What Tim Beck brings to Ohio State and the recruiting trail

In the middle of December, the University of Houston named Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman their head coach. It'll definitely be no easy task to replace the results of what the 2014 Broyles Award winner helped bring to the table.

The offense under Herman this past season finished third in total offense, averaging 512 yards and 44.8 points per contest. The Cal Lutheran alumnus also was the QB coach for the Buckeyes and spent time improving the play of guys like J.T. Barrett, Kenny Guiton, Cardale Jones, and Braxton Miller while in Columbus.

Just a few days after defeating Oregon in the National Championship Game, Ed Warinner was promoted to handle the offensive coordinator duties for Ohio State with the departure of Herman. Warinner is also going to remain a coach of the offensive line group, and rightfully so.

Since the promotion at OC came from within, it was inevitable that the Buckeyes had to add another member to the coaching staff and more specifically, someone to take over the QB coaching role and someone that has recruiting ties to the state of Texas. On that same day, just right after Warinner was promoted, Ohio State named former Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck to be the guy to take on those duties.

Collegiate experience

Beck initially got his big opportunity at the collegiate level when he was hired as the wide receivers coach at Kansas for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. In 2007, Beck remained the WR's coach for Kansas, but was also named Passing Game Coordinator for the Todd Reesing led Jayhawks. In that season, Kansas had one of the best passing offenses in the nation and winded up victorious in the Orange Bowl vs Virginia Tech, 24-21. The Youngstown native stayed on the Jayhawks staff until 2008, when he was named running backs coach for the Cornhuskers.

After three seasons coaching up the offensive backfield for the Cornhuskers that included guys like Rex Burkhead and Roy Helu, Beck was named quarterbacks Coach and offensive coordinator for Bo Pelini's staff. In his four seasons as offensive coordinator at Nebraska, Beck's offenses averaged about 5,657 yards per season (426 yards per game) and a little over 33 points per game. Some talent that Beck was able to work with includes the two back mentioned previously, Ameer Abdullah, Kenny Bell, Aaron Green, Braylon Heard, Niles Paul, and more.

As you can see, Beck has done some solid things in his past and has coached some respectable players during his time in Lawrence and Lincoln. Ohio State is hoping that Beck will do something similar in Columbus. But what can he do on the recruiting side for Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes?

Recruiting

First things first, Beck played in high school at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, OH. He also had three high school coaching stops before getting his two big gigs at the Division 1 level. His first stop was at Miramar, FL, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons. He also spent three seasons as the head coach at Saguaro High School in Arizona.

After a brief four year stop at Missouri State, Beck headed right back to the HS ranks and was the head coach in Texas for both R.L. Turner High School (Carrollton, TX) and Mansfield Summit High School (Arlington, TX). Those two stops at lone star state high schools are a big reason that Beck has had recruiting success in that state.

Taking a look at 247Sports.com and Rivals.com's archives of prospects that committed to Kansas or Nebraska, whom Beck assisted on or primarily recruited himself, I came upon 30 names that Beck played a part in landing at his respective coaching job. 16 of the 30 players that Beck played a part in landing played their high school ball in the state of Texas. Beck also had a hand in pulling some players from areas like Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio and Ontario.

Highest rated five

Aaron Green: Though he has since transferred to TCU, the highest graded pickup for Tim Beck in his coaching career came in 2011 when Madison (TX) running back Aaron Green decided to pick Nebraska. Green was a four-star prospect in his class and had a 247Sports Composite grade of .9813. The 5'11, 190-pounder held offers from Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, USC and many more. Green was ranked as the 31st overall player in the country, sixth best running back and the fifth highest rated player in Texas.

Jamal Turner: In 2011, Beck also secured a commitment from one the nation's best high school players. Turner held a grade of .9658 on the Composite scale and was ranked as the 66th overall player in the country. The Sam Houston (TX) athlete was yet another top ten player in the state of Texas (9th) that Beck acquired a verbal pledge from. Turner decided to play his collegiate ball in Lincoln over offers from Missouri, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas A&M, USC and several others.

Tyler Moore: Former Nebraska OL coach Barney Cotton led the way in the recruitment of Moore, but Beck was the secondary man. Moore, a 6'6, 287-pounder coming out of high school, was another four-star prospect and had a .9287 rating. Some of the schools that sent offers to the Countryside (FL) offensive lineman were Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Stanford and UCLA, to name a few. Moore found himself at 150th in the 2011 top prospect rankings. Despite not choosing the in-state Gators out of high school, Moore later transferred to the Gainesville program and has recently declared for the NFL Draft.

Braylon Heard: As I mentioned previously, Beck graduated high school from Cardinal Mooney (OH). That's the same place that he pulled his fourth highest rated commit ever in running back Braylon Heard. The NFL is the next destination for Heard as he has declared for the draft. Heard played two seasons at Nebraska and transferred to Kentucky to play his final two seasons. But coming out of high school, he was as a four-star player and the seventh best player in the state of Ohio. Some programs that were in pursuit for the Youngstown native included Cincinnati, North Carolina, NC State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and more.

Tommy Armstrong: In 2012, Beck helped land four-star quarterback Tommy Armstrong from Steele (TX). The 6'1, 200-pounder had a composite grade of .9003 and was the sixth best dual-threat prospect in his class. Beck was able to secure a commitment from Armstrong despite him having offers from Baylor, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oregon, TCU, and UCLA.

Taking a look above, you can see that Beck can play a part in landing some highly rated guys and to do it at Nebraska is no easy task. He should have much more success landing talent at a program like Ohio State, who is fresh off of a national championship and one of the most successful and prestigious college football programs.

Some other notable names that Beck helped bring to his respective program include Ameer Abdullah, Rex Burkhead, Todd Reesing, and Zack Darlington, who was a player that Ohio State badly wanted to get in 2014.