Though small in quantity, the senior class for the Concordia University football program packs quality. Take for example, senior receiver Vince Beasley. He’s a leader, he’s tough and he’s respected throughout the locker room. This past Fourth of July celebration in Seward, head coach Patrick Daberkow watched the parade as Beasley cradled young Roman Daberkow (Patrick’s son) in his arms.
Those are the types of little things that Beasley has repeated over and over during four years of holding up the standard of what Daberkow wants a Bulldog player to be, on and off the field. In the heat of battle, Beasley is the type of guy you want on your side.
Recalled Daberkow, “When we were playing Briar Cliff his junior year they kept giving us this route across the middle, but Vince kept getting smoked at the end of it. He got nailed. We were having a conversation on the headset about wanting to throw it again, but Vince was just getting smacked. Vince was like, ‘No, throw me the ball. That’s part of the game.’ That’s his attitude. He’s a tough kid. He plays through injuries. He’s really going to be missed.”
Beasley has emerged from such injuries, early doubts about whether Concordia was the place for him and a carousel of starting quarterbacks to become a dependable playmaker on offense. Not everything has gone as planned. Beasley saw action early in his career, but did not become the go-to option in the passing game until this fall. Furthermore, no one dreams of being 3-6 with one game to go in their college career.
Beasley also dealt with having his best friend from high school leave Concordia. That friend had played a major role in Beasley’s decision to come up to Nebraska from the Houston area. For some, such circumstances would have seemed like an easy out, a convenient reason to abandon ship.
“I’ll be honest. There were times when I had doubts,” Beasley said. “You think about leaving. You think about going somewhere else, but one thing really helped me. I’m the type of person that feels like you have to figure it out. I believe that I can make it anywhere. I thought that I was here for a reason and that I was supposed to be here. My attitude was to buy in and work hard every single day.”
Those kind of comments are music to the ears of college coaches at a time when many players often look to transfer at the first sign of trouble. That’s just not who Vince Beasley is. He never left the Seward community. Quite the opposite. He chose to fully embrace it.
Members of the Concordia football program often donate their time to pitch in with odd jobs that may be as simple as cutting someone’s lawn or shoveling snow off their driveway. They also frequently read to local elementary students as part of the Bulldog Buddies program. Oftentimes, Beasley is the most eager to participate. He even went to prom night at Ridgewood Rehab & Care Center in Seward.
For his work in the community, Beasley was a recent nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Says Beasley, “When you get to know and connect with people, it makes you want to help people even more.”
Beasley adds that he enjoys certain aspects of life in Seward such as the slower pace and peaceful nature of the town. It’s a far cry from a metropolitan area like Houston. At the same time, those are his roots and he’s proud of them.
Bulldog coaches and Seward community members have reason to be thankful that Beasley took the plunge in regards to venturing to a school in Nebraska that had not been on his radar until late in the recruiting process. A Concordia coach had actually been viewing film of a different player from Manvel High School when he spotted Beasley making a block downfield to help spring a touchdown run.
The competition Beasley played in high school prepared him well for college football. He watched as several of his teammates went on to earn scholarships at NCAA Division I schools.
“Texas football is like a religion,” Beasley said. “I only lost five games total during high school. It was definitely a different experience. I played against some really good competition. I was very fortunate to go to the high school I went to. Great coaches. Great program. I can still vividly remember Fridays, you know Friday night lights.”
Unfortunately, there are not many memories left to be made on the football field as a Bulldog, but Beasley can rest easy knowing he’s made the best out of his senior season. Even with some of the team’s struggles offensively, Beasley has snagged 43 catches for 521 yards. He busted loose last week against Northwestern with nine catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He will tell you he had the ability to put up numbers like that all along.
Confidence is also part of what makes Beasley the person he is. Right now, he just wants to beat Doane on Saturday. Says Beasley, “All I’ve wanted for our team was to win. I wanted to win a championship and go to the playoffs. I never cared about my own personal statistics – but I know I could have done a lot more.”
A criminal justice major, Beasley says he’s “all in” on a career in law enforcement. He’s been working with the Lincoln Police Department and had a unique experience lending his services to the state penitentiary. But then again, he adds that the coaching bug just might bite him.
Whatever career he ultimately ends up in, Beasley can count on Daberkow, and many within the Seward community, for a reference.
“As big of an impact as he’s had on the field, he’s had a bigger impact off the field,” Daberkow said. “He is always the first one to volunteer whether it’s prom at the Ridgewood Center, whether it’s scraping paint off a house or reading books to kids or scooping someone’s sidewalk and stuff that no one ever sees. He’s doing things constantly in the community. He’s a great representative of Bulldog football and we’ve been lucky to have him for the last four years.”