Up Close & Personal: Hakeem Beamon

When Hakeem Beamon arrives in University Park for summer workouts, he’ll be joining his third team in as many years.

But for the three-star defensive end from Midlothian, Va., a change of scenery doesn’t seem to be an issue. After spending his first three years as a top player for L.C. Bird, he transferred to Manchester High for his senior season and was named Region B Defensive Player of the Year en route to winning a Class 6A state championship.

“He has that personality where he’s going to fit in no matter where he goes,” Manchester head coach Tom Hall said. “It was a pretty easy transition. Once he started in the weight room with us last summer, it was just like he’s always been here.”

Beamon’s mother, Felecia Beamon, said she had wanted to move for some time, but Hakeem was never open to the idea. But prior to his senior year, the family had a sit-down conversation and decided it was best to relocate. The decision came not long after Hakeem had made an important choice of his own – to decommit from North Carolina, the school to which he had been committed since just after his sophomore year.

“He was young in the process, and I don’t think any of us could have foreseen how things panned out,” Felecia Beamon said. “He felt the need to take a step back and evaluate what he had on his plate, and I think it was the right thing to do.”

Once the 6-foot-3, 259-pound Beamon returned to the recruiting market, there was plenty of interest. Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama were among the schools that pursued him.

His mother said the family was visiting Alabama when the Penn State coaching staff called to extend its offer. Although she said receiving an offer from the Crimson Tide was a “dream come true for Hakeem,” she reminded her son that the decision was about more than football.

That’s what set Penn State apart.

“I felt that it was important for him to get to experience the environment and see himself as a student and not just a student at those particular schools,” Felecia Beamon said. “In the end, I believe he chose the place where he could have the total 360 package.”

The Beamons made a few more trips to Happy Valley, and on June 1, Hakeem officially committed to Penn State. From the first meeting with the coaching staff, Felecia Beamon said PSU felt different.

“It seems to be a family. If you’re around the coaching staff, you understand that they have a chemistry,” she said. “They’ve been very consistent, and that made me feel like it wasn’t a show. We visited Penn State more than any other place.…It’s always been consistent.”

After choosing PSU, Beamon turned his attention back to joining Hall’s team, which was coming off an 11-2 season. The Lancers had graduated a defensive end who ended up signing with Kent State, and Beamon filled the vacancy impressively, finishing with 45 tackles and 5.5 sacks.

“We were able to do things defensively that I’ve never been able to do in 30 years of coaching,” Hall said. “We were able to move him everywhere. We didn’t just play him at defensive end. Sometimes we lined him up at nose guard, or we would drop him off. … We were able to give different teams different looks, different pressure packages from every which way.”

Beamon’s versatility will likely come in handy once he joins Sean Spencer’s Wild Dogs, as he is being listed as a defensive tackle by Penn State. Whatever his role turns out to be, Hall predicts Beamon will fit in seamlessly.

“I’ll think he’ll make [the transition] easily,” Hall said. “He’s an elite kid. He’s a rarity. He’s a big kid who’s got amazing athleticism, and he’s very long but extremely strong. He’s a kid who’s going to carry 300 pounds-plus easy. I think you can plug him in multiple places.”

Hall added that Beamon has the first step and leverage to be elite. One slight weakness is that he sometimes hesitates after making a move, but Hall said that he sees that tendency in most high schoolers. Whether a position change could impede his progress remains to be seen, but to Hall, Beamon’s trajectory is clear.

“We have several other guys who have gone onto play on Sundays, and I think he’s in that category,” Hall said. “I think potentially, if he continues to progress like I’ve seen, the sky is the limit for Hakeem. He’s an elite kid.”