“Look at the play from the offensive side of the football. They’re lined up with two receivers on the left side. The slotback is covered by the inside linebacker, an obvious mismatch. The quarterback makes the right read and throws the ball to the slot receiver when he makes separation,” Coach Mason said as he stepped through the video frame by frame.
“Now let’s focus on the outside receiver. The cornerback is five yards off, and when the receiver comes off the ball, he positions himself so the receiver has a clear path up the sideline, putting him between the quarterback and the outside receiver. Nothing out of the ordinary,” Coach Mason said.
“Wait, go back,” I said.
This was how we were taught to defend an outside receiver. You put yourself between him and the ball and used the sidelines as another defender. What I saw was the cornerback hadn’t turned the right way to run with him. I had been taught that if you were peeking into the backfield, you were beat. The cornerback had turned to watch the quarterback’s eyes as the corner ran with the outside receiver. As the quarterback made the correct read, the cornerback broke for where the ball was going to be. As I watched the play unfold, I could see where I would likely fall into the same trap. It was an ingenious defensive play.
“What would you do to counter it?” Coach Mason asked me.
“If I saw the corner turn like that, I would throw to the outside receiver,” I said logically.
From Coach Mason’s chuckle, I knew that was wrong. He let the play continue but focused on the outside receiver who looked like he was running free. But then I saw the safety had sprinted over and would have a nearly perfect angle to either disrupt the pass or intercept it. Whoever their defensive coordinator was, he was a genius. This went beyond anything I had seen in high school. If it hadn’t been for Coach Mason pointing it out, I would have never seen it. It just wasn’t in my experience to have thought it was possible.
“Let’s look at the next play. The slotback does a nice seven-yard up and then does an out,” Coach Mason said.
I watch as the defensive tackle dropped back and ran with the receiver, and then, when he reached five yards past the line of scrimmage, the tackle quickly turned and put his giant hands out as if he were a basketball defender. I was shocked at the speed with which he did it. The quarterback, thinking a smaller linebacker covered the slot, threw the ball in anticipation of the break outside. The defensive tackle snatched the pass out of the air and rumbled back upfield.
“Two factors made this work,” Coach Mason said. “First is the athletic play of their defensive line. The second is the blitz by the linebacker he replaced. The offensive guard wasn’t able to pick up the linebacker when his assignment dropped back. His momentary confusion allowed the linebacker to run past him and get into the quarterback’s face. This forced the quarterback to dump the ball off to his slot receiver, a play they’d practiced a hundred times. While he made the right read and throw, it turned to disaster because of the size of the defender. Personally, I think the big guy got lucky when he caught the ball, but I would bet that nine times out of ten he would knock the pass down.”
Coach Mason had a knack for helping me understand what I was watching. I watched the games Springfield played, and it became apparent that they were playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers. Something I learned from Coach Mason was the three Ps: Prepare, Practice, and Perform.
◊◊◊
I didn’t get home until late. Once practice had finished, the coaching staff found me in the video room talking to Coach Mason. He walked them through everything he had shown me and then continued to coach. I wasn’t surprised when they started taking notes. Coach Diamond almost looked sick.
Then Coach Mason showed why his more than forty-five years of high-level coaching experience was invaluable. He showed us how to prepare to beat Springfield. Like all plays, there were reads that tipped them off, and we had enough game film to make educated guesses. Simply put, Coach Mason was smarter than Springfield’s defensive coach was, or so I hoped.
They kicked me out when my mom called to track me down. Moreover, I was damned hungry. When I walked in the back door, my boy was all wiggles and needed some loving. There’s a saying that you should always wish you were as good a person as your dog thinks you are. If Duke’s response to me was any indication, I was due for sainthood any day now.
“Check your phone,” Dad said. “You have some people trying to track you down.”
I’d turned it off during my session with Coach Mason. He didn’t tolerate interruptions, like a cell phone, while he worked with me. For what I paid him, he could have my undivided attention without a problem. I turned it on and found there were messages from Ridge Townsend and Bill Callaway, my USC friends. Another was from Frank Ingram with IDC. I decided to make the business call first.
“Mr. Ingram, David Dawson returning your call.”
“I reviewed your application, and I would like to ask you a couple of questions to see how we can help.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
“The first question I have is, do you have video chat? I would much rather we speak face-to-face if that’s possible.”
I told him what I used, and he joined my chat group. I was soon talking to him on my tablet.
“Much better,” Mr. Ingram said.
I was surprised he was so young. I expected him to be older if he was a partner. Mr. Ingram appeared to be in his mid-thirties and what you would think of as a California guy: he had blond hair and a deep tan. I could imagine him comfortable either on a golf course or surfing. He was sitting in an outdoor restaurant with his sunglasses on the table. He wore a light blue fitted button-up shirt.
“I took the liberty of talking to Rita James. I hope that was okay?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s fine. I’ve asked for her guidance.”
“What do you expect we will do for you?”
I’d had a few days to think about this, and I thought IDC would be more help once the movie came out. I decided to play it close to the vest and see what Mr. Ingram thought.
“Rita told me I should look into help with my image. I’m fairly new to this, so I’d appreciate any help you can give me.”
“David, I know you’re more on the ball than that. Tell me what you want,” Mr. Ingram challenged me.
“I’ve had my friends help me up to this point. They’ve done a great job, but I’m concerned about when the movie comes out. I think there’ll be a window of opportunity that I need to take advantage of.”
“What about sports? What do you want from football and baseball?”
“I don’t really know. What are you getting at?” I asked.
“When you dream, what does the perfect world look like, sports-wise?” he asked.
“I’m like Bo Jackson and play both baseball and football at the highest levels,” I said.
“Is there room for modeling and acting if you do that?” Mr. Ingram asked.
“I originally started modeling because our family was tight on money. Then I found I really liked it. The movie I made was a lot of fun. I can see both as being vehicles to make me comfortable.”
He laughed at my last statement.
“After you’re done with sports, what’s the plan?” he asked.
“I don’t have much of a plan yet. I own a farm. I might settle down and raise a family.”
“Don’t you think you’d get bored? I’ve seen some of the videos, and get the feeling you like excitement and a challenge. I would’ve thought you had bigger plans,” Mr. Ingram said.
“My grandpa was in politics. My grandmother has suggested I go into that. I’ve also thought about going into business.”
“So, your image needs to remain the clean-cut young man with a touch of danger mixed in. Would it be okay if we portrayed you as being single?” he asked.