No, Jack Bech just wanted to spend his time doing exactly what his football-starring role model did.
Turns out, all those early hard knocks paid dividends for the younger Bech brother, propelling him to the cusp of an NFL career.
On Saturday, Jack Bech received the reward — working out with other receivers at the NFL's annual scouting combine.
But unlike most of the other 328 invitees in Indianapolis, he'll take the field, fully engulfed by the spirit of Tiger, the former Princeton kick returner who was killed in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans.
“I know his wings are going to be on me from now until the end of time,” Bech said Friday. “It's pushed me to new heights, and even though I've worked hard my whole life and done things others aren't willing to do, I feel like I've taken a whole new step doing that and I know, like I said, he'll be with me. He'll have the best seat in the house from here on out.”
For Jack Bech, it's been a turbulent start to his post-college days.
After the best statistical season of his career — 62 catches, 1,034 yards and nine touchdown receptions — he missed TCU's bowl game against his hometown college, Louisiana, because of a knee injury. By mid-December, he had accepted an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl and started his pre-draft prep work.
Everything changed suddenly early in the morning on New Year's Day when the 27-year-old Tiger Bech was one of the 14 killed in the truck attack in New Orleans.
Suddenly, Bech found himself balancing the pursuit of a lifetime dream with the grief of his brother's death.
“Love you always brother!” Bech wrote on X. “You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.”
By the time, the Senior Bowl arrived — exactly one month after the attack — Bech's story was well known. In addition to the social media post, he had been doing interviews and recounting stories about his brother.
Game officials went all-out to help Bech pay tribute. Instead of wearing No. 80, as he did at LSU, or No. 15, which he wore at TCU, Jack Bech donned the No. 7 jersey Tiger wore as an all-Ivy League honoree at Princeton.
Organizers added No. 7 decals to each player's helmet and then in an uncanny coincidence Bech caught a 2-yard TD pass with 7 seconds left to give the American team a 22-19 victory. Bech finished with six catches, 68 yards and was the game's MVP.
“I call it a Tiger wink, just coming down from my brother,” he said this week. “It was awesome. Just all the love and support I got, not only from my teammates but everybody on the National team, too. It was definitely a super special moment, one I'll never forget.”
In Indianapolis, it's different. Jersey numbers here are assigned alphabetically by position, leaving Bech with gear reading WO 04 for wideout No. 4.
But he doesn't need a jersey number as motivation at the combine.
He wore Princeton tennis shoes and went back to work exactly two months after that fateful day in New Orleans.
And in an odd twist, five other players who took the field Saturday also were in New Orleans that morning — quarterback Riley Leonard and receiver Beaux Collins of Notre Dame and running back Trevor Etienne and receivers Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith of Georgia, all of whom were playing in the Sugar Bowl.
While Bech didn't run the 40-yard dash, he was 14th among receivers in the vertical jump (34 1/2 inches) and tied for seventh in the broad jump (10 feet, 5 inches).
For Bech, though, Saturday's workout was about much more than impressing scouts and general managers. He was reflecting on how he learned how to play the game from his brother.
“Having an older brother, having his friends around I always wanted to be with them even though I was a lot younger,” Bech said. “You know a 16-year-old is a lot different than a 10-year-old or a 21-year-old is a lot different than a 15-year old, so I just learned how to grow up. If I wanted to be with the big boys, I had to act like one, whether that was me getting beat up by him or something. I would take it, but it just made me who I am today, just strong and tough."
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