BACKUP BECK ANXIOUS TO RETURN
Returning backup finishes camp as ‘non-functioning’ quarterback
John Beck’s one-year worth of stats in the Canadian Football League are not a misprint. He completed 18 of 41 passes in spot duty last season for the B.C. Lions, a success rate of just 46.3 per cent.
Nonetheless, when the Lions decided not to re-sign Kevin Glenn, their insurance policy of last season, Beck was pencilled in as Travis Lulay’s able sidekick, knowing that, as morbid as it sounds, there was a good chance he eventually might play a lot.
Given Lulay’s injury-riddled past, the question is not so much whether the starter is fully recovered from his latest shoulder injury — or whether he’ll start the season on July 4 in Ottawa — but whether Lulay will be around to finish it.
“That’s one of the reasons I was excited to come back,” Beck explained. “Travis and I have spoken very openly about his situation. I knew it would be an opportunity to come to training camp and get a lot of reps. I was very, very excited to build on my CFL experience of last year.”
One big problem: Days before Beck was to report to training camp in Kamloops, he was laid low by a bug that turned out to be something more than the fiveday flu, which had been coursing its way through family members. It was viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver caused by consuming contaminated food or water.
Still, not knowing the nature of his illness, he struggled to get on the plane for the flight from his home in San Diego to Vancouver. That was May 27. More than three weeks later, he is over the worst of it, but still not a fully functioning quarterback.
During the 18 days of the Kamloops portion of training camp, Beck picked up a helmet on just one occasion, tried to push through the overwhelming fatigue of practice and suffered a setback.
“I hadn’t thrown the ball to a moving target in a long time,” he explained. “I wanted to get reps. I had missed so much of training camp. As athletes, our nature is to push through, even when our bodies are telling us not to. Jumping into training camp, with guys who had been practising for two weeks, I knew there were going to be some bumps. But my body just fell apart a little bit.”
Not surprisingly, Beck won’t dress for tonight’s second preseason game, against the Edmonton Eskimos at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium, as rookies Jon Jennings and Greg McGhee get more snaps at Beck’s expense.
Lulay, coming off his most encouraging week of practice since he reinjured his throwing shoulder last September, is expected to start and play the first half against the Eskimos.
In a league still groping for enough first-rate starters to go around — Ottawa’s Henry Burris is still chucking it at age 40 — there aren’t nearly enough quality backups available. Beck, an NFL journeyman with the potential to become a frontline performer, believes he can be the veteran, fundamentally sound second option that some teams opt for. Then again, other coaches prefer a younger quarterback with the potential to be a starter, as Jennings, in particular, has shown the ability to be.
After the 2014 season, in which he moved his wife and three young boys north to be with him, Beck said he never considered not returning for a second season with the Lions. The only question was whether the new head coach, Jeff Tedford, would want him back.
“Is a new coach going to totally change things?” Beck said. “Was he going to allow me back? I’m sure, if I’d not performed well in the mini-camp (a three-day throwing camp in Surrey at the end of April), they wouldn’t have brought me back.”
Like all backup quarterbacks, Beck prepares as if he’ll play. For now, he’ll settle for the opportunity merely to practise.