There are a ton of football players who go unnoticed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Now there is a difference between going unnoticed and going unnoticed by KPGFootball. We don’t miss much; miss some, but not much. There are plenty of media outlets and college football programs sleeping on Joseph Becherer. You see; KPGFootball knows all about Joseph Becherer. We wrote about Becherer in our preseason article chronicling the top 5, preseason, football teams in Kentucky’s Class 3A. The article where we detailed Becherer’s sophomore season and set out what his return would mean for Elizabethtown in 2018, was published March 13, 2018. We knew Joseph would figure on defense, as he had over a hundred tackles as a sophomore. We figured he would be able to pick up most of the slack from his brother, Jay’s, departure in the offensive backfield. This is why we picked Elizabethtown 5th in the Class and related, in our article published in March that…Jay Becherer and his 1,029 yards rushing and 15 rushing TDs had graduated…but Joseph’s filling those shoes would be invaluable to an Elizabethtown roster ravaged by graduating 18 seniors from off a team we believed to be, by the end of the 2017 season, the second best in 3A.
While E-Town was fantastic in 2017, the returning roster wasn’t the same one which narrowly lost to the eventual State Champion, Boyle County, in the State-semis. E-Town’s 2018 out of the gate was uncharacteristically poor. However, by the end of 2018, and largely because of Joseph Becherer’s efforts, we were confident Elizabethtown was, in fact, roughly, the fifth best team in 3A. E-Town, won 8 of its final 10 ball games and lost by 8 points, in the Regional Championship Game, to State semi-finalist, LaRue. We thought E-Town would roll LaRue. Oh, well, we missed that one! Nobody’s perfect.
Becherer had the type of season we believed he would have. In fact, exactly the type of season we were forecasting, preseason, and our expectations, concerning his performance, were sky-high. Becherer gained 1,332 yards rushing in only 128 attempts, 10.41 yards per attempt, and scored 14 rushing TDs, or a TD every 9 or so carries. Becherer caught 10 passes, from out of the backfield, for 167 yards and a TD receiving and was the kind of return man on punts/kicks away from whom punters/kickers were told to either kick or punt the football. Joseph led the team in scoring, offensively, with 110 points in 13 games. Those are just his offensive statistics. Had he played on only that side of the football, we believe he played running-back at an All-State level, production-wise. Now factor in what he did, defensively, added to his offensive and special teams’ production, and man what a season this young man had!
On defense, Joseph Becherer also played at an All-State level. From his MLB slot, Becherer tallied 130 tackles, with 21 tackles in the backfield (TFLs), 3 QB sacks, 2 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery (which he scooped and scored from 99 away from the end zone), and intercepted a pass. Now, how many middle linebackers do you suppose had similar numbers to these? The list would be pretty short, let me assure the reader. Becherer is listed at 5-10 and weighs 180 pounds so he doesn’t have the frame for the defensive position he plays for the Panthers. Owing to his offensive prowess at RB, his ability on special teams, and other factors, KPGFootball believes he is plenty fast to play either safety position (free or strong), in college, or even play in Nickel packages, or at Rover, at the next level. He’s plenty big enough, and appears fast enough, to stay at RB for a lucky college team, should that be the direction a next level coach wants to go with him. There can be little doubt there is not a single player, in Kentucky, any more important to his team’s fortunes, from this past season, than was Joseph Becherer. In the end, isn’t that exactly what makes one an All-Stater? Isn’t that exactly the type of football player coveted by football coaches at any level? Yeah, our answer’s the same as yours.
This is Fletcher Long reporting for KPGFootball reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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