Take this description of the most memorable recruiting visit to his high school: “It’s like when you plug your iPod into your computer and it says, ‘syncing.’ As soon as I connected with his eyes, if somebody would’ve walked in between us, their head would’ve got lopped off. He like downloaded my soul.

“And he’s like, ‘Hi, I’m Nick Saban, I want to offer you a scholarship to LSU.’ ”

Or this description of his brief moment of glory, the fourth quarter against Kansas State in 2005: “The ball feels like a tennis ball in your hand because you have so much adrenaline. So Coach Callahan’s like, ‘All right, I want Trey Right, All-Go Dancer,’ which is four verticals. He’s like, ‘I want you to throw it to X, I don’t care what the coverage is, I just want you to drop back and throw it.’

“And I drop back and I think I threw it about 65 yards right into the stands. I think I hit one of those people eating one of those red hot dogs.”

Beck was 7 years old when he came home and found his father dead on the couch. His mom became his biggest advocate, the guiding force for his football dreams. The kid grew up idolizing Brett Favre, but his inner “riverboat gambler” went unchecked.