get corrected. I can understand the mistakes and the lack of execution from the newcomers but not the veterans ...” Chris Henry made a couple of nice sideline catches Tuesday including a nifty one-hander … West Virginia quarterbacks wore regular jerseys again on Tuesday … Rodriguez may reconsider that after watching linebacker Jay Henry blindside backup quarterback Charles Hales on one play, “I’ll probably go get an ice pack myself,” Rodriguez said. “My head hurts just watching them get hit. I’ll have to rethink going live on the quarterbacks if we keep protecting like we did today.”
