SAN MARCOS, Texas — Beau Corrales was a dominant receiver at Georgetown High School, who had 90 catches and over 1,000 yards receiving his senior year.

Corrales had plenty of offers to choose from, but he eventually signed with North Carolina and headed to Chapel Hill in 2017. He had a vision planned out for how his college career would go, but plans change.

“Nothing like what it had been,” Corrales says. “Definitely a different picture in my head of how I thought the career was going to go.”

Things started well for Corrales at UNC. He got playing time as a freshman, then had more of an impact as a sophomore and had a breakout junior season with 40 catches and six touchdowns. During this time, he was playing on a Tarheel offense that featured future NFL talent like Sam Howell, Javonte Williams and Dyami Brown.

“Whenever you’re making plays alongside those guys and you know what they’re capable of and you’re right there on par with them, it’s a good feeling,” says Corrales.

Corrales headed into the 2020 season thinking he’d have a big year and hopefully get a shot at the NFL. But this is when his plans got altered in a big way. He tried to play through a sports hernia injury early in that season, but eventually it got to where surgery was needed. A surgery he had in December 2020.

“That’s where that snowball I mentioned started rolling and picking up,” says Corrales. “Surgery went well. They fixed the sports hernia, but it took two extra surgeries after that one.”

He had calcium deposits that showed up after the first surgery that required doctors to go back twice. He missed the rest of the 2020 season and all of 2021. At that point Corrales was ready for a change and chance to get back closer to home, so he transferred to SMU for the 2022 season. He was playing well during training camp when another injury happened.

“Last week before the season got started and got pulled down in the end zone and fell on my shoulder,” Corrales recalls. “I had a bad separated shoulder.”

He would try to play through the pain but damaged that shoulder again and had season-ending surgery. 

Even though it feels like it’s been one thing after another and there’s definitely some frustration there,” says Corrales. “Ultimately I know that God places these things and obstacles in our lives for a reason.”

For Corrales, that reason was a chance to play one more year of college football and do that even closer to home. New Texas State head coach GJ Kinne saw he was in the transfer portal and immediately started his recruiting pitch.

“I saw it on Twitter, I saw he was an Austin guy,” says Kinne. “I saw the production, I saw he was tall, I saw he was big so I went after him.”

Kinne said he recruited the whole family, and he eventually got Corrales to sign with the Bobcats.

“Been loving this opportunity and grateful to be around these guys,” says Corrales. “The energy and the vibe here is second to none.”

Through all the difficulties of the past few years, Corrales is still very talented and could be a big weapon in this Texas State offense.

“He’s a 10 out of 10 character guy,” says Kinne. “He’s unbelievable and has great on-the-field play.”

“I have so much ball to show that I have left in me,” says Corrales. “I know how quickly it can be taken, so ultimately I just want to go out there and lay it all on the line and have some enthusiasm while doing it.”

Corrales speaks with the maturity of a 24-year-old (only 10 years younger than his head coach) who’s entering year seven of college and has been through some things. He still has hopes of playing in the NFL, but is enjoying the moment of just getting to play.

“With those injuries and surgeries came a lot of mental fortitude,” says Corrales. “I feel like I’m a better man today because of the stuff I had to go through even though it’s not stuff that I would’ve chosen for myself originally.”

Corrales will get his opportunity to take the field again when Texas State opens the season at Baylor on Sept. 2.