Nebraska the right fit at the right time for budding phenom Beau Peterson

It's not a usual occurrence that an eighth-grade student gets offered a Division I scholarship to play baseball and then shortly thereafter accepts it. But budding young phenom Beau Peterson is not your ordinary player or person.

HuskerOnline.com contacted Beau Peterson's father, David Peterson, to see why their family thought Nebraska was the right fit at the right time for all of them.

"Nebraska was in his top three already, he loved the campus, and I've always liked Nebraska," Mr. Peterson responded. It's not the closest Power Five [school] to home, but it's probably the second closest behind Missouri. He wanted to play big-time baseball. It's been his dream. He wants to play in a College World Series and, with Nebraska having the top recruiting class in the Big Ten, he feels like he can go to Nebraska and have that opportunity.

"With the coaching staff that they have now, and all things considered, it's such a great place! He did have other schools in mind like Vanderbilt and Tennessee, but when Nebraska made an offer - with everything he wanted - why wait? So, the close-to-home deal was big, and then when they said he could be a two-way player for them, that's really what set it off.

"He wants to hit and he doesn't want to be put into a pitcher only-hole. He's got a big arm, so that might be what happens and he doesn't have to worry about that now. You know, other schools will sit there and tell you you can play two-way, but Nebraska is notorious for having two-way players and we know that."

Beau Peterson has not determined yet whether he will attend high school at Mill Valley or Saint Thomas Aquinas. The family is still discussing which avenue would be best for them. Where the majority of his friends choose to go, and the other sports options at the high schools will likely play the determining factor where he ends up.

"They're all from the same subdivision and it's just a special group of kids," Mr. Peterson stated. "They are kids who push Beau every day, so it would be hard to leave those kids. Beau would also love to play football in college. He will do so if he can. They're all highly competitive and they push each other. He will play high school football, basketball and baseball. He's 6-1, 180 [pounds] and he plays quarterback and running back."

Beau Peterson has been invited to attend an upcoming Arkansas camp, but they are still determining whether or not it will be worth their while to go since he has his college decision out of the way.

"Our pitching coach, Bob Zimmerman, sent Arkansas' pitching coach, Matt Hobbs, some video and told Coach Hobbs, 'Just so you know, his bat is even better than his arm.' Coach Hobbs said, 'No way! Please have Beau come to our camp this weekend.' So, we signed up to go to their camp, but now that he's done this Nebraska thing, I don't know that there's any need to go to their camp."

Mr. Peterson notices at a young age that Beau was a natural in several sports, particularly in baseball.

"Man, I'll tell you what, I sent Coach (Lance) Harvell a picture of the first time Beau picked up a bat at three years old," Peterson recalled. "He swung it right-handed and he swung it left-handed, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, look at that swing! He's a natural. Honey, we might have something here.'

"He's always been kind of a leader of the pack and just really, extremely athletic. I mean, he's been dominating in every sport his whole life. He scores 25-30 points a game in basketball, and he throws the football a long way. He's equally good at running back or quarterback. Our football team will get up 30 or 40 to zip in the first quarter, and the starters won't even play the remaining three quarters.

"That's what I'm talking about when I say he and his friends are an extremely talented group of kids. They're special."

Beau Peterson started to get invited to elite youth baseball events starting three years ago, and he has turned heads at every one of them.

"Playing for the KC Crusaders has been our whole life starting at 11 or 10 years old, and they have been invite-only events," Peterson said. "In fact it's crazy, but our claim to fame and where we kind of made a name for ourselves was at the Slump Buster in Nebraska. We went out there to Omaha during the College World Series three years ago and played in the Slump Buster and won that tournament.

"That's when people started reaching out. Team USA, we went to their event in North Carolina, and we've just been invited to everything ever since. We played a lot of events this year, too. The big one was the Perfect Game BCS out in Fort Myers [Florida], and then the World Series just a couple weeks ago in Sanford, Florida."

Peterson was 15-18 at the plate during the BCS event and he has won every game as a pitcher in the big events.

"He was named to the elite hitting team and he made the pitching list, too," Mr. Petersen said. "I think he was among the top 11-13 players in that tournament."

Beau Peterson does not switch-hit in games, he bats left-handed and pitches and throws them right-handed.

Neither Beau Peterson, nor his parents, were planning to have a college decision made so soon, but it just made sense to all involved.

"What Nebraska did was a complete shock to me and this is all new for us," Mr. Peterson said." Beau wanted to sign early, but this is just life-changing. We didn't know it would happen this quick, but we went to their camp [on August 7] and he had a great camp. He throws hard and he hits well, and I think the Nebraska coaching staff has been doing this long enough. I mean, it's just crazy."

There's a long way to go before the young Peterson will be allowed to sign an official letter of intent with Nebraska, but the Huskers have a few key things going for them with the Peterson family which should be able to stand the test of time.

"I've always been a Huskers fan, man," Mr. Peterson explained. "I'm hoping the football team gets back on track, but I love the city. I love the fact that it's close to home. I love towns like that -- Des Moines, Lincoln and Omaha. I'm from a town of 780 people, so I like the smaller cities. Just the campus and the facilities there are unbelievable.

"And then, there's the history of Alex Gordon, of course. We are big-time Royals fans. So, we just loved everything about it. I know that Nebraska packs in the stands every night for baseball games 6000-7000 people and that's important. Other colleges have big stadiums that are half-empty, right? Not at Nebraska. Their fans are loyal and they get into it."

Mr. Peterson has been to Lincoln several times for the most obvious of reasons, but they have only fully toured the campus and facilities recently.

"I've been there several times, but it's to go to football games on Saturdays," David Peterson stated. "That probably started five or six years ago. My buddy owns a plane, so we try to fly out there once a year, fly over the stadium, park at a rural airport, and then go to a game.

"We're hoping to come up there on October 2 when Wichita State plays the baseball team, and there will be the Northwestern football game that night."

The Petersons plan to stick to what has become their regular routine over the next four years to keep Beau on track to get to Nebraska.

"We're going to work out once or twice a week with our pitching coach; we're going to continue to go to practice; and just stay humble, man. We're not going to change anything. The work starts now. He's got him an offer and he's got to live up to that. He's got to keep working hard and continue to get better so we don't let anyone down."

It is still somewhat surreal for Mr. Peterson and his son Beau to have his college decision out of the way so quickly, but he couldn't be happier with the way things quickly developed between them and Nebraska.

"Like I said, it's life-changing, and it still doesn't feel real yet, to be honest with you" Mr. Peterson shared. "Become he's so young. It's just hit us like a ton of bricks. I don't know what to say. I'm speechless."