Junior Year Box Set

My day sucked. The teachers gave quizzes in every class, it seemed. They weren’t happy with the football team because we would miss three days of school for our away game. The last two years we’d only missed a half day on Friday and played on Saturday. ESPN planned to treat this more as they would a college game and wanted both teams in for a Wednesday-afternoon workout, and then we would meet the press. Thursday we would have a morning walk-through, and then kickoff would be that evening. Our athletic director had decided that we’d come back home on Friday.

After school, Alan told me to go to the coaches’ conference room. I walked in to find Bud Mason with the rest of the coaching staff. It made me smile to see the old warhorse. I owed Bo Harrington and him a lot for what they’d taught me about how to play quarterback. I just wished he were here and not in LA. It surprised him when I gave him a hug. I doubt many people had dared that over the years.

“Get off me,” he grumped but didn’t fight it very much.

“Do you plan to work with us during practice?” I asked.

“Yes. Go get dressed and have everyone meet us on the field so we can get started,” he ordered.

I smiled and almost skipped out of the office. Usually, we would have watched film this afternoon. I guess Coach Mason didn’t think we needed that today. Alan had said that Coach Mason helped all the coaches out by sharing his knowledge of the game. I entered the locker room and found everyone putting on shorts and t-shirts.

“Change of plans! Suit up,” I announced.

We were dressed in full gear and about to finish stretching when the coaching staff came out with Coach Mason. Coach Hope blew his whistle to get our attention.

“Gather around!”

When we were in a semicircle on one knee, he introduced Coach Mason.

“Coach Mason has been helping David and the coaching staff this season. He’s agreed to help us get ready for King High School. Instead of looking at film, we all agreed that we needed to practice. We’ll look at film on the bus ride to Indianapolis. Offensive skill players and defensive backs go with Coach Mason and Coach Diamond, defense with Coach Zoon, and offensive line with me.”

“David, I need you to play defensive back for me,” Coach Mason said, which caused a stir.

I just did what he told me. He had me line up tight to the line and put Wolf across from me.

“I think we can agree that David’s much bigger and stronger than most defensive backs. He’s also quick for this level. If we plan to beat King, we have to get off the ball. Their defensive backs aren’t David, but they’re bigger, stronger, and faster than anyone you’ve played this year. If you can beat David, you can beat them. Begin,” he ordered.

Wolf tried to bull-rush me and use his size and strength. That worked against much smaller defensive backs. I popped his shoulder pads to stand him up and then got into his body so he didn’t have leverage. Wolf never made it five yards down the field. Coach Mason didn’t say a word.

“Next,” he yelled.

Wolf was pissed as he had to head to the end of the line. Next up was Ty. I did the same thing with him. He tried to wiggle out away from me, but when he shifted his weight, I used it to unbalance him and put him on his butt.

“Jesus, David! This is only practice,” Ty complained.

“Only practice?!” Coach Mason boomed. “So you only go full-out in games? Get out of my sight!”

Coach Diamond took Ty off to the side and coached him up. I’d seen this same pattern at the Elite Camp. Coach Mason would oversee the drill, and then someone would spend time with the player who needed some one-on-one coaching. I guessed that he’d talked to Coach Diamond about this before we came on the field.

Roc stepped to the line. He didn’t fire off the ball as I expected. He spun as soon as I reached for him. It might have worked, but I simply reached over and shoved him into the turf. Coach Mason let me embarrass the rest of the team. I knew he wanted to get their attention, and that was why I’d been rough on them. When the last one took their turn and had either been held to the line of scrimmage, or put into the dirt, he stopped practice to coach us.

“Getting off the line of scrimmage and making yourself available for a pass is what separates good receivers from the average ones. The key to you beating King is getting off the ball clean and getting downfield. If they can tie up our receivers at the line of scrimmage, then they can pin their ears back and rush the passer. If you can come free and at least give David a chance, we can win. But if not, it’ll be a long night.

“Are you ready to learn some things that can help you beat David?” he asked.

You would think they didn’t like what I did to them! Bunch of babies.

“First, who here thinks David is cocky?” Coach Mason asked.

Every hand rose up, and a few choice comments were made. I vowed to not make this easy on them.