Traveon Beck Will Be Seeing an Old Friend Saturday

When Cal hosts UC Davis in the football season opener Saturday afternoon, the teams will be meeting for the first time since 2010 and the second since 1939. 

But there will be some familiarity between the teams on the field Saturday. Davis wide receiver Jared Harrell and Cal defensive back Traveon Beck played together at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower. And they are more than just former teammates.

“Jared is one of my best friends, I love Jared,” Beck said in an interview this week. “He’s a great guy, hard worker.”

Harrell, a 6-2 junior, caught 62 passes a year ago, and now figures to be the primary receiver in the Aggies’ prolific passing attack.

“I always told him he has Division I talent,” Beck said, explaining why Terrell is not with a higher profile program, “He had some injuries in high school that kind of set him back. He can go, he’s a great receiver. He runs track at UC Davis. It is going to be fun seeing him on the field this weekend.”

Beck is usually Cal’s “nickel” or fifth defensive back and doesn’t often cover wideouts, his assignment usually being the slot receivers. So he might not go head-to-head with his buddy Saturday.

“I am definitely looking forward to going against him. I hope I see him in the slot a few times,” Beck said. 

The two will probably interact some before kickoff. “ We always make jokes and stuff. I just look at him and make a few jokes,” Beck said, “But once it’s game time, I know what I’m going to bring to the table and I know what he’s going to bring to the table.”

What Harrell brings to the table is the whole package (sorry to mix the metaphors). “He’s long rangy. He has deceptive speed. ...He is a long strider, he’s got some length on him, He can stride it out and go. He knows how to high-point the ball in the air. He is a great all-around player and a great all-around guy,” Beck said. “He is a great teammate as I remember. 

Wayne Tilcock -- Davis Enterprise

Jared Harrell
 

“He can play ball, that’s what he can do. I know he can play ball. He will probably be their go-to reclever this year. I’m looking forward to meeting up with him this weekend.”

When the two learned they would be facing one another, they immediately started jawing, at least figuratively.

“The first thing I did was hit him up. ‘Hey you see, August 31st man?’ “Beck said. “He doesn’t really talk too much, He doesn’t trash talk. We were just laughing about it. It’s cool.”

Beck wasn’t laughing all that much at the start of fall camp. He was watching from the sidelines with an injury. 

“It was definitely frustrating,” he said. “I think in the early portion of camp I tried to rush myself back too early and that kind of prolonged it. Then I set down and let it heal, then I came back and I feel great, don’t feel any pain, nothing like that.”

Dealing with the injury was something new for the senior defensive back, 

“I never have gone through anything like that,” he said. “Nolthing. Not been injured in my life except a broken thumb in high school. 

Hard to know what to do, not practicing, just watching. I got a lot of mental reps in. Coach A (Gerald Alexander) in my ear, making sure I’m on the right path. I feel that helped me progress and maybe learn a little bit more.”

Now that the healing process is over, Beck said he literally is better than ever. 

“It feels good to be back to 100 percent,” Beck said, “I feel even more explosive than before my injury. It definitely feels good to be back running around, looking around and seeing Cam (Bynum)  to my left and Jay Hawk (Jaylinn Hawkins) and Ashtyn (Davis) behind me.”

Beck knows that he and all his mates in the secondary will be tested by more than just Harrell.

“They have a pretty good receiver corps, they are very well-coached. We know that number 6 (Carson Crawford)  is a guy that can run and 87 is a really good tight end,” Beck said.

“It definitely is going to help us prepare. It’s a good test for us. They are not a team that is going to let up on the gas. They are going to come out and hit us with everything that they have. They are going to try to go up top on us.”

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