Football walk-on Beckum earns 1st start

Leon Beckum isn’t the type of person that seems to like to talk about himself, but if you ask those around him, he’s more than deserving.

“I’ve had so many people come up to me and say ‘Mr. Beckum, your son is such a gentleman,’” said Dan Beckum, Leon’s father. “It just makes me so proud.”

The younger Beckum, a junior at IU, will make his first start as middle linebacker Saturday when the football team travels to Western Kentucky for its second game of the year. While starting is an accomplishment for any player, it seems to carry a little more weight for Beckum.

Leon is a local product from Bloomington High School North, and despite a senior season with the Cougars that landed him on the all-conference team and gave him team MVP honors, Beckum wasn’t a heavily recruited prospect — partially due to his smaller size.

“I really didn’t want to play football, but my high school coach kind of talked me into it,” Beckum said.

That high school coach, Bloomington North’s Scott Bless, knew Beckum was the type of athlete who could overcome the perceived shortcomings.

“He didn’t necessarily fit on paper, but I knew he had the intangibles,” Bless said, noting he’s not at all surprised to see what Beckum has accomplished.

Bless had seen how Beckum operated under his tutelage with a steady, consistent work ethic and challenged the player with “quiet confidence” to go for it.

“I talked to Coach Lynch, and he said he had a spot for me,” Beckum said. “I walked on to the team, and from there it was an uphill battle, but I just kept on fighting. Now, I’m here.”

IU coach Bill Lynch said Beckum’s biggest obstacle was gaining size — a hurdle that the now 5-foot, 11-inch Beckum cleared in the only way he knew how.

“He’s worked very, very hard particularly in the weight room,” Lynch said. “He is a physical, Big Ten middle linebacker now.”

Lynch estimated that coming out of high school, Beckum weighed in at 195 pounds. The linebacker redshirted his freshman year in 2007 before making six appearances on special teams in 2008. Last season, Beckum registered five tackles in eight games while on special teams and as a back-up linebacker.

For the season-opener against Towson, Beckum was second on the depth chart behind junior Jeff Thomas. Those roles have been switched for the WKU contest.

“I always tell (walk-ons) when they come, its a marathon not a sprint,” said Lynch. “There’s a lot of things that you have to go through, and you have to outlast your competition. You may have to outlast that guy in your class that was a recruited guy.”

A marathon is something Beckum has gotten used to, thanks to his father, Dan. The 67-year-old has competed in marathons and other running races since he started running to lose weight nearly 40 years ago. Now, the elder Beckum — a lifelong factory worker retired from GE — said he still works out and stays active six days a week.

Lessons from such long-distance running, most notably never to quit, were always important to Dan and he passed those along to Leon and his older brother Dan Jr. However, academics were always the father’s priority.

“Growing up, my dad always told me that school was first,” Beckum said. “He had 11 brothers and sisters that grew up on a farm together, and he wasn’t able to go to school.

"He ended up working at GE, so he always put it in my head that school was first and that academics were where I had to go. After he installed that in my head, I just wanted to do good in school, graduate and get that degree.”

To borrow a football term, Leon has out-kicked his coverage academically. Twice, Beckum has earned All-Big Ten Academic honors — one of 18 current Hoosier players to hold the distinction. Beckum is pursuing his degree as a fitness
specialist.

“I want to be a strength and conditioning coach,” Beckum said. “I like working out, I like lifting weights, I like training people. I can see myself doing that when I get older.”

Beckum might have already reached the adult plateau of “older” though. His duties on the football field and academics aside, Beckum has a one-year-old son who turns two in December.

“It’s hard with school and football practice and then trying to have time for him,” Beckum said. “It’s hard, but I’m in to the routine now, so it gets easier and easier each day.”

The challenge is made easier, Beckum said, thanks to his girlfriend taking care of their child while Beckum is caught up in the football season. In between summer off-season workouts, Beckum also has a job at a local apartment community.

Undoubtedly, raising a child with a plate as full as Beckum’s can be tough. But relying on his father’s advice to keep working, as well as forward thinking, have Beckum in a mature state of mind.

“I don’t want to do anything that will embarrass him in the future or anything like that,” Beckum said. “I keep my head on straight for him, and it pushes me more to get that degree so I can raise him and give him anything he wants.”

The result has also been a better football player, IU linebacker coach Mike Yeager said.

“He’s real mature for his age, obviously, with his situation,” Yeager said. “He has great discipline and time management because I think he needs to in his daily life to handle being a father, going to school and playing Division I football.”

Yeager said Beckum was in the weight room nearly every morning over the summer at 6 a.m. before heading to his apartment job.

“Then, he comes back in the afternoon and runs,” Yeager said. “He’s the type of guy that you want to have in your program and help leading the defense.”