“Your receiver had to slow down slightly because you threw the ball to him. As you go up into higher competition, that half step could mean the difference in him making a nice gain or scoring. What I want you to do is lead him. Make your receiver go get it, and then all he has is green grass between him and the goal line. Throw to the green grass, and he’ll score every time,” David said to explain the nuances of throwing a long ball.
“You heard the man! Do it again!” Coach Mason barked.
That meant that Coach Mason agreed with his assessment. With David’s coaching, Colt ran the play again. This time, he led his receiver a bit too much, and the guy couldn’t get to it. But on the subsequent attempt, Colt hit him in stride, and his receiver walked into the end zone.
“Okay, Phil, you saw what he did. Show us you can do it better,” David challenged.
He watched as his brother confidently took Colt’s place. He had more swagger than David had seen to this point. Phil dropped back and threw a perfect ball. David had to admit that he’d rarely seen two quarterbacks look that good in back-to-back plays, even at USC.
If Phil had been a few inches taller, he would be on every coach’s wish list, based on that throw alone.
“Hell yes!” David yelled as he bounced around in excitement. “Do it again, so you can show everyone that wasn’t a fluke.”
Phil did just that.
David had an indelible smile on his face at the end of the morning session. All four of his quarterbacks were showing vast improvement from the beginning of camp. Colt was the clear leader, but Phil had made an excellent showing. David had no doubt that his offer list would explode come Monday.
The other two guys showed they had a significant upside.
“Did we get everything right today?” Coach Mason asked. “No. Do you know what we did? We had energy, and we got better. There’s the standard. Good luck.”
◊◊◊
David did what was now his habit and had lunch with the four guys.
“To give you a heads-up, we’re done practicing. You’ll get a chance to talk to the press and scouting guys after lunch,” David said.
“What should we say?” Axel asked.
“David made me watch an old movie called Bull Durham. Was that in black and white?” Phil turned and asked. David flipped him off to the amusement of their tablemates. “In it, the crusty old catcher teaches the rookie pitcher how to talk to reporters. It was a lot of old clichés, like ‘I’m just happy to help the team,’ or ‘I want to give it my best,’” Phil shared.
“Don’t forget to thank the Lord,” David added.
“My brother taught me to use tried-and-true phrases. That keeps you from saying something controversial that’ll either be used by your opponents to get motivated or …” Phil looked at David as he trailed off.
“You might say something now that will bite you in the ass when you finally make it. Even at your age, you have to be careful not to say something that might offend someone, or the cancel-culture mob will be on your ass.”
“I get it,” Colt said. “That quarterback that was supposed to go top five in last year’s draft dropped to the middle of the first round because of some homophobic text messages in high school. He claimed it was just guys busting on each other, but it offended a loud minority and ended up costing him a lot of money.”
“No college wants what they consider a problem child. Figure out a few phrases and stick to them, and you’ll be fine,” David suggested.
“Like what?” Max asked.
“For something like this, I might say something like ‘I came to this camp to get better, and I feel I’ve improved. I can’t wait to get home and share what I learned with my teammates,’” David said.
“He’s all about the team,” Phil said.
“Hey. You can’t do it alone, so it never hurts to talk them up. Piss them off by being cocky and taking all the credit and see how bad you look the next game,” David said.
“Please. You never look bad,” Colt teased.
“That may be, but I would never tell them that. I like my left tackle blocking my backside instead of him allowing a defensive end a straight shot at blindsiding me.”
“Any parting words of wisdom, Coach?” Max asked.
David thought for a moment.
“I’ve attended a lot of camps, and every one has a different message, but it’s all the same. It’s how you think … how you go about your business. Life is about preparing yourself and being organized. When you’re organized and detailed, you have a direction. When you’re not, you’re all over the place.”
◊◊◊
David was happy that camp was finally over. He was glad he did it because he found he really enjoyed coaching. When Phil and Colt finally had that ‘aha’ moment, and David could see the joy on their faces, it almost felt like it was his moment, too. He’d helped them get better, and in turn, he felt he was better for it because now he understood the concept and why it was necessary. With that knowledge, he would be an even better quarterback himself.
On the flight back, Bud Mason had joined him. David had upgraded Bud, so they were both in first class, sitting next to each other.
“You heard our athletic director resigned. What do you think that means?” David asked.
“I think the FBI has a case on somebody. Maybe a few somebodies that the head guy was supposed to be watching,” Bud said.
“Sort of what I thought.”
“What I don’t understand is, why would he resign?”
“It’s something big,” David guessed.
“It has to involve a revenue sport. Otherwise, why bother?” Bud speculated.
“Like basketball?” David asked hopefully.
“It has to be football because there aren’t enough spots on a basketball team, even if you included preferred walk-ons. People would notice if someone didn’t fit.”
“Do you think it’s an assistant that’s involved?”
“If it were, do you think your athletic director would quit?” Bud asked.
David tried to reason it through. When the FBI had come down on basketball for shoe money, the NCAA all but ignored it. Heck, the Arizona coach had been caught on tape discussing a $100,000 payment to a recruit that ended up on their team.
Full stop and take a step back. The basketball coach was caught red-handed and not fired. The amazing part was that recruits still went to Arizona to the tune of pulling in a top-five recruiting class, despite the cloud of uncertainty over the program.
Apparently, they knew that the NCAA would do nothing to them.
If USC wouldn’t face the NCAA’s wrath, why would Jaxson quit? Was he the fall guy so that someone like his head coach could keep his job? Because David knew for certain that Coach Clayton would not have someone on his team that he didn’t know about. He wasn’t a complete incompetent, or he would never have landed a plum coaching job like USC’s.
Then he remembered there was mention of the scandal touching both the women’s rowing team and soccer. He wasn’t sure if it was men’s or women’s soccer, but that would mean it involved at least three teams under Jaxson’s athletic department.
If that were the case, he could see men like Ron Pennington and Gabe Francis, as major donors, demanding that he be replaced. It would be what David would do if he ran a company. Someone had to be held accountable. If you didn’t, then you shouldn’t be surprised when the inmates were soon running the place. In a few years, taking bribes would be the least of your worries.
The real question was whether USC was like Arizona, who would retain an exposed cheat. Or would they do the right thing and fire those involved?
Of course, he wasn’t so naïve as to make a knee-jerk decision if there was any doubt that Coach Clayton really had done anything wrong. David hoped that if his coach was guilty, he at least wouldn’t drag this into the season, fighting for his job.