HE'S BEEN LABELLED EVERYTHING FROM AN UNDERDOG TO A SUPERSTAR. NONE OF IT REALLY PHASES JUSTIN BEAVER.
JUSTIN BEAVER, UW-Whitewater Student Athlete: "Every day, I wake up and I'm thankful for the things that keep happening."
AND A LOT HAS BEEN HAPPENING. AS A RUNNINGBACK, HE RUSHED FOR MORE THAN 2,000 YARDS HIS SENIOR YEAR AND LED THE UW-WHITEWATER WARHAWKS TO A DIVISION THREE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
AND HE WON THE GAGLIARDI AWARD… THE D3 EQUIVALENT OF THE HEISMAN TROPHY… NOT BAD FOR A KID WHO HAD A HARD TIME EVEN MAKING A COLLEGE TEAM.
JUSTIN: "Too short, not fast enough… things they were looking for I guess I didn't have at that time."
LANCE LEIPOLD, Warhawk Football Head Coach: "You can't measure someone's heart and their determination."
AND THAT… JUSTIN HAS IN ABUNDANCE. HIS COACH AND TEAMMATES WILL TELL YOU HE HAS A FIERCE WORK ETHIC.
JUSTIN: "Every day, you'll have someone say you can't do it… and you have to prove those people wrong. It makes me want to push harder."
BRIAN RYCZKOWSKI, UW-Whitewater Student Athlete: "His numbers were incredible, his speed and the stuff we tested out in were incredible."
COACH LEIPOLD: "But he's also a scholar athlete, he's also your captain. He's been accountable in every single facet of weight room, class room and on the field."
JUSTIN: "It's definitely because of my grandparents."
DON BEAVER, Justin's Grandfather: "The reason that he really got into sports was to get his mother and dad to notice him… and it didn't happen."
JUSTIN'S MOM AND DAD WERE VERY YOUNG PARENTS AND BOTH STRUGGLED WITH ALCOHOL AND DRUGS.
JOANNE BEAVER, Justin's Grandmother: "When Jeff was drinking he would get ornery… you couldn't talk to him…
DON: "It was hard. That was the hard part of his life that people talk about."
JOANNE: "When Jeff wasn't drinking, he took Justin fishing. I mean they had good times together."
FOR MOST OF HIS CHILDHOOD, JUSTIN LIVED WITH HIS FATHER'S PARENTS, DON AND JOANNE BEAVER.
JUSTIN: "I was spoiled by them and they didn't let me know the extremes of why I was always staying with them."
JOANNE: "Like when they promised to come pick him up and they don't show up. He'd go up to his room and cry, why didn't they come Grandma, why didn't they come? I mean, it's hard to explain to a little kid why you promise something and don't fulfill it."
BUT THEY MADE SURE HE KNEW…
JOANNE: "He had somebody he could hang onto… and he knew that Grandma was never gonna let him down."
THAT RELENTLESS DEDICATION WAS AN EXAMPLE TO JUSTIN…
JUSTIN: "And it kinda self-taught me that when you're pushed down, the only thing you can do is get up."
COACH LEIPOLD: "A lot of people, when adversity hits, they don't come back from that. When something goes wrong, as it has in Justin's life he battles back that much harder."
DON: "if he wants to do something, he's gonna do it, whether you tell him no or not."
JUSTIN WILL NEED EVERY OUNCE OF THAT STUBBORNNESS… TO REACH HIS NEXT GOAL…
JUSTIN: "The dream is definitely to make an NFL team."
COACH LEIPOLD: "What I've told some scouts is that any research or time spent on Justin Beaver is time well spent. Is he a long shot? Absolutely."
BRIAN: "If you bet against him before, you lost. I'd say don't bet against him again."
JUSTIN: "I know that if I do as good as I possibly can… that makes them happy and fulfills their life too."
DON: "The football and the baseball… none of that's got to do with the way I feel. To me, he'd be the same person… if he was just Justin. I'm 68 years old and if I had to start over with him as a baby, I'd do it again. I don't think of him as a grandson. He's like a son."
AND HE REMINDS DON SO MUCH OF HIS SON JEFF, JUSTIN'S DAD, WHO DIED UNEXPECTEDLY IN 2002.
JUSTIN: "It was very hard."
DON: "You know you think you prepared for that…" (shakes head.)
JUSTIN: "I definitely think that he's there in spirit... helping me, guiding me."
AND REMINDING HIM NOT TO WASTE A MOMENT…
JUSTIN: "I feel like if he had a chance to do more in his life, he would… and I kinda look at that every day and say if I were to die today would I have fulfilled my life and there's not a chance. So I want to keep pushing and keep getting better at what I do. Just getting better in life and live life to the fullest."
Music fades out.