Odell Beckham Jr.

Early life

Beckham was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, he played wide receiver, quarterback, running back, and cornerback for the Greenies football team. As a junior, he caught 45 passes for 743 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also adding three more scores on the ground. As a senior, he hauled in 50 catches for 1,010 yards and 19 touchdowns, joining Cooper Manning as the only two players in school history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. In addition, he rushed for 331 yards and six touchdowns, passed for 90 yards and a score and also averaged 30.0 yards per punt return. He was named to the Times Picayune 2011 Blue-Chip list and to the Louisiana 2A All-State first-team as a wide receiver, while he also earned District 9-2A Offensive MVP honors and a spot on The Advocate's Super Dozen.

In basketball, Beckham lettered all four years and was an all-district selection his junior and senior years. As a standout track & field athlete, Beckham followed in his mother's footsteps to excel in the sprinting and jumping events while at Newman High. He took silver in the long jump event at the 2010 Newman Invitational, with a career-best leap of 6.83 meters. At the 2010 LA 2A State Meet, he earned sixth-place finishes in both the 200-meter dash, with a PR time of 22.31 seconds, and in the long jump, with a leap of 6.71 meters (21 ft 11 in). He was also a member of the Newman 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m relay teams.

Beckham also played soccer growing up and considers English player David Beckham his childhood idol. His soccer club coaches offered Beckham a chance to try out for a junior national team program, but he did not want to spend the required time overseas considering his talents in other sports at home.

Regarded as a four-star recruit by both Rivals.com and Scout.com, Beckham was rated as the No. 6 wide receiver and as the No. 40 player in the nation. He chose Louisiana State University (LSU) over scholarship offers from Ole Miss, Nebraska, Tulane, and Tulsa, among others. He also played in the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

2011 season

As a true freshman at LSU in 2011, Beckham started nine of 14 games. He made his collegiate debut on September 3, 2011, against the #3 Oregon Ducks. Against the Ducks, he had two receptions for 10 yards in the 40–27 victory. Against the #16 West Virginia Mountaineers on September 24, Beckham scored his first career collegiate touchdown, a 52-yard reception from Jarrett Lee, in the 47–21 victory. In the SEC Championship against the #12 Georgia Bulldogs, Beckham was held without a catch but did have two punt returns in the 42–10 victory. The Tigers finished with a 13–0 record and made the BCS National Championship game in Beckham's freshman season. In the game, which was a rematch against the Alabama Crimson Tide, Beckham had five receptions for 38 yards in the 21–0 defeat. Overall, in his freshman season, Beckham finished second on the team with 41 receptions for 475 yards and tied for third with two receiving touchdowns. He was named a freshman All-SEC selection.

2012 season

As a sophomore in 2012, Beckham started 12 of 13 games for the Tigers. In the season opener against the North Texas Mean Green, he had his first collegiate career punt return touchdown, a 70-yard return in the first quarter of the 41–14 victory. On September 29, he had his first career collegiate game with over 100 yards against the Towson Tigers. He had five receptions for 128 yards and two touchdowns in the 38–22 victory over the Tigers. On November 17, against SEC West rival Ole Miss, he was held to only two receptions for 13 yards, but he had an 89-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter help tie the game late. The Tigers would end up beating the Rebels by a score of 41–35. In the regular season finale against the Arkansas Razorbacks, he had four receptions for 112 receiving yards in the 20–13 victory. LSU finished with a 10–2 record and qualified for the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson. Beckham had three receptions for 40 receiving yards as LSU lost 25–24 on a game-winning field goal by Clemson as time expired. He finished first on the team in receiving yards with 713, second in receptions with 43, only behind Jarvis Landry's 56 receptions, and third on the team with two receiving touchdowns.

2013 season

As a junior in 2013, he combined with Jarvis Landry to form one of the most productive wide receiver duos in college football. On August 31, in the Tigers' regular season opener, he had five receptions for 118 receiving yards in the 37–27 victory over #20 TCU at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. On September 7, in the game against UAB, Beckham had five receptions for 136 yards and three touchdowns in the 56–17 victory. In the same game, he returned a failed field goal attempt for a record-long 109 yards and a touchdown, and this record would be tied by Auburn's Chris Davis later that year against the Alabama Crimson Tide. On October 5, against SEC West rival Mississippi State, Beckham had nine receptions for a then-career high 179 receiving yards with two touchdowns in the 59–26 victory. Against the Furman Paladins on October 26, Beckham had six receptions for a collegiate career-high 204 yards and two touchdowns in the 48–16 victory. He was a first and second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection. In his role as a wide receiver and return specialist, Beckham was named the winner of the 2013 Paul Hornung Award, presented annually to the most versatile player in major college football. He finished the 2013 season with 57 receptions for 1,117 yards and eight touchdowns. He led the SEC with 32 kickoff returns for 845 net yards in the 2013 season.

After the season, he decided to forgo his senior season and entered the 2014 NFL draft.

Personal life

Beckham has a younger brother and a younger sister. In 2024, Beckham’s brother, Kordell Beckham, became the winner of reality dating competition show Love Island USA season 6. Beckham's father, Odell Beckham Sr., was a standout running back at Marshall High School in Marshall, Texas, and played running back at LSU from 1989 to 1992. Beckham Sr. was also mentioned in Buzz Bissinger's 1990 book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. Beckham's mother, Heather Van Norman, also attended LSU as a track runner. In 1993, she ran for three national championship relay teams, winning the events of indoor and outdoor 4 × 400 m and the outdoor 4 × 100 m relay. When Van Norman found out she was pregnant with Beckham in 1992, she was in the midst of training for the Olympic trials. She later became the coach of the Nicholls State University track and field team. She resigned from this position on June 1, 2017. After the NFL Combine, Beckham planned on challenging Van Norman to a race in the 40-yard dash. Beckham is or has been friends with many celebrities, including David Beckham (no relation), James Corden, Beyoncé, LeBron James, Drake, and David Alaba, who is also his favorite soccer player.

Beckham is a Christian. In the summer of 2018, Beckham was baptized in the Jordan River.

On January 29, 2015, during a live ESPN broadcast from Glendale, Arizona, Beckham partnered with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to establish a new world record for the most one-handed catches made in a minute. He shattered the previous record of 10 as he caught 33 passes. However, this achievement was short lived as CFL wide receiver Andy Fantuz recorded 50 one-handed catches in a minute to set the new world record.

On February 17, 2022, Beckham and his then-partner Lauren Wood's first child, a son, was born.