Famous baseball executive Joe Torre once said “competing at the highest level is not about winning. It’s about preparation, courage, understanding and nurturing your people, and heart. Winning is the result.”
Heading into the homecoming game against Portland State, the team hopes winning is the result of the competition between quarterbacks CJ Jordan and Mike Beaudry.
Throughout the first weeks of the season, Vandals used their non-conference games to give both quarterbacks an opportunity to start games, and both have had great moments in those games.
Against an Oregon State University defense that ranks in the top 30 nationally for overall defense, Jordan led several drives into Beaver territory and made plays with his legs and his arms and led the team in rushing. Against an Indiana University Bloomington defense that featured two All-Americans, Beaudry completed almost 64 per cent of his passes and threw two touchdowns to no interceptions.
Neither player has been able to create a noticeable separation from the other in this competition. This is an iron-sharpen-irons situation. The ability of both quarterbacks is something that benefits them in the long run. It also creates a situation in which the teammates can learn from each other.
“We work off each other each day,” Jordan said. “If one is having an off day, we’ll bounce off each other and keep each other positive. There’s a lot I’ve learned from Mike since I’ve been here. He’s been a big brother to me. There’s a lot he can do, there’s a lot I can do, and I think we both can make the team better.”
Beaudry shared a very similar opinion to Jordan.
“(Me and CJ) are good at different things and good at similar things,” Beaudry said. “We complement each other really well. We push each other every single day, and we’re always trying to get better. It is a competition, but we’re all buddies. Him, me and Zach (Borisch), we’re not afraid to help each other out and to hold each other accountable. You couldn’t really ask for anything else.”
Another interesting factor to this quarterback competition is where both quarterbacks are at this point in their collegiate careers. Jordan is entering his sophomore season and Beaudry is a grad student who led Division-II school University of West Florida to a national championship before transferring to Connecticut, then transferring to Idaho.
When asked about being an underclassman who might win the starting quarterback job, Jordan said “I feel like this year, I’m a lot more confident in what I can do. I feel a lot better than I did last year coming in. I just wasn’t up to speed compared to where I am now. I feel a lot more confident and prepared to compete every day and try to earn the job.”
Beaudry, being in a position of seniority, said he hopes people see him as a good leader because that’s how he sees himself. He doesn’t believe being in a senior position on the team puts any more pressure on him than the others have.
“It’s not pressure. I hope people look up to me. I think I do a good job being a leader, but I also look up to (my teammates),” Beaudry said. “They all work hard, and I respect the hell out of them, but I’m just trying to do me. I think if I do that and try to be genuine and do the things that are asked of me, same things that are asked of them, then they’ll probably follow me.”
Both players have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and are adapting to the leadership that comes with being a quarterback on a team, but what about the people beneath the helmet?
With all the pomp and circumstance that comes with being a college athlete, especially a potential starting quarterback, it’s easy to forget that they are students under the same amount of stress as every other student, if not more.
According to an article posted by the NCAA, anxiety attacks are the most common psychiatric disorders amongst collegiate athletes.
“It’s a lot,” Jordan said. “You have to have a balance between school and sports. You need to have a balance of when to study, when to talk to coaches, when you’re going to watch film. You have to make sure you have that balance – especially for your mental health. One of my biggest things is that I overstress, so if I’m not balanced, I’m all over the place.”
The life of a college athlete is one that naturally comes with a lot of responsibilities and stress. Some players can find themselves in numerous different places for school over the course of their career, like Beaudry has, and sometimes it’s just a matter of finding a balance like Jordan described.
It’s also important for a lot of students who don’t know about these players to get to know them as classmates.
“This is my seventh season playing college football,” Beaudry said. “I’m in grad school. I’m from Canada, the CFL has my heart, I’m the first person to graduate college in family. The journey to get here has been crazy … if you were to ask me two years ago where I’d be, I wouldn’t have said here.”
Jordan also mentioned that his work ethic and his motivation extends beyond the football field.
“I give 110% with everything I do. Somedays there’s going to be off days, but you have to come in and give it your all.”
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]