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Just Call Him Beau, Slow - And A Champ

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Plant LB Beau Hume intercepts a ball in front of Lincoln RB Javorius Allen and runs in for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter.

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By SCOTT PURKS

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 21, 2008

ORLANDO - Beau Hume's nickname is "Slow."

"Rhymes with Beau," Hume said, grinning.

"But you know," Hume's best friend Jeff Kale said, "he really is slow. Always has been."

So slow that as a freshman, Hume got cut in Plant's junior varsity tryouts.

"The only difference is that he got bigger," said Kale, getting a huge hug from Hume, who hugged just about everybody wearing white, gold and black Saturday at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Hume, after all, had just played the biggest and best game of his life, the Class 4A state championship, which Plant won 34-14 against Tallahassee Lincoln.

For the record, Hume led his team in tackles with nine, three of which were sacks and four of which were for a loss. Oh yeah, Hume also intercepted a pass and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown.

Did we mention Hume "got cut" as a freshman?

Hume, listed Saturday as a 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior linebacker, weighed 140 pounds as a freshman and was 5-8. He was, admittedly, weak and "Slow."

He also was, "Devastated."

"He didn't cry, but you could see all over his face how much it hurt," said Kale, a 165-pound senior who made JV as a freshman. "He had to go play Pop Warner while we played high school. That was tough, real tough."

But in the end - as fans cheered his name Saturday - Hume said, "Getting cut was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Getting cut, he said, made him lift more weights, run more sprints, eat more food, study more tape and, ultimately, get more appreciation out of life.

Plant assistant coach Sean Love said he saw Hume in the weight room, "Even after he got cut, and I knew then that the kid had something special about him."

At that moment Love said he told everyone, "Beau Hume is going to be a big deal at Plant before he's through."

In Beau Hume's final game at Plant, he was still slow, but somehow, someway he kept sacking - and one time almost beheading - Tallahassee Lincoln's speedy quarterback.

"He was amazing," Plant coach Bob Weiner said. "But then, you know, that's the way it should be, because his whole story is amazing.

"No doubt Beau Hume just ended one of the greatest years ever played at Plant. No doubt, one of the greatest."

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