Cougarblue - John Beck – “Very small things make a big difference in football”

John Beck – “Very small things make a big difference in football”

AF_Puma | Wednesday, December 13, 2006, 7:12 am

Transcribed by Jim Vallen
COUGARBLUE
John Beck speaks with KNZ's Kevin Graham and Gordon Monson about "The Play" and upcoming preparation for Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. KNZ’s The Big Show (4 P.M to 7 P. M. weekday evenings on 1280 The Zone, 1280 AM Salt Lake; 960 AM Utah County) aired an interview this week with BYU senior quarterback, John Beck.

They introduced the segment with this tape recording from KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM – Greg Wrubell, November 25, 2006 BYU vs. Utah:

“The final play of the game baring a penalty…All the time in the world for Beck. Can anyone get open for him? He’ll roll right. Left it goes. Finds his guy! Touchdown! Jonny Harline comes all the way across the field. Beck finds him and it’s a touchdown and BYU swarms the field. They win it!”

Kevin Graham: “Well you heard the play. I think most of our listeners have heard it over and over again and seen it over and over again. Joining us now is quarterback at BYU, John Beck. So John, when you hear this play…”

Gordon Monson: “Wait a minute. Tell John you already said he probably had it looped at home and was running it twenty-four hours a day just to put him in a good mood any time he needs it.”

Kevin Graham: “Do you just watch it over and over again John?”

JB: “I actually don’t. That’s a myth for whoever says that one. It definitely gives me chills though. I’m actually standing right next to Jonny and Jonny was asking me what was going on and I said, ‘Hey I’m listening to my favorite play—the last play in the Utah game.’ That is a play in a game that I’ll always remember.”

Gordon Monson: “Can you explain for us John as you were going through, you were standing there, you kind of drifted a little left and then actually by the time you threw the ball you were on a sprint to the right. At what point did you see Jonny? Did you see just a flash of a white jersey or did you recognize what receiver you were throwing to? Explain how that developed for you.”

JB: “Soon after I started running to my right I recognized the flow of all the rest of our guys and the Utah defensive guys moving right along with me and I could still see Jonny working his way back to the left. So I knew when I worked right, after a couple of steps, he would clear that mess and he’d be open. So I took a couple more steps and because I was on the run I knew I’d have to jump, especially because I knew I was going to get hit like right as I threw it. So I just jumped and I threw it back there. When I let go of it I knew it was going to be a touchdown, but when I was on my back I saw him having to go on his knees and I was thinking, ‘Please still be in the end zone!’ Luckily he was still in the end zone and things went well.”

Kevin Graham: “John, when you watch it and you actually see the play, I mean is it actually how you remembered it or is it more of that in seeing the play, it was just not that way. I mean is it that the way you ran the play and the way you see it now on film does it seem a little different or is it the same as you remember it?”

JB: “Well the view that the TV gets is definitely not the view I had from within my helmet. It’s actually a lot of fun to see the view with the way the sideline erupted—I didn’t get to see that. And the way the crowd erupted—I didn’t get to see that. When Jonny caught the ball, I was actually on my back from getting hit. But I guess the view that I have is the view that no one else has but me. So it’s a very special one. It was a great play. Jon did a great job of being a football player of recognizing the entire team in moving one way and if he stays back the other way and I find him—we win. I think our offensive line did a great job also. I mean as I watch this, I hadn’t gotten to see what all those guys were doing, and as I watch it on film, those guys gave 110% and even the guys working in the back of the end zone were giving 110%. I think all the guys on our team wanted to win that game so bad that we made a play.”

Gordon Monson: “You know John, it’s interesting because that last drive, I think, addressed everything anyone who had been observing you objectively or otherwise, needed to see in order to rethink everything in this process that you’ve been through the past number of seasons and especially this year. It seems like you have really come into you own. I know you’re awfully good about giving credit and spreading the credit around to everybody on the team, but as far as you as a quarterback, how far advanced are you now from where you were a couple of seasons ago?”

JB: “Well I think something about the quarterback position that minor changes, little things here and there, make a big difference in the way a quarterback plays. As I came in and I played through a tough freshman year, a tough sophomore year, I was always trying to learn from the mistakes I was making and to not try to put the blame anywhere else. Put it on my shoulders and say, ‘Hey if there’s something that needs to be done I can be the person that makes the change and I can improve.’ As I came to this last season, even though there have been times when we barely lost a game or two in the past, we knew we were fully capable of, if it came down to a drive, that we could make it. You know, that’s how we felt last season, but we just didn’t finish them and we came into this season feeling the exact same way. Its minor things. Very small things make a big difference in football, especially at the quarterback position.”

Gordon Monson: “Maybe especially where you have to have the game winning drive and it doesn’t get any bigger than against your rival in that setting. I guess your championship had already been settled. That was the one thing that you guys had been dominating, your offense had been dominating teams all season long and people were going, ‘Yea but they haven’t won the close ones.’ So then in that setting to make that drive in the last minute and nine seconds or whatever it was, it was remarkable. It really was.”

JB: “You know I think it’s a combination of a lot of people continuing to believe in themselves, continuing to sacrifice to be able to make a play like that. Like you said, we really didn’t have any other game. In the Boston College game it came down to overtime. But in league play we had nothing close to being a close game because we were so dominating. I think that even though we were dominating in games, out teams still prepared for that game that if it did come down to the wire that we’d be able to make that play if we needed to.”

Gordon Monson: “How do you develop poise though? How does that happen?”

JB: “You know, I think a lot of it is just putting yourself in situations that you are going through. How are you going to react? What are you going to do in that situation? I had already been in a lot of situations throughout my career here at BYU and I’ve tried to make the most of them to not let anything pass without taking at least something that I could learn from it. So as I’ve been in games where I haven’t made a play at the end of the game and we’ve ended up losing, I go back on film and I watch it and say, ‘Okay. What could I have done different? What could I have done better? What could I have done that a more experienced and mature quarterback would have done?’ As I push myself and try to be the best that I can and try to push my team mates in that direction around me, we knew that there would come a time again where the opportunity would come and we’d get it done—that we’d make a play where we needed to make a play. In that game we had a minute and nineteen seconds left and we knew we needed to go down and drive and put points up on the board and we accomplished it.”

Kevin Graham: “Obviously you seem like you’re still excited from that game. Is there still a buzz amongst the players and so forth from that game or is it now more business at-hand turning to the bowl game?”

JB: “We’ve always focused this season on the task at-hand. I think that for a couple of days after that game it was definitely great to see your team mates walking around campus and everyone is congratulating you on the game and it felt good because at the time we didn’t know who we’d be playing and we didn’t have to worry yet about the preparation for the bowl game, but as we’ve begun this preparation to face a good Oregon team, we know that if we look back at any game that has happened in the past that we’re not going to be preparing the best that we can for the upcoming game. So we’re practicing right now all focused with all of our thinking and everything on Oregon and the bowl game.”

Gordon Monson: “It’s funny that all season long it seemed like your team, at least to the larger extent, had been healthy, and now we’re hearing things about the defensive secondary having these injury problems. What’s the status of those guys and how is the team reacting?”

JB: “You know I’ve talked to Ben [Criddle] a couple of times and I’ve asked him how he’s going to be for the bowl game. He’s told me that it’s still undecided. But I do know that those injury guys, if they’re not going to be able to play in the game, they’re doing everything they can to make sure that the person who is going to fill their slot is prepared. As I talk to Ben, he’s said that it’s still undecided if he’s going to be able to play, but I see him out here practicing all the time and he’s trying to help Cole [Miyahira], he’s trying to help Brandon [Howard] to get these guys to be able to play at a higher level when it comes time to play the game. I think that if it comes down to those guys having to play, a great team is defined by when a player gets injured, the next guy can step in and be successful. That’s what Coach Mendenhall is trying to build here—a successful program—a strong program where if someone does go down the next guy can fill in and get the job done.”

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