Had some leftover stuff from Brigham Young offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman about John Beck. I spoke with Doman for this story that ran Sunday. As always, keep in mind that college coaches tend to rave about their guys. But Doman also spent two years with Beck and it’s the last time that the Redskins QB played a substantial amount. By the way, Doman actually played on the Redskins practice squad during the final month of Steve Spurrier’s tenure.
We also don’t know that Beck will be the starting QB when the season begins. But it’s May; there’s a lockout; Beck is a QB and this is Washington so …
Q: What have fans in the NFL not seen yet of John Beck that would give them reason to believe he can be a starter?
A: Well, what you have in John and what coach [Mike Shanahan] and others see in him is a very detailed quarterback. He’s meticulous. He has a very strong accurate arm. That was the most impressive thing to me the day I walked into the room and saw him throw. He’s not 6-5 and 230 pounds, but he throws the ball like he is. From my short stint being around big, strong-armed quarterbacks he’s as good or better as any of those guys. You’ll see a guy who can throw the ball accurately. Hopefully what you’ll also see and what I saw in him is that he will be very detailed. Coach Shanahan is that type of quarterbacks coach. He wants detailed, organized guys who can manage that West Coast offense that has so much verbiage. It’s a pre-requisite that a guy is intelligent to manage the offense in a way that he’s on the same page as the coach.
Q: What else?
A: He’s very mature. He is a high-character, high-integrity guy and he can lead. You look at the intangibles he brings as a quarterback not only for the team but for an organization. He’s the model guy. He bided his time. He was a touted guy and a high draft pick and he had to play as a rookie. I don’t know that it’s good for any rookie to play that early. He’s had some bumps. But five years in, 29 years old and having been from a storied quarterback program at BYU, he has a lot of football knowledge now and I think he’ll be one of the best quarterbacks around the next couple of years. I really do believe that. I don’t know what’s in the stable around him, but if the personnel is good then they’ll be good.
Q: How meticulous is he?
A: I’ll be you my job that he hasn’t missed a Tuesday day-off workout in five years. He never missed a workout here. He was the first guy in to watch film. He wore me out. He’d want to go watch film and go over the offense. When he was a senior in high school he had the No. 1 efficiency rating in the country. It was solely based on the timing and the decision making and the accuracy. Those are three elements he understands. It eventually relates to completions. He knows now that completions, completions, completions equals first downs equals touchdowns. He surpassed Jim McMahon in total yardage here. This guy knows how to throw the ball. That’s who he is.
Q: One criticism I heard from a GM about John coming out is that he wasn’t tough enough. Do you agree?
A: He matured in that area a lot. When I first got there it wasn’t trained and it wasn’t something that was emphasized, but I can say this: By the end of his senior year he was the best pocket passer in college football that year. People who got to know him wouldn’t argue that. As far as being a pocket QB and making decisions and going through the progressions, he was as good as college football had that year. So I would disagree and I think he’s very tough and will hold in and be strong and durable and won’t shy away from the pressures you find in an NFL pocket.
Q: Where did he have to improve with that?
A: He went through ups and downs. BYU hadn’t had a losing season in 30 years and during his time there – he wasn’t the starter the whole time – they had three losing seasons in a row. The coach got fired and Beck got the heck beat out of him. The media beat him up. When I was there I had a talented quarterback, but he needed a lot of toughening up. He didn’t back down at all. He found a way to find the grit necessary to become great. We hung a lot on his shoulders.
Q: But what about toughness in the pocket? How did he improve there?
A: Those guys will take shots they don’t see. For a defensive player to take a shot at a quarterback… that’s prime real estate. For a quarterback to ever show signs of defeat or that this guy got the best of you or you’re injured and you choose to stay down instead of getting up… The toughest quarterbacks never stay down, Brett Favre being the prime example. He never showed signs of defeat. John had to learn that. That’s something that he showed at a very high level through his senior year and I’d never question it now. But that is something he learned.
Q: Got a good example of his work ethic?
A: My second year as a coach, going into his senior year, he was in there from morning until night watching film. He would come in, grab me and make me sit in there and watch film. He wanted to know football. I had a couple of NFL coaches and GMs that after they interviewed with him said they hadn’t interviewed one quarterback that year who knew football like he knew it.
