Local Speedster/Human Blur Coleton Beck commits to the Hokies

Virginia Tech has always had a legacy of bringing in kids from the local schools and having them contribute to the football program- Brenden Motley, Johnathan Galante, Zach Treser, Logan Atkins, Carson Wise, Griffin Hite, Zach Snell, Trey Gresh, Joey Phillips, Bo Gentry, Sam Wheeler, Zac Evans, Cory Price, and John Candelas are local names that have bubbled up onto the roster. Some of them you recognize, some of them you don’t, but frequently Virginia Tech will pull very local kids into the fold. This is another one of them, as the human blur known as Cole Beck has committed to the Hokies for the class of 2018. Beck is the second running back of the class- the lightning to Caleb Steward’s thunder, if you will- and the second Virginia recruit after Armani Chatman (Christian Darrisaw is going to FUMA, but he’s a transplant via MD). Beck is currently ranked as a three star by the 24/7 composite. He’s rated as the 15^th best recruit in Virginia and the 15^th best all-purpose back. 247 itself ranks him as an upper-tier three star, but Scout and ESPN have him unranked. Rivals has him as a mid-tier three star. Tech mainly beat out UNC and Pittsburgh for his services, though his other scholarship offers included Appalachian State, Boston College, Louisville, Mississippi State, Old Dominion, ECU, UVA, and many other schools. Beck is also a track star, and will probably compete in track at Tech as well.

Let’s see what the Hokies are getting in Mr. Beck. I’m using his Junior film since his senior film isn’t fully compiled so far and I don’t want to spam you guys with a lot of very short videos.

Coleton Beck (Blacksburg, VA. 6’-1”, 185lbs. Running Back)

The way Beck runs is effortless, really. It doesn’t even look like he’s running as fast as he is, which is just stunning. He simply blows by everyone on his way upfield. Now, in college, obviously he’ll play against faster defenders, but the kid almost has a CVT- it doesn’t even seem like he’s shifting gears, per se, he just MOVES. It’s not the kind of blink and you’ll miss it speed, it’s the kind where you see a bullet shot out of a gun in slow motion and suddenly the bullet’s downrange and you have no idea how it got there. He’s also much stronger than he looks for his frame, which is impressive considering he’s already fast. He runs out of the shotgun, too, which is advantageous for a runner that won’t have as much of a hard time adjusting to the cutting running style of Justin Fuente’s offensive attack. He’s not overly shifty (OVERLY, he does have some moves), but all you want him to do is go north-south anyhow. Beck flashes good balance and solid vision, though I do have to give his OL some props for opening some nice holes- though all he needs is a crease and he’s gone. I’d have loved to see more of his ability to catch passes other than a couple of seam routes and one out to the flat, because that’s going to need to be part of his game at Tech. I like how he two-hands the ball already through traffic already- so many high school backs are careless about ball security. Either way, Beck could definitely find himself early playing time in either the return game next year (replacing James Clark or Greg Stroman or both), or potentially as a back if no one back can emerge.

Either way, go Local Hokies and Go Tech!