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May 30, 2007 3:10 pm US/Eastern
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John Beck: Dolphin Quarterback With A Mission
No. 40 Overall Choice In The 2007 NFL Draft.
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The Miami Dolphins selected Brigham Young University quarterback John Beck with the No. 40 overall choice in the 2007 NFL Draft. He will be 26 years old in August.
Beck was born in Hayward, California, and attended high school in Mesa, Arizona, where he was a football star. During his junior and senior years, he quarterbacked his team to a 25-2 record, including a state championship.
Beck was recruited by Brigham Young University, and began his career as a freshman. During his sophomore year, he earned second team All-Mountain West honors.
In Beck's senior year, ESPN ranked him as the second best quarterback in the nation for efficiency. After leading BYU to a 10-2 record, Beck was a finalist for the Unitas Golden Arm Award and was even mentioned in some Heisman conversations.
It's thought Beck will start the year as the team's No. 3 quarterback behind Daunte Culpepper and Cleo Lemon, each of whom could battle for the starting job. Culpepper is still recovering from his knee injury.
But Beck's mission started way before he stepped on the football field. He was raised by a Mormon family, in a church he's devoted his life to. He knew he was going to have to eventually take two years off from football to go on a mission, which is required of the Mormon church. "It's the most important thing in my life: my family and my religion. Football is very important to me, but I had to keep things in perspective."
So after graduating from high school, at 19, Beck traveled to Portugal for two years, learning the language in two months and began to preach his church's message.
"Basically, a plan of happiness" he explained "is with a father in Heaven, where we have a God and he loves us, and he wants this earthly experience we have to be a happy one."
The mission is a crucial part within the Mormon church. It is when the young people go out into a specific part of the world for two years as missionaries.
"If I am sitting at the train station waiting for a train," Beck would say, "I can just have a friendly conversation with the person next to me".
Beck's wife, Barbara, is also a Mormon, who is important in keeping the family together, especially, when it comes to professional sports where travel and time are spent away from home.
So now, Beck will begin his new mission, one that will take him on the field as a Miami Dolphin.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)