LSU Football | Jack Bech Explains His Decision To Transfer To TCU

welcome back to miked up we're brought to you by Sterling Automotive I'm excited to introduce our new guest not really such a new guest reoccurring guest friend of the show friend of mine watched him grow up watched him play football at LSU for a couple years he had some incredible moments um former LSU wide receiver now current TCU wide receiver Jack bash Jack thanks for joining the show man um we talked a little bit off air you put your name in the portal you're trying to you're trying to explain to me all fair how this works you enter the portal and you just they basically become another a high school recruit again right you go on the portal teams can kind of Court you they can entertain you you can figure out where you want to go and you make that decision that's kind of how it works yeah you you uh first thing you do is you go talk to uh who you need to talk to within the organization um you have those conversations after that you sign a couple papers and like you said you become a high school recruit all over again with you know official visits unofficial business um you know phone calls face times whatever it may be uh before we really get into why you transferred and those types of the things I want to talk a little bit about your time here at LSU um you know obviously you're here for a couple years you've obviously had some incredible moments you grew up in Lafayette right down the road you had family members play football at LSU so this is a place that you obviously wanted to be talk about your time here and talk about some of the the moments that you're all you're probably always going to cherish with with you for the rest of your life yeah no there's been so many moments and good time I've had LSU um it still kind of feels weird to me knowing I will be here next year just because like I've always wanted to be here uh you know dream school um but yeah no like definitely like UCLA first game Rose Bowl uh touchdown against Alabama something I'll always remember at Bama um at all like just the friendships and memories I made with all the guys in the locker room uh you know out of the field um away from football just definitely just I made a lot of really good friends you know through being at LSU that I could be more thankful and be more appreciative of so um those are a couple of moments but it was really the whole thing you know I had one of the obviously like one of the best times of my life did LSU um and yeah but there's just so many different memories and instances that I could name um but those are probably the the main ones what was it like in their wide receiver room you know how to extremely you had a bunch of talented guys obviously when you go to a school like LSU you're going to have a talent you're gonna have talent everywhere you're not a stranger to competition that you thrive on competition that's something that as an athlete everybody wants this competition and you go into a wide receiver room that has a lot of competition a lot of depth a lot of talent what was the vibe in the wide receiver room what's the relationship like between you and some of the other receivers are not just you in particular but really all of the receivers and uh you know how do you navigate that and you know how how how was you know the feeling in the in the room yeah no me and all the guys uh it doesn't matter who it is um those are good those are gonna be my guys like you know for Life uh we've been through a lot together um no those are all my you know some of my best friends and like I said I'll cherish those memories for for a lifetime uh no it was awesome you know there was so much competition everybody was getting each other better every day um and no we just had we have a really good room there uh they're getting a couple more guys they're in the hat that are going to be you know make some I think uh makes it make a huge impact this upcoming season and yeah like you said uh definitely the reason for me leaving is not because we had a deep wide receiver room uh competition and all that is kind of what made me the player I have today so that's definitely not it um you know like I said those are all my boys for you know for life um anything they need I told them I'm always called away they said the same thing so yeah no definitely definitely not the reason like I said competition is kind of what built me and made me who I am it's going to put those those things into like all those you know things like grit um that we always talked about um so yeah what you talked about that's not the reason you know what is part of the reason why you know why you decide to make that change because you know the conversations that we've had you know you've talked about it not being a very easy decision something that you really didn't want to do but felt like it was probably in the best interest of you as a as an athlete and to further your career um so go in depth a little bit about why you decided to make that move and why did you choose TCU yeah uh well first like I've kind of heard like this small talk about like uh me having concussion or something like that in Fall camp and that's why I didn't play the first couple of games that much uh I've never been diagnosed with a concussion before my whole life neither I really have a head injury um that wasn't it and then a lot of people say it's I was hurt also using my leg um that wasn't it either I missed like probably about seven to ten practices in Fall camp and after that I was 100 clear to go we had a really good plan in place I was 100 all all season uh you know I finished out against Georgia um so that was either um you know I'm really happy I got to play at my dream school I got to do what I've always wanted to do I just think that sometimes you know you have to do things you don't want to do um and I think this was one of them like I said it's still weird knowing I will be you know a tiger next year um so yeah and like we were kind of talking about the competition piece um I've never been scared of competition as long as everybody kind of starts the race at the same point um and I just you know I kind of felt like I was always just getting that opportunity um obviously I went back to can't return to show you the ball in my hands but at the end of the day I'm I'm a wide receiver um I want to tell you why the shiver I was short touchdown I would make impacts to a game at the wide receiver position and I don't know I just felt like sometimes I wasn't getting that opportunity um and that that kind of played a part of leaving just because I know like in order to get to the NFL which is my main goal and which has been my dream since I was a ever since I could ever remember um I feel like I have to be at a place that really like wants to give me the ball once they get me involved um it must be and wants me to be a big part of their offense uh because you kind of saw glimpse of it last year uh I know I can do it um you know I know I'm built for it obviously I did at the highest level last year um so you know I mean I'm really excited to to be going to TCU to be able to make an impact whenever I get there um and to hopefully run it back to what they're doing this year they're on an incredible run right now a couple of the reasons I chose them is one that's not too far um and you know I went to the portal looking for opportunities some people may go in wanting more money or things like that but I was going in looking for an opportunity you know I was going to play ball um you know I just want to this is about like the least amount of football I played since I was like seven eight years old so it just was itching me to get on the field and catch balls and make plays uh not like I said I just felt like I really wasn't getting that opportunity to do it um and back to TCU uh I love their receiver coach I love all their coaches really uh love coach uh Coach bags he likes he likes to sling the Rocks bro he likes this thing to rock yeah they're an Air Raid Offense so I'm super excited to to know that we'll be throwing the ball of not every game but like I said it's an air raid uh you know they have a really good plan about how they're going to use me um and I just felt I just felt it worked and then like when I said um I love the color purple I have to say in that purple I know but yeah no I'm super I'm super excited about this new opportunity you know there'll be some new people making new connections being an awesome City like Fort Worth near Dallas and I already know a couple guys on the team so I just felt like it was gonna it's a good spot for me to be to play some hot competition football still um but you know to also you know build some of those new connections out of state um and yeah it's it's like I said it's weird for me leaving but I feel like at the end of the day you have to do what's best for you you can't really listen to people on the outside because they don't really know what happens you know day in day out they don't hear or feel what you feel um so yeah um you mentioned going to back to the returner position right I mean I'm gonna imagine I didn't watch a ton of your high school games even though I showed you you went to my alma mater I'd imagine that you did some home returning kick returning at St Thomas More um so you mentioned going back to the return game to get the ball in your hands to have to make some more plays was that decision between you and Brian Kelly did he come up to you to ask him did you go up to him and say hey I can do this um you know how what went into that decision to put you back there um to return punts and kicks um that was really just them I never did keep returns before but I did a couple plot returns in high school uh never kicked though and like I said though at the end of the day like I want to be on the field at the wide receiver position right I don't want to be like obviously honestly don't get me wrong um every opportunity I get to have the ball in my head so I'm gonna take it that's why I was like 100 let's do it but at the end of the day I'm a receiver um you know and I would that's why I would be able to feel the receiver that catches and scoring and helping my team out blocking uh help my team out in any way I can from that you know from that standpoint and I just felt like um you know I wasn't really getting that chance to do that you know part of an athlete right part of somebody who plays at a high level is you know they talk about being unselfish and doing things for the team and trying to win games right and and what I saw from you is uh you know you want to be on the field and you want to do anything that you can do to help the team win whether that be part of turns whether it be kick returns whether that be moving to tight end but at the end of the day you know what you're best at and that's being a wide receiver right that's like playing you know basketball and saying hey you know I'm better at a point guard but if you need me to play off guard I can do that but my strength is that point guard your strength is that wide receiver do you feel like sometimes whenever you say you know what I'm gonna do everything that I can to when's team some coaches not necessarily LSU coaches but coaches in general may say okay well this guy we can put him here because we know he's capable of doing anything he can do and he's going to help our team win even though that means sacrificing what makes you really good and that's playing the wide receiver position you know you play tight in your freshman year because of out of necessity right they said you're going to play wide receiver this year um you know moving forward and you didn't really get all that much time at the wide receiver position so what like what are your feelings on that you know obviously you never want to be selfish you want to be humble and you want to be you know a team player which you are but sometimes you know I felt that way when I was an athlete sometimes I gotta that puts you in a position where hey we can just let tell him to do whatever he wants and he'll do it because that's the kind of person he is do you kind of feel that way um like what exactly do you mean by that so like I'm sorry so like basically like you know some people like oh no no I'm just gonna play wide receiver that's all I am you know other people are open to saying oh yeah put me wherever you want me to put me even if it means playing out of position because I'm gonna do whatever we need to do to win right but at the end of the day guys like that are unselfish that will do that sometimes it's easy to take an advantage yeah sometimes it's easier not taking advantage of necessary but sometimes it's easier to say okay this guy can do it because he's shown that he can do it and he's willing to do it as opposed to saying let me put them back at Waters here almost like they got too comfortable people get too comfortable seeing you doing something else even though that's not your your strength so to say oh I guess there's a question for the coaches yeah I don't really know yeah maybe maybe not out I don't really know I really didn't even think into it that much they just told me to go do it no doubt and that's that's a testament to you though you know I mean like that's a that's yeah that's that's just you know that that's a testament to you that's a good thing to do now obviously you know go ahead what well and again it was like towards the like I don't I can't tell you exactly what game because I remember but like whenever I knew like for sure for sure I wasn't going to be getting those chances I went on offense but I wanted to go we trying to we talked and I was like let's just give me those special teams yes and not return but like or like hurricane whatever but like being just like playing on the line or or I was like because like I just want to go in the field yeah and try to help our team win in any way shape or form so then that's why I started kind of playing towards the end of the season special teams not return her but uh help the returners try to make plays and all that was there ever any conversation about you moving back to Thailand because it obviously would have Mike didn't Brock offense and you see what they want to do with like two tight end sets and I know obviously I feel like you're kind of setting yourself up for the NFL you want to say I'm a wide receiver but when it comes to LSU a place that you want to be it seems like there could have been a spot for you at tight end but at some point you had to kind of make a call for yourself is that fair to say uh they never asked me never like we never whenever they ever they came in there really was no talk about tied in okay um so the nut question was never asked or we never talked about it or anything like that um part of you know another thing I really want to kind of dive into right because you know this every athlete no matter what sport they play they go through some type of adversity right you know whether that you know that adversity ends up shaping them to become the player they are right nobody goes through a career where everything's perfect and everything is just you know every they do everything perfectly right and they have super success right part of growth as an athlete is going through those those failures and that adversity right you had to go through some of that this year right they put you at a position that you weren't familiar with or Turner upon return kick return and you had um you know a couple of miscues at those positions everybody has them everybody goes through them every athlete does that that is the the natural occurrence of sports right everyone does it I've I've gone over 34 in Major League Baseball and not gotten a hit in 34 straight at bets everybody goes through failure but it makes you better in the long run what did you learn from yourself um through those situations and how did you handle it and how did you overcome it yeah well I've learned a whole lot and I can't wait for next year I'm itching like I'm gonna I feel like I'm just gonna like explode I can't wait I know it's in me and it's just like waiting to come out um and that's when I was like telling the coaches that at TCU I was like I was like whenever we know we get on that field I was like y'all are gonna know me as being this like you know I'm like well I come in like you know I'm talking to whatever um like you know I come in it's just like you're very energetic you're very energetic yeah well the way I'm trying to put it is like I don't really think anybody who would have got who who who would have like you were chosen to go I don't really think they know really what they're getting um like as a player on the field you know what I mean like I don't think like I know like what I really can't do because they haven't seen me do it in person um so I mean I'm ready to go and just ball out and obviously what my goal is to be All-American so can't wait to get on that path but like you said um one other you sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do um and also I've heard that uh well I've learned I heard I've learned that I feel like you have to go through things like this like you said virtually because nothing in life that's great comes from doing easy things you have to do things that are hard in order to become great at whatever you're doing you have to put in the work you have to put in the time um you have to do all the small things right um you know and sometimes you just have to make those those big boy choices know that it's in a better you and your future and that's just what I did um like I said I'm just super excited to go give it give everything I have the tissue and this new program that I'm going to call home um I'm like I said super excited to just give them everything in me obviously you can see in the background of like the video call you can see they'll like the LSU placard back there you're an OSU guy it seems like you grew up an OSU fan when it gets down to it how hard was this decision for you like obviously you're kind of it feels like one of us like I grew up from Louisiana if I ever was if I were happen to be six to 220 pounds that would be great I'd love to have played for LSU too but it feels like you have that same passion for you're almost a fan of the program so how hard was it to make the decision to leave at first it was pretty hard um just because like the only thing we know is purple and gold in LSU football because we grow around our whole life and we go play there um but the more I dove in the process and the more people you know I let the more people I met along the way and the more places I saw um I know there's like other places that offer some really amazing things and so like I said at first it was pretty it was difficult but like The more I've done it um and The more I've I've grown this process this past week or two um it's it's really helped me because I feel like at the end of the day I made my decision I'm leaving uh you know I'm Not Looking Back um and now like I'm just super excited to get to TCU and start this new chapter in my life so you know at first it was difficult but now it's like you know I'm ready to like I said give my Oddities for you um and hopefully make another run like they're doing this year was it always was it always TCU was it always going to be TCU or did you have some other schools that would really fight for you and that you really made your decision a little bit harder yeah um so I don't know if you want to say that or not but yeah no no yeah so like if you if you looked at me um came back to my social media I feel like a lot of people thought I really wasn't like getting offered by that many people because I just like completely say it off social media but like did I entered the portal I heard from every school in the nation from Georgia to to McNeese State and everything in between right um like name a school probably talked to him um and I just felt like there was no need to post all these to posts I respect that that everybody know like you know what's going on I just kind of know what to do I didn't want anybody really like trying to text me bother me influence me this or this way or the other way um that's why I was kind of staying all social media completely uh that it was the interviews or anything like that didn't post new offers nothing like that but no right like it was it was pretty hectic at first you know like I said I I kind of heard everybody out the first two three days and then after that you know I kind of started shortening my list and and going and and really looking into the schools that I really wanted to go um and at the end of the day I just felt like CCU offered the the most and the best for what I was looking for and for what I wanted um I felt like family right before I got there um you know they showed me they're gonna use me um and all this stuff and I just felt like it was the right place and you know so man I'm I'm excited for you uh just a couple more questions before you go nothing crazy but I want you to talk a little bit because you're about to have to go through the basically the same thing that you went through this year at LSU in the sense of when you got here when you're here this year you had a whole new offensive scheme yeah you had a new head coach a new offensive coordinator a new quarterback so you had to build that chemistry and you had to learn how two years in a row two years in a row it's about to be three years in a row yeah right so that's what that's what I want to get to like how how hard is that to build that chemistry with a quarterback because you know the quarterback in receiver position is such a a feel position you have to be able to know the guy you're throwing to know what they're supposed to do know when they're going to come out of their brakes knowing they're going to try to ad-lib and you know when you don't have a lot of time with a guy like that especially when you're trying to learn and assimilate to a new offense how hard is that to do and you know how much of these last two years is going to help you moving forward at TCU and trying to uh you know acclimate to a new scheme again yeah now this is pretty short answer I mean that's what it is really and yeah like it is what it is um and then at the end of the day is how bad you want it and how large you want to work with like you said the QB so I mean my plan is to get up there um throw as much as possible to hold throughout the whole spring workouts spring balls summer and you know whenever we we get to the next fall and uh the beginning of the 23 season um you know I want it to look like I've known uh whoever the Q is going to be I want to look like you've been playing together we've known each other for our whole life uh that's my goal that's my plan uh I know we're going to want to do it um and I know we will do it so I love that what I mean I guess that's I guess that that you answered my question but I guess like you know the way you build that is to just have reps with the quarterback in the off season and Jesus you know you just got to get after it yeah you're not going to get better if you don't work so I mean like I said I'm ready to give my oh I'm ready to work day in day out and uh and become the best version of myself possible oh man you know you always have a fan in me you have a fan I'm assuming in Lloyd right Lloyd oh hell no he [ __ ] left you know you know we're following you uh you know I I love Dallas I go to Dallas quite a bit so hopefully I can come out there and watch a game I may be texting you for some tickets next time I go out there um I'm looking forward to seeing seeing you ball out next year it's been a pleasure watching LSU I can't wait to watch you at TCU and hopefully in the NFL after that man I appreciate you coming on and uh we'll stay in touch bro good luck yeah no thank you so much for having me on and uh yeah and I'll talk to y'all soon all right man appreciate you Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Merry Christmas that's very nice you Merry Christmas all right man take it easy