"We have code words for the calls, too, because when in a two-minute drill, you can't get to everything. There just isn't time."

So, while driving around Miami, it isn't unusual for Beck's wife to hold a play sheet and quiz the quarterback. Same for a visit to a grocery store.

"You can never prepare enough, learn enough," he said. "I'm going up against some veterans on our defense who've been in the NFL for 17 years. You strive to be perfect. Just when I finish a practice and I think I've got it all down, one mistake can almost undo everything I feel I've accomplished that day."

Beck compared his experience in Miami's minicamp to golf. "When you think you've got it down, you actually don't. You can be playing a great round and then have one shot ruin a hole and blow up your score."

An example?

"I may take a five-step drop when I'm supposed to take a seven-step, and just that one thing will throw off the timing of the receivers and the play."

Overall, Beck said he has not been overwhelmed with throwing the football in Miami's minicamps. "Some quarterbacks you talk to say they were overwhelmed, that it seemed to come at them like a blur, everything sped up. But I have actually felt very comfortable out there.

"What I have to get used to is our defensive backs are in press coverage all the time. It's true, you do have to get rid of the ball quicker out there, but with the coverage so tight, you cannot throw the ball behind or it's batted down or picked off."

But Beck says to himself, "Hey, that's just what I have to do."

Beck returned to Provo on Sunday to finish packing up his belongings for the move to Florida, where the Dolphins start training camp July 21.

He still has not signed a contract, which isn't unusual for a second-round pick because free agents and players taken in late rounds usually sign first.

But counting field time and his study regime, the Dolphins certainly have got bargain dollar from Beck in terms of extensive overtime he's put in without a contract.

He's taken the hundred bucks for appearance at each mini camp and turned the Dolphin investment into something akin to a 10-cents-an-hour job.

He's a gym rat on steroids, chasing cheddar.

Perhaps that's one more reason — besides arm strength and accuracy — Miami took Beck over Brady Quinn.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com