Everyone in the Yazoo County area, if not all of Mississippi, has heard the tale of Ben Beckwith.
Hard work, resiliency and a little faith earned a walk-on from Benton Academy a coveted scholarship at Mississippi State University, and those same traits helped him earn All-SEC honors and lead the Bulldogs to the Orange Bowl.
The story has been told numerous times, and it is as compelling and motivational now as it was the first telling.
But Beckwith’s story didn’t end there after the bowl game in Miami.
He had career goals and aspirations left to achieve, and he was about to enter one of the darker worlds of professional sports, the NFL Draft.
The draft process is an all-encompassing process that begins directly after the season, beginning with the all-star game circuits, which was followed by the NFL Combine, various pro days, numerous meetings and finally comes to a close with the actual draft.
While the process is difficult on all football players, it was especially bad for Beckwith, who began to find out the there is an uglier side to football than the general public sees.
Things began to take a turn for the worse for Beckwith when he went in for his physicals.
“I had a lot of question marks pop up on my body parts that I have injured over the years that look like an 80-year-old man’s parts,” Beckwith said. “People told me they weren’t sure they would draft me because of certain issues. I didn’t know that at the time. Things get swept under the rug in college at times due to necessity, and you play through them.
Beckwith, however, would not give up. He improved his stock with a good showing at the East-West Shrine Game, a collegiate showcase second only to the Senior Bowl.
And then he trained.
Since he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, he would only get one chance to display his strength and athleticism, and that would be at Mississippi State’s Pro Day.
Things have never been given to Beckwith. They’ve always been earned.
So, he trained for it like a madman, like he trained to earn a scholarship, like he trained to earn a starting spot, like he trained to earn an All-SEC nod.
When the time finally came to showcase his talents, tragedy struck.
During the bench press portion, Beckwith was on rep number 18, well on his way to a nice score, when he pulled his pectoral muscle, causing the bar to fall sideways onto the ground, finishing his performance prematurely.
“I was thinking that this was the day I was going to get my job to play in the NFL,” Beckwith said of the day. “It was my only day to showcase myself, and I get injured and embarrassed. After pro day, I met with some teams, and they told me don’t worry about it, so I felt a little better.”
After all the performances and work, it was time to play the waiting game for Beckwith.
Round after round of the NFL Draft passed, and his name was not called.
It was one of the toughest weekend of Beckwith’s life.
“I sat there and watched every round of the draft, and it was one of the most grueling things ever,” Beckwith said. “I’ve studied all night before and gone through practices and everything else. It was the most grueling thing I’ve ever had happen.”
What made it worse was the constant teases by various teams.
“People would keep calling and telling me they would pick me next, but then it wouldn’t happen,” Beckwith said. “It sucked. It was terrible. In the sixth round, Miami called and told me they were picking me. I was telling my parents that, and we were all fired up in the living room. Then they picked a linebacker, and I couldn’t believe it. It’s terrible how they do kids.”
Still, Beckwith’s dream was far from over. In fact, things were actually placed in his hands to an extent as an undrafted free agent.
With 27 teams calling and asking him to sign, Beckwith had quite the decision to make.
Two of the most important aspects to him were opportunity and being wanted.
The San Diego Chargers provided both.
Beckwith hit the ground running, and he impressed in a big way during the Rookie Organized Team Activities (OTA), which allowed the young players to acclimate tot he NFL while the coaches were able to see what type of talent they had to work with.
During the Rookie OTAs, Beckwith was impressive enough to line up beside the best of the best on the line, the 1s, and keep the role throughout.
He was impressing teammates and coaches alike.
When the OTAs for everyone started, however, things took a major turn early on.
With players making millions of dollars all around him, including quarterback Philip Rivers and tight end Antonio Gates, Beckwith was intimidated.
“It’s intimidating being in a huddle with Philip Rivers,” Beckwith said. “I was beside a guy that was 6’9” and 360 pounds, and I thought I was big. I struggled that first day. I was getting beat a lot, and I looked terrible.”
The important thing, however, was the Beckwith knew he was intimidated, and that was the first step towards getting over it.
And get over it he did. He began to improve rapidly and quickly found himself on the second team.
Then one of the starting guards was injured, opening the door for Beckwith to play with an NFL starting lineup.
“I started playing with the ones, and I was running a no-huddle with Philip Rivers out there giving signals,” Beckwith said. “I thought I had made it, and we hadn’t even played a game yet.”
During that very same practice, Beckwith had a severe setback.
Heralded rookie running back Melvin Gordon rolled up Beckwith’s leg, tearing the meniscus in his left leg.
The NFL is a cutthroat business, and when you can no longer help a team, you get cut.
With that knowledge at hand, Beckwith wrapped his leg up with tape and tried to practice through it.
The trainers noticed his significant limp, and put a stop to it immediately.
Believing he was about to be cut, Beckwith prepared himself for the worst.
Yet the worst did not come. The Chargers liked Beckwith enough to help him get back and return to practice two months later.
Unfortunately for Beckwith, something out of the Book of Job occurred.
As soon as he was finding his footing again on the practice, injury reared its head in the form of a torn meniscus in his right knee, the same injury on the other side.
“It was heartbreaking,” Beckwith said. “I though they were definitely going to send me home after tearing up both knees. I had never had a knee injury in my life before those two, but the people in the physicals told me I was going to fall apart eventually. I didn’t believe them at the time, but it all happened in my first year in the NFL.”
The injury brought sorrow for Beckwith, but the sorrow ultimately brought perspective.
Beckwith could not fail because he had already succeeded.
“I was asking ‘why me’ or ‘why this’ and questions like that,” Beckwith said. “The I asked ‘why am I feeling sorry for myself.’ I’ve accomplished as much as I can in my life through football. The only other thing I can do is be a Hall of Famer, which probably wasn’t going to happen anyways. If I don’t ever play another down, I’ve done more than I ever thought I would when I became a preferred walk-on.”
In the end, San Diego decided not to cut him. He went through the season on the Injury Reserve list, and he’s still rehabbing to this day.
Although the arduous rehab process has been difficult, it will be less so in a month when he flies back out to Los Angeles to find out some solid information once and for all.
Whether or not he will play again in San Diego or any other franchise is still up in the air, and it will all be determined by what the doctors say.
But if there is a way for Beckwith to play again, whether it takes hard work, resiliency, or just sheer grit, he will find it.
And if not, he will look back on the career of a lifetime with pride.
