'05 WI LB Travis Beckum (Wisconsin signee)

[StoRMinBrutus]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

If I were a blue-chip LB from Wisconsin, I'd definitely being looking real hard at Wisconsin with that killer defense they have...

I hear ya Mililani BUT after watching Wisky in tha past few games, and now that
Travis has actually gone to a Ohio State vs. M!ch!g*n game, and seen how amazing that game actually is .... How can Travis not consider how great it would be to sign with Ohio State and be a part of the tradition. I bet he met some of the alumni and saw guys like Spielman, AJ Hawk and Carpenter and then saw the potential he'd have to play in the near future. Consider all that and Travis has to be excited about his chances to be on a team that will compete for the Big Ten/NC every year !!! I bet he looks real hard at Ohio State now that things have turned out like they have today !!!

[jwinslow]

Agreed. And depending on Schlegel's offseason, if he doesn't get redshirted he could be the #1 sub (I doubt he would be on this team tho). But I agree wholeheartedly that OSU is much more known for its linebackers. I can't think of a great Wisconsin linebacker. PSU is linebacker U but they're dead, and Iowa has only had a couple (and they don't get national coverage like OSU).

I'd think we have an amazing shot at the #1 recruiting class if we could bring him in. As I've posted elsewhere, I think we landed Wells with today's impressive performance (especially in terms of the atmosphere).

[Buckskin86]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/prep/nov04/277238.asp

Oak Creek’s Beckum something special
Gifted linebacker headlines all-state team; Mukwonago’s Hensler coach of the year
By CLIFF CHRISTL
cchristl@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 20, 2004
On the hoof or on the field, Travis Beckum stood a cut above his peers.

Playing high school football in a state known more for its jumbo linemen than its glitter at the skill positions, Beckum was a rarity as an athlete. He’s a 6-foot-5, 220-pound outside linebacker who has been clocked at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

The senior’s production on defense was also staggering. Playing for an Oak Creek team that finished 8-3, he was credited with 38 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback sacks, seven interceptions, eight forced fumbles, five fumbles recovered and four blocked kicks.

Whether it was chasing down a back against Kenosha Bradford that seemingly had a 20-yard head start, intercepting a pass on a deep out against Franklin after initially showing blitz from an inside gap or knocking down a post pass to a wide receiver after biting on a play-action fake against Kenosha Tremper, Beckum left opposing coaches awestruck all season.

“Everything comes easy to that kid,” said Tom Taraska, coach of perennial Division 1 power Arrowhead. “He could be a 10- to 15-year NFL player. He could really be special. He’s so natural.”

First things first.

Beckum is the player of the year on the 13th annual Milwaukee Journal Sentinel all-state football team. He also might be the best of the best at a school that has been loaded with talent as of late.

Over the past 13 years, Oak Creek has produced 36 Division I college players. Former lineman Jake Sprague was the Journal Sentinel’s player of the year in 1997. Defensive end Rhyan Anderson was lineman of the year last year. In all, 11 of Oak Creek’s players have made the Journal Sentinel all-state team.

“Everybody who has followed our games has said, ‘You know you’ve had some great players: Jamal Butler, Brian Calhoun, Jake Sprague, but you’ve never had a kid produce like this kid,’ ” said Oak Creek coach Joe Koch. “I agree.”

Tom Crean, basketball coach at Marquette University, offered an even more glowing endorsement to Koch when he spoke to the Oak Creek team before its second-round playoff game.

“Tom Crean told me that Barry Alvarez – they’ve gotten to be pretty good friends – told him that Travis Beckum is the best player in the United States,” said Koch. “He said, ‘He’s not the best kid in Wisconsin, he’s the best kid, period.’ ”

Although Beckum made his mark on defense this past season, he also made a hefty contribution on offense and special teams. He caught 22 passes for 506 yards, a 23-yard average, and also averaged 41 yards on 31 punts.

One of this state’s rare national recruits, Beckum has narrowed his list of schools to Florida State, Louisiana State, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin, according to Koch. At this point, Koch said he believes Wisconsin has the inside track.

Corey Cortez of West Allis Central is the lineman of the year on the Journal Sentinel team. Keith Hensler, who led Mukwonago to the Division 1 championship, is coach of the year.

Cortez is a 6-1, 270-pound junior defensive tackle who runs a 5.0 40 and squats 620 pounds. He led Central, which finished 8-4, with 74 tackles. Included were nine tackles for loss and eight quarterback sacks.

“This kid is the best defensive lineman – period – we played against all year and maybe the last two years, including Nick Hayden,” said Keith Hensler, coach at Mukwonago. “The kid is unbelievable. He can run. He can play.

“I was really impressed: Our whole coaching staff, even our players. We were watching the film and breaking the game down and our kids are oohing and aahing.”

[tsteele316]

folks are saying the he and carlos thomas decided not to visit this weekend.

[Buckskin86]

Originally Posted by tsteele316

folks are saying the he and carlos thomas decided not to visit this weekend.

Yep- neither were on BSB's or Bnuts vistor lists

[Buckskin86]

Insiders premium


Beckum pushed back his tOSU visit to Jan. 8. He visited Oklahoma Nov. 12. He will see Tennessee this weekend. He has visits set with Wisconsin and Miami (Fla.) during December.

He did watch "the game" on TV and was impressed with their performance.

He talks to Coach Fickell a lot on the phone and he likes tOSU's style of play.

[Buckskin86]

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/du...s/10248747.htm

Posted on Mon, Nov. 22, 2004
Beckum 2004 Wisconsin Player of the Year
ARNIE STAPLETON
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - Travis Beckum is a talented two-way throwback who never wants to be on the sideline, begs to play on the scout team at practice to make the starters better and can do just about anything he wants on a football field.

The Oak Creek senior star who has narrowed his college choices to Wisconsin, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma and Tennessee, was unanimously selected the 2004 Associated Press Player of the Year by a statewide panel of sportswriters.

"That's outstanding. It takes hard work to do something like that," Beckum said sheepishly when informed of the award. "I love to work, I love to play football."

Mukwonago's Keith Hensler, who led the Indians to their first state championship in his 26th season, was named Coach of the Year.

Beckum was a repeat first-team selection at linebacker on the All-State team that included two unanimous selections, both on the offensive line: Arrowhead's Jason Fiacco and Joe Valdez of St. Francis, as well as a repeat first-team selection in Janesville Parker offensive lineman Nick Nolte.

Also, Racine Park running back Johnny Clay was just the third sophomore to make the first-team All-State squad since The AP team debuted in 1945.

The others were Pete Johnson, a defensive end from Fond du Lac, in 1971 and punter Kevin Stemke of Green Bay Preble, in 1994.

Playing for a team that went 8-3, Beckum, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound outside linebacker, had 38 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and four blocked kicks.

He also averaged 41 yards on 31 punts, including a staggering 77-yarder, caught 22 passes for 506 yards and also played tight end, defensive end, inside linebacker, safety and cornerback his senior season.

Amazingly, he did this all while nursing a strained rotator cuff that prevented him from using full motion in his left shoulder.

"Travis is the most talented defensive player we've ever had," Oak Creek coach Joe Koch said. "He was a great leader for a young team that might have been 3-8 without him instead of 8-3. He loves to play the game, he's a throwback. He played as hard in practice as he did on Friday nights. He just loves to compete."

Beckum has the size to play linebacker or on defensive line but the speed - he runs a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash - to play in coverage. The Badgers are hoping to lure him to Madison with the promise of playing both linebacker and wide receiver, Koch said.

Over the last 13 years, Oak Creek has produced three dozen Division 1 players, many of them highly touted and nationally recruited but none of them were as gifted and dedicated as Beckum, Koch said.

"Usually the great players who become high-profile as a junior don't do as well as a senior, whether they put it on the back burner or they're saving themselves for college," Koch said. "Travis did the opposite. He went up a ton. He never let it get to his head, not one bit, when big-time schools came to watch him.

"I've never had that happen before. Usually the kids lose their minds for half a year until they come out of the have," Koch said. "He likes playing the game for the game itself. He just loves to play. He's like a little kid. He volunteers for the scout team. He's your old throwback and he wants to play on every play."

Beckum said his style isn't just meant to make his teammates better but himself, too.

"If I play soft, I'm not getting anyone any better. If I go hard on every play, I'll bring out the best in everybody," he said.

Beckum said his shoulder popped out during a scrimmage before the season but "I wasn't going to stop playing." He said the shoulder is almost healthy now that he's had time off from football and is concentrating on basketball, where he plays all five positions.

Beckum said he never let the notoriety or the recruiters watching him go to his head because "I just basically didn't want to worry about that until after the season. We didn't do as good as we could have but it was still fun."

He said he has dropped Ohio State and Florida State from his wish list and will announce his college choice at the high school all-star game at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Jan. 15.

Koch said the Badgers coaching staff calls Beckum not only the best player in the state but in the country.

"I don't know if you'll ever see another kid like that," Koch said. "He's a beautiful looking athlete. He's graceful, smooth. He's a tough customer with a good, competitive mean streak. He looks pretty and he plays great."

Hensler, the coach of the year, has seen Beckum firsthand for several seasons and said Koch isn't exaggerating: "He's a very gifted and talented athlete. He's a natural kid who works hard and for a big player is fast. Joe moves him around a lot. He's very universal."

Hensler's team beat Oak Creek 28-8 in the playoffs on its way to a 14-0 season capped by a 17-6 win over Marshfield in the Division 1 championship Friday night.

Hensler, who is 225-103-3 in his career, said his coaching award, like the championship, was a shared honor because "it goes way back to a lot of great former players and coaches and current players and coaches and even our youth coaches who made this a memorable season."

[LloydSev]

Damn.

[tsteele316]

that's odd that he dropped osu from his list considering he just rescheduled a visit here for January.

[daddyphatsacs]

Never count us out with a top flight LB from the midwest. We have a very good track record with LB's.

[JXC]

I'd like to think we still have a chance with him...but from the looks of things I don't think we do.

[Holy Buckeye!]

Why did he drop us?
Anyone know?

[Buckskin86]

Originally Posted by Holy Buckeye!

Why did he drop us?
Anyone know?

Not exactly sure- a theory is that he was upset that tOSU moved his visit from the scUM game to early January. Not sure why that would cause him to drop us but that is the only event that happened in the last week or so. Bnuts did an interview with him where he said he agreed to the early January visit but all the recent articles are showing that tOSU has been dropped.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/prep/nov04/279266.asp

In addition to Journal Sentinel and Associated Press state player of the year awards, Beckum is also the 2004 Journal Sentinel all-area player of the year.

He stood out at three positions, from the glamorous linebacker spot to the unheralded role as the Knights’ punter.

Again, coaches can’t say enough about the talent Beckum possesses.

“He is as quick and physical and as strong a kid as we’ve come against,” Tremper coach Frank Matrise said. “He’s extremely quick. He’s such an athlete and so good how he plays.”

The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Beckum was the glue of a Knights team that depended heavily on the defense to stay in ball games.

In 11 games, Beckum had 38 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback sacks, seven interceptions, eight forced fumbles, five fumbles recovered and four blocked kicks.

Beckum also played tight end (22 catches, 506 yards) and had clutch receptions for an otherwise struggling offense.

And Beckum took pride in all of his contributions from start to finish.

“Usually when a student gets recruited as hard as he does, they get a little bit of a big head and they don’t play as hard,” Oak Creek coach Joe Koch said. “Travis has almost done the opposite. He’s enjoying this.”

Beckum is touted the 68th-best senior prospect in the nation by Rivals.com. Among the front-runners seeking his services are Wisconsin, Miami, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Beckum has been named to the national high school all-star game Jan. 15 at the Alamodome in San Antonio and indicated he would announce his college decision there.

[Buckskin86]

Insiders premium

Beckum is expected to commit to Wisky at a Monday press conference.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twinci...s/10335946.htm

Player of Year headed for Wisconsin?
Associated Press

Wisconsin high school Player of the Year Travis Beckum could be joining the Wisconsin Badgers next season.

Beckum won The Associated Press honor last month in a unanimous vote of a statewide panel of sportswriters.

Colleges in addition to Wisconsin on his list of possible selections have included Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida State and Tennessee.

WTMJ-TV of Milwaukee reported on its news programs Friday night that Beckum has selected Wisconsin.

Oak Creek coach Joe Koch told the Wisconsin State Journal that Beckum's final two choices appeared to be Wisconsin or Oklahoma.

"If I was a betting man, I think that (Wisconsin) is where he's going," Koch said.

Badger coach Barry Alvarez had visited Oak Creek High School Thursday to meet with Beckum.

Beckum told Koch when he got to school Friday that he wanted to announce his choice Monday, so the news conference was scheduled for 3 p.m. that day at the high school.

Beckum was a repeat first-team selection at linebacker on this year's All-State team.

As a senior on an Oak Creek team that went 8-3, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound outside linebacker had 38 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, seven interceptions, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and four blocked kicks.

He also averaged 41 yards on 31 punts including a 77-yarder and played tight end, catching 22 passes for 506 yards.

Koch said Beckum has a unique combination of athleticism and size, as reflected in the many positions he can play.

"He's got the athleticism of a little man," Koch said. "He's very fluid and everything comes naturally. It's just a rare combination."

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/spor...=20092&ntpid=2

UW FOOTBALL: Prized recruit said to be favoring Badgers
00:00 am 12/04/04
Tom Mulhern Wisconsin State Journal

University of Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez was at Oak Creek High School Thursday, meeting with prized linebacker recruit Travis Beckum.

When Beckum showed up for school Friday, he told Oak Creek football coach Joe Koch he wanted to announce his much-anticipated college choice Monday, so a news conference has been scheduled for 3 p.m. at the school.

Koch would only say Beckum's final two choices appear to be UW and Oklahoma. Still, Koch admitted there are obvious reasons for Badgers fans to be optimistic.

"If I was a betting man, I think that (UW) is where he's going," Koch said.

If that is Beckum's choice, it would be a huge catch for the Badgers. Not only is Beckum considered to be one of the top defensive prospects in the country - ESPN's Tom Lemming lists him as the No. 2 outside linebacker - but UW was not among his top five schools at one point.

Koch confirmed Beckum was initially upset because UW did not recruit teammate Raymond Henderson, a defensive end who also is a top prospect and is visiting UCLA this weekend.

"From day one, I've been trying to impress upon them that it's probably not in their best interests to pencil themselves in where, 'We've got to go to the same place,' " Koch said. "What's good for one is not always good for the other."

Koch said after instructing the two players to sit down and write out the pros and cons of all the schools, UW started climbing on Beckum's list. Beckum comes from a single-parent home and the idea of playing far from home grew less appealing. The other top schools on his list are Ohio State, Florida State, Tennessee and Miami (Fla.).

"The family thing became a big point," Koch said. "All of a sudden, he was like, 'That's right, my mom will never get to see me.' "

Beckum is not scheduled to make his official visit to UW until Dec. 17, though he attended a couple of games. "He had a great time, got to meet the coaches and then said, 'I like these guys, I think I could play for them,' and kind of slowly fell in love with them," Koch said.

The thing that separates Beckum (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) from other highly regarded recruits the school has had in recent years, according to Koch, is a unique combination of size and athleticism.

"He's got the athleticism of a little man," Koch said. "He's very fluid and everything comes naturally. It's just a rare combination."

Although normally a linebacker and tight end, Beckum lined up all over the field. He moved to cornerback against a potent passing attack and shut down Franklin's top receiver, holding him without a catch, according to Koch.

"The next game, you've got him playing D-end and he's making four sacks," Koch said. "He's good at everything he does and he's natural."

Beckum also averaged 41 yards as the punter. "He could be an NFL punter with just a little bit of training," Koch said.

In 11 games, Beckum had 38 tackles for loss, 16 quarterback sacks, seven interceptions, eight forced fumbles, five fumbles recovered and four blocked kicks. He also caught 22 passes for 506 yards.

Koch claims Beckum runs the 40-yard dash in "a legitimate" 4.4 seconds, though Lemming lists the time at 4.6.

"He could play any position," Koch said. "I think that's why he's a no-miss. He's not going to be pigeonholed into one spot. I think he would be an incredible Lawrence Taylor-type, that standup (linebacker).

"It doesn't matter, they motion a guy out in the slot, he can go out and cover him. Everybody is always trying to get mismatches. He gives you that great flexibility. You can't get a mismatch because he'll go out and cover your best receiver and keep up with the guy."- Correspondent Phil Fritz contributed to this story.

[crazybuckfan40]

Good for him. Hopefully he doesnt learn to tackle lower so our guys can run him over. I watched his video and he is fast and reads well, but tackles way to high.