Chad Beebe might be the most compelling player on the 2017 Northern Illinois football team, and for reasons that go well beyond his having a famous father. You know the name Don Beebe, as he the former NFL wide receiver played in six Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers.
Chad Beebe’s dad caught 219 passes for 3,416 yards, rushed for 28 yards, returned 81 kickoffs for 1,735 yards, and scored 25 touchdowns (23 receiving, one kickoff return, and one fumble recovery).
Don Beebe is perhaps most famous though for his running the 40 yard dash in just 4.21 seconds; making him one of the fastest players in NFL history.
Beebe is iconic for when his speed caught up to Dallas Cowboys DT Leon Lett, and denied him a touchdown in the Super Bowl, in one of the more memorable moments in Super Bowl history.
The younger Beebe admits that he doesn’t have his Dad’s speed, but that he’s been “picking his brain since he was a young kid.”
“As far as running routes, he’s been teaching me things since middle school,” he said at NIU Media Day.
“And he never forced it upon me which is the greatest thing, he just rolled with it. Whenever I had a question he answered them.”
The prevailing narrative surrounding Chad Beebe though might not be his bloodlines. It’s his resiliency. Beebe the Younger is coming off a medical redshirt season. Last year he suffered a partially torn meniscus and detached hamstring tendon in his right knee. It was the second major injury that he’s suffered during his college career.
He suffered a broken arm in the 2014 MAC Championship game his sophomore season but returned to have a productive junior season (2015) following surgery that left him with two plates and 13 screws in that arm.
Beebe says he’s in the best shape of his life as he enters his final season with 36 career receptions for 513 yards. The opportunity is there for him to step up and become the Huskies alpha dog in the wide receiving corps. All-conference receiver Kenny Golladay has graduated, and left really big shoes to fill. Christian Blake is the only returnee who had more than nine catches last season, and that means receptions will be up for grabs this season. A lot of younger and unproven players will be competing with Beebe for playing time.
Of NIU’s 13 receivers on the roster, five are freshmen, including three true freshmen. Beebe is going all out this training camp, trying to establish his place.
“He did get cheated out of last year and that’s weighing on him,” said NIU head coach Rod Carey. “He also knows this is his last year of college football.
“Certainly, he’s attacking this [camp] exactly the way you want it done.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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