Tears streaming from his eyes, wearing a black button-down dress shirt and a black bowtie, Terry Beckner Jr. pulled a Missouri pennant from under the table as his high school gym went crazy.
“I just followed where my heart told me to go. That’s where it told me to go, so that’s where I went,” Beckner Jr. said on ESPNU.
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The 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive tackle was rated as high as No. 2 in the country (ESPN) within the 2015 class, Missouri’s most hyped signee since WR Dorial Green-Beckham in 2012. He chose Mizzou over Florida State, Ohio State and Auburn.
RELATED: Mizzou makes strong push for Terry Beckner Jr.
The Tigers return Harold Brantley, a legitimate SEC Defensive Player of the Year candidate in 2015, and Josh Augusta at defensive tackle, but rotated four players at the position in the fall. Beckner Jr. should get time at the position as a true freshman.
A versatile athlete, Beckner Jr. can rush the passer from the interior of the defensive line and he’s big enough to hold at the point of attack.
Beckner in Black n Gold! #Mizzou pic.twitter.com/ctKpNrWIDk
— JP Rock (@JPRockMO) February 4, 2015
The East St. Louis native went to high school about a two-hour drive from the University of Missouri. He took an official visit to Columbia last weekend, attending a basketball game at which the crowd chanted his name and wore T-shirts bearing his No. 79.
Recent NFL draft exports like Shane Ray (.875), Markus Golden (.837), Michael Sam (.813) and Aldon Smith (.845) all rated significantly below Beckner Jr. (.992) according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. Beckner Jr.’s pure talent has to be making coach Gary Pinkel, and especially defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski, salivate.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
