Three months ago, Gary Crowton didn't want to go the junior college route for a quarterback. But this past season featured two quarterbacks with broken hands, and it must have convinced him a quick-fix artist on the roster couldn't hurt.
Junior college quarterback Jason Beck may not step in and rattle the quarterback lineup at BYU, but he'll make short history of sorts. Not since 1995, when LaVell Edwards sent Norm Chow to Torrance, Calif., to fetch El Camino Community College quarterback Steve Sarkisian, have the Cougars signed a JC quarterback. One year later, the Cougars were 14-1.
One thing Beck gives the Cougars, who have had returned-missionary quarterbacks the past two years, is a guy who has played two consecutive years past high school.
It's not a card BYU likes to play very often. But go 4-8, post a second straight losing season, and these are those kinds of times. If you look at work thrown at recruiting junior college receivers — a big shopping rush is on in Provo.
Beck, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore from College of the Canyons in Valencia, Calif., will sign Dec. 17 to play for the Cougars along with teammate 6-5, 285-pound offensive tackle Nick Longshore. Both are unanimous All-Western States Conference. Both have served LDS missions, Beck to North Denver two years ago and Longshore to the Philippines 15 months ago.
On the surface, this Beck is no relation to current freshman quarterback John Beck, but a roots search is under way. Jason's father is John, son of Maurice, and family genealogy is traced to Bear Lake, Idaho. The current BYU Beck's grandfather is Don, son of John, who is from Idaho. If somebody on Jason's side can identify a relationship in Idaho to a Joseph Ellison Beck or Roger Beck, we'll have a blood link — as if it matters.
Beck just helped College of the Canyons to an 11-1 record. He threw for 1,681 yards and 11 touchdowns with just two interceptions. He also ran for 366 yards and six touchdowns.
"We played a spread offense and passed and ran the ball," Jason said. He described an offense similar to Utah's. "We had a lot of option plays where I kept the ball. We'd spread the field and sometimes I'd run it."
Beck has been timed at 4.7 in the 40, and he played one year at Ventura College before joining COC last January in time for spring ball.
"He's a gamer. He runs the ball really well and makes plays out of nothing. He's basically a good team leader and motivator," Longshore said.
Both players committed to BYU assistant coach Barry Lamb last Wednesday and will make official recruiting trips to Provo on Dec. 12. Neither believed the Cougars would sign any of their teammates at COC.
In the meantime, BYU appears to be putting the rush on JC receivers. If you try to track down where Cougar recruiters have been, they could sign as many as four but are recruiting as many as eight — apparently hoping to get a corps of four enrolled in school by January in time for conditioning and spring drills in March.
The Cougars have received a commitment from Michael Morris, a 6-1, 190-pound sophomore from Itawamba College in Fulton, Miss., who will visit along with Beck and Longshore next weekend. Morris, who runs a 4.5 40, pledged to sign on Dec. 17, according to his coach, Jeff Terrill.
On Saturday, a BYU coach was in San Diego to see Grossmont receiver Todd Watkins, who, before Saturday's semifinal state championship game, had 51 catches for 1,214 yards and 12 touchdowns. Grossmont provided BYU with its top rusher in 2003, Rey Brathwaite, who will likely accompany Watkins on his official campus visit that begins today. Watkins' teammate, defensive back Maurice London, may also come. Both are first-team JC Gridwire All-Americans.
Also making a campus visit before the Dec. 12 deadline is Snow College receiver Ameen Shaheen (6-4, 185), who had 34 catches for 479 yards and six touchdowns in nine games for a 14.1 yards-per-catch average. The Cougars are after Shaheen and teammate offensive lineman Tusi Latu, who visited USC this weekend after making a visit to Nebraska at the time the school fired its head coach.
Another receiver candidate is Glendale Community College (Arizona) star Riley Weber, a 6-1, 180-pound playmaker who caught 42 passes for 707 yards in 10 games. Shaheen and Weber were among the WSFL's top receivers behind Dixie star Travis Brown (44 catches, 785 yards, 11 touchdowns before Saturday's Rotary Bowl). It would appear Brown, who is not a mid-year candidate, could be headed to Penn State with former Timpview quarterback Danny Southwick, who played at Dixie State after leaving Oregon State.
The Cougars got another commitment Saturday from linebacker Aaron Wagner (6-2, 250) who is currently on the Holiday Bowl-bound Washington State team. Wagner started at WSU his freshman year before going on a mission. Wagner, who is from Lethbridge, Alberta, made his official campus visit Saturday.
"I'm at a party school, and it's not comfortable after serving a mission. I decided to transfer. I like the atmosphere, program, coaches at BYU," Wagner said.
He has been home from his mission seven months and played extensively for WSU this season. Before his mission, he ran a 4.53 40 and now runs a 4.6.
"I'll enroll in January and sit out a year before playing," he said. "I'm impressed with coach Bronco Mendenhall and his proven defense. When I first met him, I thought he was a graduate assistant, he looks so young."
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com