Junior Year Box Set

I’ve worked with Coach Mason over the last two years to some extent, and he was great with details. The man had so many facts stored in his head that he could talk for hours. He stared at me for a moment, and at first, I thought I’d pissed him off, but then he realized what he’d been doing.

“Fair enough. Let’s start with Roc and Yuri. You’re both underclassmen who have the potential to develop into good-enough players to be recruited. Talk to David about how he prepared. You both need to go to football camps this summer. You’ll both learn, but also the right people will see you.

“Tim, you need to focus on rehab and only rehab. I don’t want to hear anyone tell me about you going out for baseball or anything like that. You need to get that knee back to even better than it was before the injury. You also need to put on at least twenty pounds of muscle,” Coach Mason said.

“Yes, sir. I talked to my parents about this, and they agree with you. My focus will be on my knee and nothing else. I’ve spoken with the head trainer at State, and he’ll help me with rehab and workout plans.”

I didn’t know that, but it made sense. Our State University made an effort to help area high school athletes.

“Johan, you just need to put on about fifty pounds of muscle and start to contact colleges. You can’t wait for them to come to you. Is this your first year of football?” Coach Mason asked.

“Yes, I was homeschooled before this year.”

“If you want, I can make some calls on your behalf.”

I don’t believe Johan had thought about going to college. He suddenly appeared more intense and nodded. Coach Mason turned to Jim.

“Do you have an offer from Alabama?”

“Yes, sir, I do,” Jim said.

“Call them today and accept. Alabama has the best offensive line in college football. They’ll redshirt you your first year to help you get there physically. While you’re big enough for high school, you’ll need to add muscle to withstand the punishment of playing college ball.”

Jim nodded. I think he needed someone to tell him what to do because he’d been back and forth as to where to go. If Jim accepted Alabama’s offer, that would be the first crack in my grand scheme to get everyone to go to the same school. For that to happen, we would all need to go to USC. In the end, it would need to be what was best for each guy. I expected Coach Mason would sit down with Jim and talk to him and his parents. He then turned to Ty.

“At every level, there’s a place for a running back who can catch the ball. You’re also a hard runner who can run between the tackles. I would focus on improving your receiving skills and speed. A fast running back who can catch the ball will normally be defended by a linebacker. You can be a difference-maker. From what I’ve seen, it’s just a matter of time for word to start to get out before recruiters will be knocking down your door. I would suggest that you be careful about where you play your college ball. You need to be in an offense that throws the ball to their backs. We can sit down and look at some possible places for you,” Coach Mason offered.

“Wolf, there are two colleges that really value a tight end: Stanford and Michigan. Of those two, you’ll get more exposure at Michigan. That’s because the media is biased toward teams located closer to the East Coast. Then there’s the academic challenge of getting into Stanford. If your main objective is education, you need to consider that.”

“I’d actually like to go to school with David,” Wolf said.

“Well, before you do that, let’s talk about David,” Coach Mason said, and then looked at me. “I’m on the fence as to whether David should play football or not. He might be better off if he played baseball.”

That rocked me back in my chair because it was the last thing I ever expected him to say. Coach Mason had told me on more than one occasion that I had the talent to not only make it to the NFL but to excel. He wasn’t the only one who thought that, if you considered my performance at Elite 11 and how I rated as the number-1 quarterback in the junior class.

I had grown up playing baseball, and if I were honest, it was my first love. People had recognized me for my football skills, though. And I had worked hard to get the right coaching and trained almost constantly to be the best football player I could be. Would I be crazy to play baseball? Did I have the talent to make it to the highest levels?

“David, if I had a son, I’d be hard-pressed to encourage him to play football. It’s a violent sport, and the chances of injury are significant. What I worry about for you is concussion. You’ve already had one this season. What I’ve seen in the NFL is that it’s much more common than anyone wants to admit. Once you’ve had one, it’s more likely that you’ll have more.

“I’ve seen the long-term effects of brain injuries from playing football. Too many players have had it cause long-term problems, and too many have had their lives shortened because of it,” Coach Mason said and then sighed.