Beverage departure leaves questions unanswered

Here's betting that former Airline star Chad Beverage, who left the Louisiana Tech football team this past weekend, will never play another down of Division 1A football.

Although Beverage said on Monday that he hoped to transfer to LSU, Arkansas or USC, we don't believe his heart is in the game. Playing baseball at Bossier Parish Community College seems to be a more likely landing spot. Part of Tech's heralded 2005 recruiting class, Beverage played in eight games last season, then was listed as a starter this season. His future was in front of him and it was bright.

He said that back problems were limiting his ability against large offensive lineman as an inside linebacker and that he wanted a move to safety. But he also said that even if Tech had moved him to safety, he wouldn't have stayed in Ruston.

Talking with Beverage, it was clear that he had a lot of issues with Ruston. On the surface, many of them seemed small-time. But if they meant a lot to him, that's what is important. One of the issues was his struggle with grades. Although he said he had a 2.7 GPA, his mother said that he passed just 25 of 35 attempted credit hours. That will make tranferring to another D-1A school that much more difficult. Plus, he won't be eligible until the 2008 football season. That's a lot of time off from football.

When a young player quits or seeks a transfer due to lack of playing time, it's understandable. But Beverage was getting a lot of playing time as a young sophomore, which brings up some questions that only he can answer.