Marty Gordon
Cole Beck ran his way through opponents this season, but saved his most impressive performance in the postseason where he rushed for a 1,000 yards in leading the Blacksburg Bruins to the 3A state title, which included 436 yards in the first game against Lord Botetourt.
His coach Thad Wells enjoyed what the junior running back did this season.
“Cole was an exceptional player for us this year, and just like with every other player on the team, we couldn’t have won state without him,” he said.
Because of his performance this season, Beck is the News Messenger All-County/All-City offensive player of the year. He finished this season with 2,156 yards on 258 carries and 35 touchdowns.
Beck credits his offensive line in helping to rush for over 2,000 yards.
“All the credit goes to my offensive line, the H-backs, all the receivers blocking downfield and our defense getting the stops. They have the tough job. I just get to run,” he said.
Speed could easily be Beck’s middle name. Over the past two years, he has locked up the top time in the 100 meters within the state and in the entire country.
This past week, Beck ran to a U.S. number one time of 6.36 in the 55m dash to open the indoor season for the Bruins’ boys’ team at the Hokie Holiday Festival at Virginia Tech.
Last season, he raced to a state championship in the 100 but calls this year’s football state championship as even better. “I won individual state championships in track but this was awesome to win one with all my teammates. I’m proud of our team, our school and our community,” Beck said.
Winning, according to the speedster, was a matter of the coaches and players buying in the game plan and coming together.
The Bruins overcame a slow start with a 2-4 mark during the regular season and then going on the road four straight games to win the state championship.
As an individual, he called this season surprising. “It was surprising in a lot of ways. I felt like my hard work in preparing myself was rewarded by getting the opportunity to prove myself on the field,” he said.
Track remains a priority for him with lofty goals of running in the Olympics one day. “Track is a priority along with football. I hope to do both in college, but i know some schools may offer that opportunity and some may not. I’m not ruling anything out at this point, just considering all my options to do either track, football or both,” Beck said.
He has been getting some interest from several colleges including Charlotte, Delaware State, James Madison, Richmond, Army West Point, Missouri, Marshall, West Virginia, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
This year’s team was young and a lot of people gained game experience, and Beck expects Blacksburg to be a really good team next year. Maybe good enough to win another state championship.
