No Arizona Wildcat has come farther — or further — over the past five years than Gerhard de Beer.
De Beer came to the UA from halfway across the globe — Pretoria, South Africa. He transformed himself from a football novice to a Pac-12 starter.
Now the hulking right tackle will have a chance to make a career out of a sport he barely knew anything about when he arrived in Tucson in 2013.
After he finishes his Arizona career in the Foster Farms Bowl against Purdue on Wednesday, de Beer will train for a pro tryout. He has been invited to participate in the 2018 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl on Jan. 20 in Pasadena, California.
The NFLPA Collegiate Bowl ranks behind the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game as draft showcases go. But for de Beer, it’s a significant accomplishment. He came to Arizona primarily to throw the discus for the track team. He had minimal exposure to football but gradually worked his way from redshirt to scout team to the starting lineup.
“He’s gone above and beyond anything that we thought would happen, particularly when we had to explain what a thigh pad was,” UA coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I’m really proud of him.”
As the Wildcats concluded on-campus practices before heading to Northern California for the Foster Farms Bowl, de Beer paused to reflect on his unlikely career. Here’s some of what one of Arizona’s most interesting and well-spoken players had to say:
