LSU's Kendell Beckwith: Defensive star, likely NFL-bound ... and 'nothing but ... - The New Orleans Advocate

She’s staring some 50 yards into the distance as her son — 250-pound LSU linebacker Kendell Beckwith — stands between two horses. With his right hand, Kendell holds the rein of Coco Chanel, a 2-year-old, 800-pound mare. In his left, he’s grasping the rein of 9-year-old Vicki Mari, a 1,200-pound former racehorse. Coco Chanel and Vicki Mari are listening to Kendell’s commands. Kendell drops the reins and walks. Kendell stops and changes direction. He breeds, raises, trains and rides horses. “I ain’t nothing but an old cowboy,” Kendell claims. One of the nation’s most athletic, intimidating and ferocious football players kisses horses on the nose and strokes shaggy manes. When one of them tramples on her own food bucket, rendering it useless, Beckwith deconstructs an old dog house, using the roof as a food bowl. “If he would have told me,” Kendell’s father, Wendell, says, “I could have bought another bucket. That’s not how Kendell rolls — not when it’s about his children. Vicki Mari needed a food bucket now, and he got her one. This is the Kendell Beckwith you probably don’t know. He’s the bulky figure gracing the cover of LSU’s media guide, his fearless eyes staring off the cover directly into yours. He’s the kid whom LSU players anointed. Source: www.theneworleansadvocate.com