Senior Year Box Set

That put a smile on my face. While I hadn’t had any contact with Mike since the Michigan football camp during the summer, I didn’t want to continue our feud. I figured if he was out of sight, out of mind; I had no need to worry about him at Wesleyan. Only Harper had been fooled. I couldn’t blame her. Mike was a good-looking guy and could be charming when he worked at it. I predicted he would cheat on her soon, and she would be heartbroken. If she asked, I would gladly kick his butt when he did that.

I saw the buses pull up, and an older man got out and came in to greet us.

“Welcome to the University of Oklahoma. I’m John Mercer, the Director of Football Operations. One of the things I’m responsible for is the coordination of on-campus recruiting. Coach Michaels wanted to be here to greet you but had to take care of something that pulled him away.”

Coach Michaels had been Oklahoma’s head coach for the last fifteen years. His brother was their defensive coordinator.

“I’m sure you’re all hungry. We’re going to go to Headington Hall so you can see where you’ll be staying once you come to campus.”

We got on the buses, and you could feel the excitement of many of the recruits and their families. Oklahoma has a gorgeous campus, and Headington Hall was no exception. It was located across the street from Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. It would be convenient for game day. We all got off the bus and gathered around the front entrance.

“Headington Hall was recently built at a cost of $75 million. It holds 380 students, with no more than 180 of them student-athletes. We consider this a game-changer. For the first time in school history, all our student-athletes who live in dorms are under one roof. Nowhere else in the country will you find better accommodation. It boasts apartment-style living in two- and four-bedroom units.

“I know you’re all ready to eat, so let’s all go to the Sam Bradford Training Table, a state-of-the-art dining facility,” Mr. Mercer said.

As we walked in, they broke us up into the groups we would be with all day. My parents and I were joined by Tomas Rios, another quarterback recruit from Western Park in the Southwest/Redbird, Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, and his parents Carlos and Elena. Our tour guide was Jordan Murphy, who was a sophomore and Oklahoma’s third-string quarterback.

The Rios family was a study in contrasts. Carlos, the father, was a hulking man. He looked like an over-muscled fire hydrant. His wife, Elena, was a thin, waspish Latina almost as tall as her husband. Tomas was a couple of inches taller than his dad and seemed to be the body compromise between his two parents. He was a bit more substantial than you’d expect of a pro-style quarterback, but his frame was probably pretty good for a dual-threat quarterback.

Jordan took us through the food line and found us a table.

“How do you like living here?” Tomas asked Jordan.

“I love it. My older brother’s going to another college to play ball, and when he saw where we live, he was jealous. He complained that his bed was too small and he had to share his room with someone. I love that it’s convenient to practice and workouts,” Jordan said to sell us.

“What do you not like about it?” Elena asked.

“It can be a hike to get to classes. I also don’t like that I have to eat all my meals here. When I’m on campus, it would be nice to be able to grab lunch at one of the other dorms or student center. If we eat there, we have to use meal points.

“Another issue is the elevators are a pain. You can have one waiting on your floor, but for some reason, you have to wait for the other one. I end up using the stairs most days,” Jordan shared.

“How come we’re the only ones eating?” Tomas asked.

“This is closed over the weekend.”

“What do you do over weekends?” I asked.

“We have a kitchenette in our dorm rooms with a refrigerator and microwave. I normally will eat in for breakfast and then either go out for lunch and dinner or order in.”

After we ate, Jordan gave us a tour of the main floor. They had a nice setup. There was a TV and game room with pool tables. They balanced that out with reading, group project, and computer rooms where we saw students studying or typing papers. They also had a theater room where you could watch movies.

He then took us to his dorm room. It looked like they’d cleaned up their apartment. Jordan was in one of the four-bedroom units. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. I hadn’t seen any dorms where they had that feature. I could see the advantage of not having to wait to use a shower.

When we were done, Chuck stopped us at the door.

“It looks like half the floor is in the hall,” he told us.

“Oh, man! That’s my fault. I told them I drew you to show around,” Jordan said to me.

“That’s fine. Let me go first,” I suggested.