MORGANTOWN — If there was one word ShaDon Brown would use to describe Beanie Bishop Jr., it would be “alpha”. WVU’s cornerbacks coach used that word four times when talking about the Mountaineer’s newest cornerback earlier this month.
“He’s the alpha in the room, he’s already taken on the leadership role in the room,” Brown said two weeks ago. “From him only being here two months, you wouldn’t think that would be the case but his personality is an alpha personality.”
On Tuesday, Bishop, who transferred to WVU from Minnesota this offseason, explained how he describes what being an “alpha” means.
“It kind of just means leader,” he said. “You lead by example and show guys the right things to do. You talk to them if they mess up or anything and make sure everyone’s poised and keeps their head up.”
Despite just joining the team earlier this summer, Bishop has very quickly become the leader in the cornerback room, taking it upon himself to help get younger players ready to play this season.
“If they make mistakes, you can go and watch film and correct them,” he said. “We have a few guys that we expect to play that are kind of young and (being an alpha) is getting them ready to play.”
Bishop credited his leadership mentality to his parents and former coaches.
“I kind of think it’s my personality,” he said. “It’s been instilled in me through growing up to be a leader. Instead of being one of the guys in the back of the line, be one of the guys in front of the line and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you have a lot of effort and a lot of energy, you can fix the mistakes. If you don’t have effort, it doesn’t mean anything.”
What’s in a Name?
You will not find a Beanie Bishop Sr. in any phone book, because “Beanie” is not the younger Bishop’s real first name.
“I got it from my godmother, she was just saying ‘my Beanie Baby’ and it stuck,” he explained. “As soon as I was born the name Beanie came and it just stuck.”
Bishop, who shares a name with his father Shannon Bishop Sr., said most people don’t even ask if Beanie is his real name or not.
“It’s nice, a lot of people say it’s a great football name,” he said. “A lot of my teammates don’t know it’s not my real name. A lot of guys, even at my former schools, didn’t even think it’s not my real name. If guys don’t ask, I don’t tell them.”
All-Out Effort
One of the biggest standouts in WVU’s fall camp thus far has been defensive lineman Edward Vesterinen, who coaches have praised endlessly for his work ethic and effort.
“If you give me 5-10 guys who would play like Eddy V, I’ll take that all day,” defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said.
Vesterinen, a junior, is in his third year at WVU after coming over from Finland.
“I’m a long way from home, why would I come here and half-ass something,” he asked Tuesday. “I’ve already given so much to this, I wish I could be home but I sacrifice a lot of things to be here. Why would I half-ass something if I’ve sacrificed already?”
Vesterinen said his work ethic comes from his time playing in a Finnish men’s league.
“I think the way I play the game comes from how I saw people back home play the game,” he said. “Back home, we started playing because it was fun. People don’t think about going to America to college and receiving scholarships. You start football because it’s fun. I saw people just enjoying the game and how they played it and I try to play the same way.
“The people who I grew up around playing football mean a lot to me. I want to respect them.”
Vesterinen is one of the very few players from Finland playing Division-I college football. He said anyone given his opportunity would be performing the same way.
“There’s not many guys from Finland who get this opportunity,” he said. “I know anyone from home who would be sitting here would do the same thing as me.”
The Importance of Fun
While Vesterinen got into football for the fun of it, he said he’s realized some people in America start because of other motivations.
“I think here it’s 50/50,” he said. “Some people recognize early when they’re young that they can make money out of this and that’s their motivation. That’s fine, everybody has their own way to motivate themselves. I do see a lot of people here have a passion for the game and that’s really fun.”
The most recent round of conference realignment has reminded us all that college sports are a business first and foremost, but players being able to have fun is still at the heart of it all.
“For me, that is one of the most important things,” Bishop said. “You’ve got to have fun because if you’re not having fun, you kind of get into a slump. I like to be able to have fun and it helps me be able to play fast and play free.”
Vesterinen said his take on conference realignment, NIL money and the transfer portal is that it’s all secondary to what is really important, the game on the field.
“That’s just distractions,” he said. “You have to focus on the field. If you perform well on the field, everything else is going to come — NIL money or anything like that — as long you perform on the field. I think that’s all distractions.”
