Jack Bech's LSU commitment 'not totally a fairytale — but it's close'

LAFAYETTE — Jack Bech remembers countless Saturday and Sunday mornings at Walker Howard's house.

"The first thing we would do is get the ball and head to the backyard and start tossing for hours," he reminisces. "Two or three hours would pass, and we wouldn't even know it.

"Somebody would have to come outside and tell us I had to leave now, because I'd been there so long."

Those mornings were the childhood friends' first conversations about playing catch together for a long time — and always with one location in mind.

"Tiger Stadium on Saturday night," Bech smiles. "Definitely."

That dream came much more into focus Sunday as St. Thomas More's senior wide receiver announced a commitment to LSU just a few days after his patience, diligence and strength finally drew a scholarship offer.

And a little more than six months after Howard, the junior quarterback, had done the same.

The Cougars' stars, who have their entire lives been their families' third generation bonded through their love for the Tigers, will now become the second to wear purple and gold.

Brett and Blain Bech played wide receiver in Baton Rouge, where the elder of Jack's uncles caught passes from Walker's father, Jamie Howard, in the early 1990s.

"It's easy to say it means a lot, but it really does," Jack's father, Martin Bech, says. "God blessed him with a structure that's not like many — he's just built really well — but he's worked to improve that and his game. And everything that he's done is now paying off for him in these offers. And ultimately now being able to go to LSU and carry on the legacy of my brothers that played there and, for Walker, his dad playing there, it's almost like a fairy tale.

"It's not totally a fairytale, but it's close. It's definitely a childhood dream come true."

Michelle Bech looked through old photographs from childhood birthday parties and other celebrations and said few featured her son without an LSU shirt.

The admiration for the Tigers was already a family tradition handed down to her and her husband by Jack's grandparents.

"My dad was always such a big LSU Tigers fan," she says. "I mean, it was on television in our house every Saturday in the fall."

Michelle and Martin both attended the university and then watched as Brett and Blain earned positions on the football team.

Brett led the Tigers in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns from 1993-94, with the bulk of those passes coming from Jamie Howard.

Their fathers, Malcholm Bech and Jimmy Howard, traveled the Southeastern Conference together watching with pride.

And both families' passion for purple and gold continued to grow and prime itself for the next generation.

Jack's sisters, Virginia and Sophie, both attended the university.

"And It was actually my brother who named Jack's brother Tiger when he was born," Michelle says. "So he's been Tiger Bech since he was a baby and ended up playing for the Princeton Tigers. Of course, I'm sure his dream was always to play for LSU and be a Tiger because my dad was a huge fan.

"In fact, never knowing Jack would ever play football at LSU — it was such a far-off dream then — my father bought for both of my boys these huge LSU football paintings that hang in Jack's room. So I'm sure every night when he went to bed that's what he would look at."

The Beches and Howards made the short trip to Baton Rouge on many game days.

And the kids' dreams grew bigger and clearer.

Jack rattles off a list of former Tigers stars among his favorites, including Tyrann Mathieu, Odell Beckham Jr., Patrick Peterson, Jeremy Hill, Leonard Fournette and, most recently, Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase.

"I could rattle off 20 more names, but I think that's good," he laughs.

Half those Tigers helped build a tradition of the team's top playmakers wearing the No. 7 jersey — which Jack now wears for St. Thomas More.

No coincidence.

As Martin alluded, the journey toward realizing those backyard day-dreams has not always felt like a fairytale.

Some adversity and lessons come in football, but nothing that could have ever prepared them to lose two of their biggest inspirations and motivators.

Walker's mother, Kathryn, an LSU alumna, passed away Sept. 27, 2018, after a battle with cancer.

"I think Jack was a big support system for Walker when Kathryn passed," Michelle says. "They have always been such close friends, but I think to have to go through something so traumatic as a child, I think that's why they're so close. They're literally like brothers. They do everything together."

So when Michelle's father, Jack's "Pop," whom he credits as one of his greatest motivators, passed away Dec. 26, 2019, of course Walker was there.

"Everything we've been through, we were just always there for each other holding each other's back," Jack says. "Every time one of us was down, the other one would pick him back up and just tell him, 'Everything happens for a reason. God has a plan that never fails and always succeeds.'

"There have been some really low points in our lives, but we've always kept an eye on each other to pick each other right back up."

Michelle is thankful the boys had one another through those tragedies.

"They both have kind of connected emotionally," she says. "Death's a tough thing for a kid. It's a really special friendship."

Jack, Walker, Martin and Jamie joked with one another Sunday on St. Thomas More's field, during the filming of Jack's commitment announcement video.

She jokes that Walker might tell her he loves her as often as Jack does.

"Our families have always been close together," Walker says. "And bad things happen to great people, and we've seen that first-hand, but we've been there for each other through it all. And nothing can stop us."

Jack and Walker began to receive college scholarship offers within about a month of one another late in the spring of 2019.

Powerhouses Alabama and LSU quickly followed hometown Louisiana (Lafayette) in pursuit of the young quarterback before he had even started a varsity game.

The Cajuns, Louisiana Tech and Houston were meanwhile the only programs to offer Jack before the end of a prolific junior campaign with 91 catches for 1,668 yards and 20 touchdowns that fall, mostly from senior quarterback Caleb Holstein — whose father Scott was an LSU teammate of Jamie and Brett.

"The big thing with a lot of colleges last year at the end of the season was they said I had great film, but they just thought I needed to get a little bit faster, a little bigger, a little stronger, a little more agile," Jack says. "So I took that into account, put my head down and got to work."

South Alabama and a string of Ivy League schools, including Princeton, offered in January, and Vanderbilt became his first Power Five suitor on Feb. 1 as his recruitment rapidly gained momentum.

He committed to the Commodores in March.

But kept working.

"Of course his mother and I were very happy with the choice of Vanderbilt," Martin says. "If that would've stuck, that would've been fantastic. But in the athlete's mind, I guess they're always yearning for what they consider to be the apex."

LSU had just completed a national championship season lauded as arguably the most impressive run in the history of college football.

But the Tigers had represented the peak for Jack for a lifetime.

He thought about his and Walker's childhood dream.

And he thought about Pop.

"There are many kids with God-given ability and form and body that don't ever get to that level," Martin says. "But it's all his effort and his dedication to improving and to learning the routes and to increasing his speed over the summer. I mean, he would drive back and forth to Baton Rouge and New Orleans."

Jack hit another fortunate two-inch growth spurt up to about 6-foot-3, tacked on 15 pounds of muscle up to 215 and continued to make great strides in his speed and footwork.

"Walker always told me that I was gonna be put where I needed to be put and that if I was gonna keep working my ass off, then I was eventually gonna get that offer," Jack says. "And we were gonna be able to make our dreams come to life, so that's what I did. We kept our head down and worked every day."

Walker taking over as starting quarterback this fall following Caleb Holstein's graduation was itself a dream come true for Michelle and Kathryn.

"We met when she started dating Jamie when they were in college, because they would come to the after-game tailgate," Michelle says. "And she was such a lovely person. And for years, she and I would talk about waiting for this year to happen where they would both get to play football together as varsity players. And we knew it would be magical.

"I mean, we knew it was going to be magic — the whole 'Howard-to-Bech' all over again. We used to listen to that in Tiger Stadium. But to be able to hear it again, wow."

Walker completed 16 of 28 passes for 316 yards and five touchdowns in the season opener — with four completions, 107 yards and two scores going to Jack.

Five days later, they sat in the bleachers waiting for a Wednesday kickoff to their Week 2 game before Hurricane Delta reached the Gulf coast that Friday.

"And Walker looked at me," Jack explains. "This is before the LSU offer or anything, but he looked at me and said, 'We are playing college football together.''"

The friends connected for another 101 yards and a touchdown that night in a lopsided victory.

St. Thomas More and its star duo were living up to high expectations early in the unusual season adjusted by the COVID-19 pandemic and historically active hurricane season.

But the Cougars' biggest on-field test awaited in a Week 3 trip to Catholic (Baton Rouge), who had won the teams' meetings each of the previous five years.

"They didn't have school, and Walker showed up at my house to come pick up Jack — I didn't know where they were going," Michelle says. "But my father's grave is literally right across the sidewalk from Kathryn's grave, and they both went to the cemetery.

"There were trees down everywhere because the hurricane had passed. And the cemetery was locked, so they had to bang on the priest's door to come unlock it. They both went to say their prayers. And I think Jack really felt like he was inspired during the Catholic High game. And he did have some extra magic that night, and I feel like it played a big part in it."

Within just more than a minute, Jack had taken a quick screen pass from Walker streaking up the sideline to the end zone.

Catholic tried to shift safety help for its cornerback in the senior receiver's direction.

But he still caught 11 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns, including a highlight-reel leaping catch over a defender in the back corner of the end zone for the final go-ahead score in the 39-38 victory.

By halftime, Catholic coaches and fans, as well as fans and coaches on social media, were expressing confusion that LSU still had not extended a scholarship offer.

The following week, the Tigers did.

Jack's excitement was undeniable and understandable.

The pieces of the childhood dream were starting to come together in that almost-fairytale fashion.

"Everybody was really, really pumped up and excited," he smiles. "Actually, my uncle Brett, he lives in Dallas, so I don't get to see him much — two or three times a year at most. But it was weird: That Friday night against Westgate was the first game he got to come watch me play in as a high school player.

"So he was actually here when I got the offer, which I thought was pretty cool, because I only see him two or three times a year, and the one week he decides to come is the week LSU decides to pull the trigger. I just felt like everything happens for a reason."

Jack appreciated the faith Vanderbilt coaches had shown in him months earlier and the relationship built during that time.

And Mississippi State, Texas, TCU and Notre Dame all extended offers within the next few days to present even further options.

But LSU was a lifetime — or several — in the making.

"I said a lot of prayers just asking God to help me make the right decision and put me where I need to be," Jack says. "I started getting signs, and one morning whenever I woke up, I knew that LSU was home, and I didn't wanna leave. I just woke up and looked up at the ceiling, and it popped in my head that home is where I need to be."

Says Michelle: "I think for Jack, he kept saying to himself, 'What would Pop want? Would he want me in Tennessee or Texas, or in Louisiana an hour away? Without a doubt, Pop would want me at LSU.' And because his other grandparents, my mom and Marty's mom and dad, are each just an hour away, he felt like because his grandparents could come watch him play over the next four years was huge in his decision."

The youngest Bech becomes the 21st commitment of another top-five recruiting class for LSU this year.

And Walker Howard is the face of a group ranked No. 2 in the country in the early-going of the 2022 cycle.

As exciting as finally hearing "Howard to Bech" has been on Friday nights, their parents are now starting to imagine how those names might sound in front of 102,321 on Saturdays.

"Oh my —," says Michelle.

"It's hard to even answer that," Martin admits. "Chills. Really."

Grandfathers Malcholm Bech and Jimmy Howard have already started talking about attending all the Tigers' games together, the way they did when their sons paved that way nearly three decades ago.

And Jack hasn't been shy with his uncles about his goal to finish his college career as the best Bech to have worn purple and gold.

"They know it's coming," he laughs. "Obviously I'm continuing the legacy, but I kind of want to create my own legacy. I want to go in there, and I want to be the best one of the family to go play at LSU. I definitely want to create my own journey, my own path, even though I am going to LSU. I want to do things and be great. We want to be great together, Walker and me. And I think we will, because nothing's gonna stop us."

Jack is confident he and Walker will help bring another national championship back to Louisiana.

The Tigers took more than a decade to reach than pinnacle again this past season, but coach Ed Orgeron and company intend on a much shorter turnaround this time.

And two of the program's top prospects for the coming years, with the familiar family names, are already proving their ability to turn generations of dreams into reality.

"Here we are," Jack says. "Not leaving each other, continuing the legacy and just building that relationship that's even deeper than anything."