Why Cooper Beebe stayed at K-State after many advised him to ‘take the money’ in NFL
Something unexpected happened last winter when Cooper Beebe began telling friends and family that he planned to return to Kansas State for an extra year of college football, even though he was projected as a surefire pick in the NFL Draft.
Everyone who knew his secret told him he was making the wrong decision.
“At first, we thought he might be a little crazy,” K-State center Hayden Gillum said. “Maybe we tricked him into coming back. We were all like, ‘Uh, are you sure?’”
Some tried to talk him out of it.
“We were thinking he should have turned pro,” Beebe’s father, Tom, said. “That was the safest bet: Take the money.”
Beebe met so much resistance at the thought of delaying the start of his NFL career that he had to defend himself, almost as if he was on the witness stand in a high-profile court case.
This is what you’ve worked for your entire life. Do you realize what might happen if you get injured? Give me one good reason why you want to stay in college!
Turns out, Beebe had several. In no particular order, he wanted to:
Get a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction so he could fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.
Play alongside his younger brother, Camden, and help set him up for a stellar run with the Wildcats.
Blaze his own trail in a family loaded with successful football players.
Become the first offensive lineman in K-State history to make the school’s Ring of Honor.
“K-State means everything to me,” Beebe said. “It’s given me my platform and it’s given me my education. ... It’s set me up for life. This has become my second home and it’s very important to me.”
Even so, Beebe’s father flat-out told his son that those bullet points were not more important than the NFL.
But the last one was hard to argue with. When your son bleeds purple, how do you tell him to stop chasing Wildcat immortality along with the likes of Terence Newman, Michael Bishop and Darren Sproles?
“When he told me he keeps looking up at that Ring of Honor and thinking, ‘Why not me?’ I finally let up and said, ‘OK, that makes sense,’” Tom Beebe said. “Then I really started to understand when I saw him doing interviews at Big 12 media days. I have never seen a bigger smile on his face. He had this look of pure enjoyment, because he was doing something he wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. I knew he made the right decision.”
Going from bust to boss
Funny thing about Beebe’s journey to this point: few thought he would ever be a NFL prospect.
Believe it or not, Beebe was nothing more than your typical three-star recruit when he signed with K-State out of Piper High School in Kansas City. He had so much untapped potential as an offensive lineman that he actually committed to the Wildcats expecting to play defense.
He had to call his father and ask why they gave him the No. 50 before his first day of practice.
“It means they changed their minds about you,” Tom Beebe told him. “You’re going to be an offensive lineman.”
Good call. Five years later, the 6-foot-4 and 335-pound senior is now an All-American left guard and the reigning Big 12 offensive lineman of the year.
Still, his K-State career hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. He redshirted as a freshman and gave up too many sacks when he played right tackle the following year.
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I really struggled in my first few games,” Beebe said. “I was so bad that I asked (offensive line) coach (Conor) Riley about it later and he told me, ‘To be honest with you, I thought you were a bust.’ It’s something we can joke about now, but it definitely took a while before I really believed I could do this.”
Success eventually came. Lots of it.
Beebe shined as a left tackle when he was a sophomore and then he looked like one of the best blockers in the entire country last season when he moved to his most natural position — left guard. The sacks he used to give up are a thing of the past. He hasn’t allowed a defender to touch his quarterback in 803 consecutive pass-blocking plays, a streak that began all the way back in 2020.
At one point last season, he delivered an open-field block that sent not one but two defenders to the ground with a single push. He also helped the Wildcats win 10 games and claim their first Big 12 championship in a decade.
K-State football coach Chris Klieman can’t recall having a more versatile offensive lineman on any of his rosters.
“For a guy to be able to start at left tackle with an interior body, that doesn’t happen very often,” Klieman said. “And he was a dominant left tackle in the Big 12 with an interior body. That told you he had a great competitive spirit to him and he understood his technique. Then we were able to move him inside and now he’s right where he belongs. He’s a special player.”
Growing up in a football family
You could say football is in Beebe’s DNA.
His father, Tom, played football at Pittsburg State and was teammates there with Willie Fritz (Tulane football coach) and Sam Pittman (Arkansas football coach). His oldest brother, Colton, was a tight end at Minnesota. His youngest brother, Camden, is a freshman offensive lineman at K-State.
And his mother, Tamara, is a football fan who the entire family credits for their success on the gridiron.
“We coach each other up,” Beebe’s father said. “We rip each other. Everybody in the family, we’re all guys trying to one up each other. I’m probably a little more critical of things than I should be with them.”
To that end, there aren’t a ton of compliments going around the Beebe family after games. Even when the Wildcats win and Beebe plays well, there is always something he can do better.
His father likes to watch every play live with a pair of binoculars. He spends the first few seconds after every snap focused on his son. Then he finds the ball and watches the result with his naked eyes. That gives him lots of feedback to share.
Tom Beebe says he didn’t fully grasp how good Cooper had become until he watched him play alongside his oldest son. Midway through the contest, Colton Beebe turned to his father and remarked, “He’s the real deal, isn’t he?” After a few seconds, Tom Beebe stopped thinking about things he could nitpick and replied, “Yeah, I think he is.”
K-State football players agree with that assessment.
“Pound for pound, he is one of the best players in the country,” defensive back Kobe Savage said. “You can say that without any doubt. He is a huge linemen that plays with great technique. When you get him pulling around on a counter play, a split zone or a G play, it’s not pretty for us on defense. He has such good technique and footwork that you can’t get by him.”
Coming back with no regrets
The Wildcats respect Beebe so much that when he decided to stay in college a bunch of his teammates followed suit. K-State brings back all five starters on the offensive line and a handful of other “super seniors” at other positions.
“The hype is real with him,” linebacker Daniel Green said. “Cooper is really annoying in practice. I can’t tell you how many times he has gotten in the way of me making a play. But I love it because it makes me better when I’m going against the very best.”
It’s still difficult for some to understand why a player of Beebe’s magnitude told the NFL to wait. But his friends and family have all learned to support his decision.
Whenever his father has second thoughts, he thinks back to the Big 12 championship game last year at AT&T Stadium. K-State won on a walk-off field goal and Beebe ran around the field celebrating like a lunatic afterward.
“It was kind of like in Talladega Nights when Will Ferrell says, ‘I don’t know what to do with my hands,’” Tom Beebe said. “He was running around with no clue what to do, excited as hell with confetti coming down. The joy of accomplishing something that he worked so hard for was something I will never forget.”
Moments like that are hard to duplicate as a rookie. Beebe will get another shot as a fifth-year senior. He’s back for more, without any NFL money. But he doesn’t have any regrets, either.
