Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Short for his position, Beckett stands tall among tackle leaders
9/26/2019 1:49:00 PM | Football, Word on the Herd
Marshall linebacker is a league leader in his first season
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – As one of the shorter players at his position, Tavante Beckett doesn't stand out for his size.
But the 5-foot-10, 209-pound junior from Chesapeake, Virginia, is easy to notice because of his energy and his production. The affable linebacker channels his emotions on the field, and he has a team-best 31 tackles in three games for Marshall this season. Beckett's 10.33 tackles per game leads Conference USA and ranks No. 16 nationally.
"There's nothing like making plays," Beckett said this week. "That's why we're here."
Beckett has no shortage of whys. He starred at Indian River High School in the same football program that produced Jaquan Yulee, but he made six tackles in 14 appearances for Virginia Tech in 2016 and had barely played since that season. The 21-year-old re-routed to Huntington to join Yulee, and after sitting out the 2018 season, he couldn't wait to step in as a starting linebacker alongside his prep teammate.
Yulee, though, sustained a season-ending injury in the Thundering Herd's season opener against VMI. Beckett plays with enthusiasm because he loves playing a game but hasn't been able to compete the last couple of years. Now, he has even more motivation in the wake of Yulee's injury.
"I haven't started since high school," he said, "so when I get the opportunity to go out there and play the game with my friends – the teammates I grind with – it's a blessing. My man went down in the first game, Yulee, and he lost his whole season. I can't come out here and have my head down. I'm playing for him. I'm blessed and have a lot to be happy about."
Football helmets often obscure the genuine emotions of a player, but Beckett's toothy smile is hard to hide behind the mask. That's been the case for him since he started playing football as a young boy and his mother signed him up for the sport. Beckett wasn't sure if he wanted to play.
"My first day in pads, I had a big hit," Beckett said. "All I can remember is a big flash and then everybody jumped all over me and I saw the guy down on the ground.
"I knew this was something I could be good at."
Beckett has been plenty good in his first season at Marshall (2-1), which hosts Cincinnati (2-1) this Saturday at 5 p.m. at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. The game will be broadcast on Facebook, and produced by CBS Sports Network.
He opened the season with seven tackles – which was more than he had his entire collegiate career – and then set a career-high with 13 tackles at nationally ranked Boise State the next week. He recorded 11 tackles against Ohio.
That production, Beckett said, comes from his approach.
"I watch a lot of film," he said. "Meetings … at night. You've always got your phone on you, so there's no reason to not be watching film when you can. At linebacker, you're the quarterback of the defense. The quarterback on the offense is watching film, so you've got to stay in the film room, too."
He doesn't have prototypical size of a linebacker, but he makes up for it with his mentality.
"Being a shorter linebacker benefits me because when the running back comes through the hole, I don't have to get low," he said. "I'm already there, so there's a lot of advantages to being short. You don't have to be 6-3 and 240 or 250 pounds.
"I'm short, but it has all worked out."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
