Sophomore running back Jordan Beem leans into the huddle to take the play call from quarterback Dylan Berkey. Its 2^nd& 8 from the Wartburg College 15 yard line and Beem hears that the play call is for him to get the hand-off.

Seconds later, #24 gets the hand-off, making a quick cut, springing through a hole in the Wartburg defense before finishing the run in the end zone, bringing Simpson College within one point of Wartburg at 7-6 as he notches his 10^th career rushing touchdown in the Storm red and gold.

Relishing the moment, the competitive Beem raced to the sidelines giving violent high-fives before performing his patented routine of ripping his helmet off and gesturing to the home crowd to get excited.

Although Simpson would drop the game 41-10 to the Wartburg Knights, Beem rushed for 105 yards on 20 carries, refusing to be denied of yet another great game, but for the sophomore from Southeast Polk High School, the success of his teammates far outweigh his own.

“I guess I’d say that my favorite part of the game is watching our guys succeed on the field in games,” Beem said. “Especially those guys who don’t always make the big impact. That’s a huge thing to me.”

Beem’s commitment to his team rather than his own success is a mature outlook for a sophomore, and in turn Beem receives that respect from his teammates in return.

“He’s a really hardworking kid and I think that the kids like blocking for him,” head coach Jim Glogowski said. “He’s such a competitive kid that it’s hard not to play for him and with him.”

While the extra blocking may help, from observing how he handles his work off the field and his stats between the sidelines, it’s clear that he’s matured quickly as a player at the college level.

Through 18 games at Simpson, Beem has already rushed for 953 yards and 10 touchdowns while only coughing up one fumble on 220 rushes.

At 5’8”, Beem is able to use his low center of gravity to maintain balance along with his strength to take hits. While he resembles a Darren Sproles of the Philadelphia Eagles, Beem doesn’t model himself after a certain player but rather a tough, running down-hill style.

Whenever the running backs break down a huddle, Beem is reminded of this style as they echo one another with the phrase, “Make it Nasty!”. Beem says that if he doesn’t say this before a carry he gets a little uneasy.

Along with these physical attributes and playing style, defensive back , roommate and opponent from high school ball, Patrick Steffen, attributes Beem’s mentality to much of this success.

“His mental outlook is great,” Steffen said. “He hates to lose and will do anything to win. He doesn’t like to mess up, even if it’s one cut. If he ends up running for a touchdown he’ll still be like, ‘oh, I still could have made this other cut.”

Beem got off to a hot start as a freshman, rushing for seven touchdowns and 482 yards, the most among running backs. He also ran for a career high, three touchdowns in one game against Loras College.

A year prior, his senior year of high school, Beem was being pursued by colleges like Wartburg, Central College, Morningside College, Grand View University, and even DII Wayne State College, but there was a time when Beem considered not playing anywhere in college.

“I never thought about college ball until senior year, not because I didn’t want to just because I didn’t,” Beem said. “I remember it was my last play and we were at the dome at UNI and I thought, ‘well, I might as well hang up the cleats and focus on school.’ Then schools like Simpson reached out to me and I fell in love with the people here and decided it was a good fit to play football.”

Coming into his freshman year, Beem was able to acclimate to the team and the college football environment as he participated in seven-on-seven drills during the summer. The fact that Southeast Polk High School runs a similar style offense also added to the easy transition.

Beem has diversified his game even more during his sophomore year, something he relishes and appreciates about Simpson’s program. Beem ranks fifth in the IIAC in all-purpose yards with 120 all-purpose yards per game. Beem has also added 152 yards receiving and one touchdown in the air to go along with 338 return yards.

“He’s kind of a jack of all-trades and does a decent job with pass protection,” Glogowski said. “He can plug a lot of holes.”

As it turns out, Beem is not only a jack-of-all trades on the field, but also off of it. The history major and education minor with goals to become a high school football coach, also has a knack for singing and playing the guitar.

“He loves singing, sometimes he likes singing too much,” Steffen said jokingly. “He’s actually got a couple gigs singing and I’m technically his manager. There have been times when I’ve handed out cards to other people to promote Jordan.”

On a side note, Beem also has over 1,100 followers on Twitter, evidence of his creativity, personality and charisma.

But, even with the attention Beem receives, he always comes back to his selfless goals towards other people, realizing that’s what matters, even in his individual goals.

“As far as individual goals, I’d say I just want to continue to be a part of the team and help others contribute in big situations,” Beem said. “Our motto on the team is, ‘for those who stand before us, for those with us now, and for those who will follow, we are SC. For me, putting team first and being team oriented is huge, especially here where team is really emphasized. We are battling now, and don’t want to give up.”

Beem and the Storm will have one more crack at it to battle as a team this Saturday at 1 p.m. as they host Luther College (4-5, 1-5 IIAC) for Senior Recognition Day as Beem hits the midway point in his career at Simpson.