TAMPA, Fla. -- If you think recovering from a torn ACL and starting an NFL game is hard, try training a horse. That's what Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith likes to do when he's not flying sideline to sideline on Sundays.

In fact, he'll tell you that the process of training a horse -- or better yet, trying to bathe one -- is the hardest of all three.

"Definitely bathing a horse [is the hardest]. They don’t get many baths," Beckwith said with a chuckle. "They just move around [and] won’t be still."

After a brief pause, he changes his mind. "Well, no. [An] ACL may still be harder than that."

Regardless, all three played a role in shaping the 22-year-old rookie out of LSU, who not only started at the strongside linebacker position in Week 2 but stepped in for Kwon Alexander at middle linebacker just 10 months removed from ACL surgery.

'Almost like another job'

Beckwith wanted to be a cowboy since he was a little boy growing up in Clinton, Louisiana. In fact, he used to make his younger brother Justin, now a freshman wide receiver at LSU, climb up on his back and they'd play horse around the family's home.

"He used to make me ride his back or he would not go outside and play with me," Justin said laughing. "I had an option -- ride [on] his back or he would not play with me."

Kendell Beckwith, shown at 10 years old, has worked with horses most of his life. Courtesy of Kendell Beckwith

While Justin couldn’t stand horses and instead wanted to ride ATVs, Kendell fell in love with them, just like his father, Wendell. He’d been around them since he could walk.

"They were all he knew," Justin said. "He even had toy horses."

Beckwith learned that caring for horses was no easy task. He fed them at 8:30 every morning followed by grooming and training as well as cleaning their stalls and riding them.

"It’s definitely hard. It’s almost like another job," Beckwith said. "It’s tough. It’s a lot of work. But if you just have a love for those things, it makes it all worth it, I guess."

It also taught him patience. Some horses are more stubborn than others. It's a process gaining their trust and getting them comfortable with human interaction.

"The starting phase, that's probably the hardest part," Beckwith said. "When they’re first born, you just kind of put your hands on them. And from then, each day you just try to put your hands on them and then just keep working your way through that."

But what works for one may not work for another. He once had a horsed named "Big Pulley," who was very stubborn. He never wanted a rider. Every time they saddled him, he'd lay down. The family ended up having to sell him.

They now have four horses -- Coco, Vicki, Gucc and Bucc, the baby who was born after Beckwith was drafted by the Buccaneers. They all live in a brand new stable adjacent to their home. His family takes care of them while he's in Florida.

"They have their own minds," Beckwith said. "All of them have different personalities. So you have to try to figure them out. That’s what makes them so special. They’re just all different. They may look the same but they have their own minds and you just have to know how to deal with each one of them.

"You definitely have to be patient. You have to be real patient. And you really can learn a lot from those things. Growing up, they taught me a lot of responsibility. They’re fully dependent on you. You have to go out and give them water, you have to go out and feed them, you have to make sure they eat. It teaches you responsibility as a kid."

Bucs rookie linebacker Kendell Beckwith has made a remarkable recovery from ACL surgery just 10 months ago. "I can’t say it enough times, it’s an amazing story," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire

It's that discipline that helped him to start for two and a half years on LSU's vaunted defense. It's that patience that also helped him recover from a torn ACL, suffered during a bowl game practice in November 2016.

"It definitely [helped]. This was my first [major injury]," said Beckwith, who underwent surgery in December and immediately began rehab at LSU and EXOS in Pensacola, Florida.

He spent rookie minicamp and mandatory minicamp on the sideline before finally being cleared to practice.

Miraculously, he was back fully practicing less than nine months later, starting his first NFL game just two days shy of 10 months from when the injury happened. He finished the game with five tackles, two tackles for a loss and a pass breakup.

"I can’t say it enough times, it’s an amazing story," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said. "The fact that the guy is even out there playing coming off that ACL [injury]. We’re so fortunate that we were able to get him where we got him and the fact that he can play multiple positions. Kwon had to come out, and Kendell stepped up and did a really nice job."

It took a lot of grit to get there, but for a guy who has zero qualms about shoveling manure, it was another step in the process of realizing a dream.

"That’s nothing but scoopin’ and dumpin,’" Beckwith said with a chuckle. "It doesn’t [smell good], but I’ve been smelling it for so long, it doesn't really bother me."

Turns out, a little adversity didn't either, although Justin admitted that his big brother did spend a few days moping around the house when the injury happened.

"I just tried not to get down on myself, just tried to get confident, knowing I’d be OK, knowing that once I got that opportunity again, I was going to be ready," Beckwith said. "I’m just thankful right now."