A day after watching younger brother Tim Beckham get selected No. 1 overall in the MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, older brother Jeremy Beckham was select on Friday by the same club with the 503rd pick to start the 17th round.

“It feels great, it feels amazing,” said Jeremy Beckham who starred as a senior second baseman this season at Georgia Southern where he batted .333 and stole a team-high 24 bases. “You dream about this day growing up and pray that one day you’ll see it. And to finally reach a goal set a long time ago is a great feeling.”

For Jeremy Beckham the selection comes five days after he celebrated his 22nd birthday.

“I’m more than happy for him right now,” Tim Beckham, 18, the youngest of three brothers said of his oldest brother.

Fourteenth-year Griffin High head coach Jamie Cassady, who coached all three brothers - including middle brother Stephen, an outfielder who also started all four years at GHS - was tickled by Jeremy Beckham’s selection Friday.

“I guess the biggest thing that sticks out in my mind is his work ethic,” Cassady said of Jeremy Beckham. “Any time I think of the Griffin High baseball program his is the first name that comes to mind simply because of his work ethic. He was a great athlete. Probably the only difference between him and Tim is he is not as physically big as Tim.”

Tim Beckham goes 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, while Jeremy is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds.

Tim Beckham, who played shortstop and batted .482 with 6 homers, 41 RBIs, 58 runs and 23 stolen bases this year for Griffin High, credits his oldest brother with a lot.

“He kept me playing the game of baseball and got me back into playing the game of baseball,” said Tim Beckham, who didn’t play baseball for a period before entering high school and who as late as his sophomore season was on the fast track to gaining a starting position on the school’s storied basketball team. “I don’ know how to thank him any more. It’s crazy right now.”

Tim Beckham, instead, opted to quit playing basketball his junior and senior seasons and concentrate on playing baseball. Long before that, however, Jeremy Beckham helped Tim Beckham hone his skills on a day-to-day basis.

“Everything he did with his feet and his hands,” said the youngest Beckham, “I copied him.”

The whole work ethic thing didn’t hurt either. Neither did the friendly competition between brothers.

“Growing up I always loved playing against him - it challenged me more, made me compete more, “ said Tim Beckham. “But right now with the stage I’m at in my life and the stage he’s at in his life, I want to play with him and try to stick with each other- something like that would be sweet, living a dream.”