Beamon shines as senior year quarterback for Philadelphia

As Marcus Beamon continues to develop as the quarterback of the Philadelphia Tornadoes, Coach David Frey said he has become almost like a player-coach on the field.

Beamon became the No. 1 quarterback last year.

“He was young and inexperienced,” Frey said. “He had a lot of pressure on him, following Asher Morgan. “But he worked hard all summer. He watches film every Saturday. He has the whole team over on Saturday, watching film. That’s what they do on Saturday. When we (the coaches) were here Labor Day to watch film, he was here.

“Marcus knows what everyone is supposed to do; the line, receivers, running backs. If they forget, he tells them,” Frey added. “He is really like a coach on the field. He makes mistakes but that’s things we have to work out before district. He has been doing really good.”

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Beamon has always attended the Philadelphia schools. He started playing football in the youth leagues and has always played quarterback.

“Football has always been my favorite sport,” Beamon said. “I work day-in and day-out. We conditioned a lot this past summer. We watch a lot of film. I get the starters together to watch films so we can learn from our mistakes. You can’t go into the next game without knowing what is going on.”

This past Friday night, the Tornadoes took a 35-34 victory over Raymond. The Tornadoes rallied in the second half after a tough first half.

Beamon is taking all dual credit courses during his senior year as he prepares to go to college. He said he has his eye on Vanderbilt University.

“I have a lot of academic scholarships coming my way,” Beamon said. “It is going to depend on the recruiting process later this year. I have a 4.1-grade point average right now.”

He lists as his favorites:

• Meal – steak and potato;

• Movie – “Grown Ups 2”;

• Favorite subject: Math;

• Video game – Madden Football.

“My favorite subject is math but I want to major in journalism,” Beamon said. “I want to be a sports analyst. I want to stay as close to sports as possible.”

The Tornadoes are playing a tough non-region schedule to get ready for when the games start counting in the standings. They have already played Meridian and Raymond, and they still have Leake Central, West Lauderdale and Winona as well as Mize coming up.