“Dawson! Quit socializing and get your butt over here,” Coach Mason barked.
“Duty calls,” David said with a grin as he turned to trot over to where his group was.
Coach Mason had the receivers, defensive backs, and quarterbacks gather around before they got started.
“My assistant is David Dawson, who is currently at USC. David came to this camp both his sophomore and junior years. Do you have any words before we get started?” Coach Mason asked.
“Our goal is to make you shine in front of all the recruiters that are here. We’ll move quickly, so I hope you’re in shape,” David said with a grin.
“Will you be throwing us balls, too?” Axel asked.
“I might if I need to demonstrate something,” David responded.
“Does he suck up all the limelight?” Colt asked Phil.
“Pretty much.”
“If you two clowns are through, let’s get started,” David said.
Coach Mason got them doing running drills. He didn’t know what Phil and Colt had been doing for the last couple of weeks, but it wasn’t football-related. Thankfully, Axel and Max were on their game. Towards the end, David was getting on them pretty good. Phil and Colt were both competitors, so they quickly got focused.
They practiced for four hours until it was time for lunch. David had a slight smile towards the end of their first session when Colt complained that his arm might fall off. Phil had worked out in the Lincoln High system, so he was in better shape.
◊◊◊
There was a reason David didn’t live in Houston. Hot and humid wasn’t a good combination. After standing and watching the morning session, he’d already sweated his balls off. He was glad he wouldn’t be doing drills for Coach Mason later in the day.
David begged off eating lunch with Coach Mason and the others running the camp and found his group in the cafeteria.
“Mind if I join you?”
They all agreed, so he took a seat. Before he could take his first bite, Max asked him a question.
“What makes this camp better than the other ones?”
“We have three goals at this camp. The first is the training. Top quarterbacks want to come here because of the stories of people making tremendous improvements in their skills. Plus, you get to see how you stack up against the best. Both you and Axel are showing that you might have more potential than Colt and Phil,” David said.
“Bite me,” Colt said.
David gave him a stern look.
“Based on what you two did this morning in front of some of the top programs in the country, who would you rather recruit? I’m just telling it like it is. You can’t be taking plays off or goofing around when it’s time to work,” David said.
“But you said to have fun,” Phil complained.
“This is fun,” David said in a way to show he was serious.
“We get it,” Colt said.
David continued.
“The next two go hand-in-hand. The second goal is that you’re being compared by the scouting services. They’re all here. You could say your rating doesn’t matter, but you’d be crazy to believe that because colleges, boosters, alumni, and fan bases all keep score. If a coaching staff couldn’t land enough blue-chip recruits, they’d better be winning some games; otherwise, they’d be done.
“The third goal is to get seen by the top programs. You can’t have any direct contact with them at this camp, but they are all here to watch you. If you want to get on their recruiting list, you need to show them you have game.
“You want to be able to pick and choose where you take your official campus visits. You are only allowed a small number, and you want to make every one of them count. That was what I wanted when I was in your shoes. To do that, I needed to have the interest go both ways. My goal was to visit the best possible programs. You’ll want the same,” David said.
“Why were you so adamant about the receivers being further from the sideline on our back shoulder throws?” Axel asked.
“It’s like this …”
From there, it was an in-depth X’s-and-O’s discussion about the finer points of playing the position.
After lunch, the campers were told to get into shorts and their jerseys. They’d switched the measurement session to immediately after lunch because key staff couldn’t make it until then. Part of the testing was for drugs or illegal substances like steroids. The camp had sprung it on the players so they couldn’t try to mask the test. Three guys opted to go home instead of taking the test.
There were ten groups of quarterbacks working with their coaches. Each coach seemed to have their own approach. Coach Mason was the only one who went old-school. He had them in full pads; he said you didn’t play in shorts and t-shirts, so you should practice what you’d wear in a game. With it being 94 degrees and what felt like 100% humidity, his guys were sweating their butts off.
When David came out for the afternoon session, he noted that the grounds staff had brought over more portable bleachers for their practice field section, and they were full.
Coach Mason gathered them around before starting.
“Ignore that lot,” he said, nodding toward the bleachers. Then he began coaching. “Quarterback is not just a position; quarterback is a lifestyle. It’s not going out on a Friday night and throwing a football around. It is putting in the time during the week and earning the respect of your teammates.”
With that nugget, he started their afternoon.
“Damn it, Axel. Rip through there. Quit being a pussy and trust your arm. You can make that throw,” Coach Mason yelled.
“But it’ll get picked,” Axel complained.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, coach!” David cried out. “You can’t throw your clipboard at him. Let me show him.”
The coaches in the stands chuckled because they knew how Coach Mason felt. Instead, he threw his clipboard at David, who danced out of the way and took the football from Axel.
“Normally, I would take one look at that coverage and be looking for my next read. This play is designed to catch the defense sleeping because they’re expecting you to do just that. Because of that, it has big-play potential.”
David dropped back and sent the ball screaming between two defenders. His receiver barely hung on to it, but he was running free.
“They even knew it was coming,” David reminded the other quarterbacks. “This throw is not about finesse. Just haul off and throw a fastball. Now you do it.”
Once they trusted themselves, they were consistently making that play. Up next were long balls, but their receivers weren’t doing their job. The defensive backs were eating their lunch, which made the quarterbacks look bad.
“Talk to the receivers,” Coach Mason ordered David.
David gathered them around.
“You have to win every one-on-one battle. The spotlight is on you in front of the entire team and your audience of college recruiters, and you aren’t shining today. You’ve got to get better. So, when you get into that spotlight, I want to see it. Get aggressive, get precise, and run your routes correctly,” David said.
The next play was better, but when the ball went too far, the receiver slowed down.
“Full speed to the whistle!” David called out. “If you do that, you’ll be a lot less likely to give up on overthrown balls in game situations. It’s all about confidence, which is built off preparation. That means you do it in practice.”
Coach Mason added, “There is more preparation in this sport than any other sport. You prepare in the spring … you don’t play a game. You prepare in the summer … you don’t play a game. Fall, you get to play twelve. You practice more than you play. This is a game where the practice and preparation are bigger than the game. The game takes care of itself. It all comes down to what are you willing to do to get ready to play.”
Later, after a couple of bad throws drew Coach Mason’s ire, Colt made a comment about him only being a junior. Coach Mason lost his shit again.