Traber Covers Half a Continent to Pursue Football Dream
10/1/2012 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2012
By Jon Terry, Bucknell Athletic Communications
They take their football seriously in Norman, Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma Sooners are one of the most storied programs in college football history, and with a capacity of over 82,000, OU's Memorial Stadium becomes the sixth-largest "city" in the state on gamedays.
While the gridiron scene in Norman is half a continent away from Lewisburg, one prominent member of the Bucknell football team can speak first-hand about Oklahoma football.
Senior linebacker Beau Traber, a 2012 team captain and Preseason All-Patriot League linebacker, played his high school football at Norman North High School. Even though he was born in Maryland and raised in Rochester, New York, Traber set out for the prairie in order to raise his football profile and his chances of fulfilling his dream to play Division I college football.
Traber's father, Jim, a former Major League Baseball player with the Baltimore Orioles in the 1980s, now resides in Oklahoma. Beau initially stayed with his father there, but a strained relationship ended those arrangements. He then briefly lived with an assistant coach, and then more permanently with the family of Toni Perry, a guidance counselor at Norman North.
On the surface, the move seems like a whirlwind for a ninth-grader, but today Traber says that he has absolutely no second thoughts about his decision.
"I instantly fit in down there because of sports," he says. "Once everyone realized that I was serious about it, it was easy to make friends and it was an easy transition. There were a lot of people that looked out for me and wanted me to be successful. There are great people down there."
Being a newcomer in an unfamiliar town, Traber quickly set out to prove himself, both athletically and academically.
"I was very motivated when I first got to Oklahoma to make something of myself," Traber offers. "Once some adversity hit and I was moving around trying to figure things out, I became even more motivated to become successful and prove wrong all the people that doubted me. I have no regrets. It got me to Bucknell, and hopefully that will boost me to great things in my life. I feel great about it."
Once he got a sense of the commitment level, Traber had no trouble adapting to "big time" high school football. Norman North plays its home games in a large stadium, and the annual crosstown rivalry game with Norman High is played at Memorial Stadium on the OU campus.
As a junior he earned First Team All-State honors from Rivals.com and MaxPreps.com, and he helped lead the Timberwolves to a district championship. A year later the school earned its first No. 1 state ranking, and Traber was again picked as an All-State linebacker. Among his classmates were Tyler Tettleton and Beau Blankenship, who now star at quarterback and running back, respectively, at Ohio University. Tettleton, whose father Mickey also played for the Orioles during an all-star baseball career, threw for 324 yards and Blankenship ran for 109 in the Bobcats' victory over Penn State earlier this season.
"Football down there is real serious," Traber says. "Instantly when I got there I knew I had to change all my work habits in order to keep up with everybody. It got me to where I am now. Changing the level of competition made me change my expectations and my work habits."
While he was excelling on the gridiron, Traber was also performing exceptionally in the classroom, and among his many college suitors were two service academies: Air Force and Navy. Traber took an official visit to Air Force and was considering doing the same with Navy, but as the process unfolded he discovered that military life was probably not going to be for him.
Fortunately, the Navy assistant coach that was recruiting him was friends with former Bison defensive coordinator Andrew Cohen, and he recommended Traber and thought he would be a good fit at Bucknell. A few days later Cohen made contact and requested his highlight tape. Traber had designs on coming back east to be closer to his family in Rochester, and once he visited campus he was quickly sold.
Traber earned some playing time on special teams as a freshman, while biding his time behind a quality group of veteran linebackers, led by First Team All-Patriot Leaguer Greg Jones. As a sophomore under first-year head coach Joe Susan, Traber was set back a bit by a knee injury early in the year, but he eventually played in nine games as a reserve linebacker and made 16 tackles, and he also had a memorable 51-yard run on a fake punt against Dartmouth.
Last year Traber snagged a starting inside linebacker position and never let go. He started all 11 games for a resurgent 6-5 Bison squad, and he finished third on the team with 63 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. In the Holy Cross game alone, he logged 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. Traber would earn Second Team All-Patriot League honors at season's end, and this summer he was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League squad and was elected team captain by his teammates. Already in 2012 he has 17 tackles, third-most on the squad.
"I feel like I had some adversity here too," Traber admits. "I played a little bit when I was younger, but there were some great players in front of me. It was more about waiting for my opportunity. When I got my shot, I just wanted to take it and run with it. It was about staying focused and staying motivated, not getting too far ahead of myself. I kind of worked my way into a starting role, and then into a leadership position. It's definitely been fulfilling."
One of Traber's early challenges was adjusting to a completely different defensive system when he arrived at Bucknell, and then having to scrap that for a brand new system with the coaching change prior to his sophomore year.
"We ran a whole different system in high school," Traber says. "We ran a 4-3 and I was the middle guy. I had to take on all the blocks differently, and the whole scheme was just different. I remember coming here and having to change all the techniques I had learned. It was a big adjustment. And then we got a whole new coaching staff, and there was another adjustment. It was hard to catch up with all of that, but in the long run it has made me a much smarter player."
Now, Traber is part of a well-designed 4-2-5 defense that is considered one of the best in the Patriot League. Last year's squad led the nation in turnover margin and allowed only 78.3 rushing yards per game. This year the Bison rank seventh nationally in rushing defense (76.3) after holding Lafayette to only 11 yards last week. A week earlier, they held nationally ranked Delaware to just one touchdown and 19 points.
"Since I have been here we have always had a toughness mentality, and that has never changed," says Traber. "We always want to play hard and be known as an aggressive, hard-hitting team. There have been some unbelievable players here, all-conference players. And the coaches have done a great job recruiting people behind them. Everyone they have brought in has been just as good or better. It's been great to be a part of this defense."
Traber is also happy to be playing in Lewisburg where his family, and even his extended family, can watch him play. His mother Joan works as a dog trainer, sister Alicia is a firefighter and brother Trabes works at a day care center, all in Rochester. The whole gang was in town last week for the Lafayette game on Family Weekend, and so was his former counselor, Toni Perry, who came all the way out from Norman with her husband to catch the game. They will all be back, Toni included, for Senior Day in November.
While Traber has already begun looking into graduate schools - he says he might try out the West Coast this time - the psychology major still has plenty of football left.
"We went 6-5 last year, but the players in the locker room all felt we could have done a lot better," says Traber. "We are trying to play this season so that we don't have any regrets when we're done. We want to put full games together and play to our full potential. Our internal goals are a lot higher than 6-5. We appreciate the support and everyone telling us `nice season,' but we have higher expectations of ourselves."
And for a young man who moved all the way to Oklahoma in order to experience a higher level of high school football, it is safe to say that Beau Traber knows a thing or two about high expectations.
Note: This story appeared in a recent edition of the Bucknell Football Gameday Program.