He laughed.
“That brings back memories. When you’re broke and have to feed two kids, you use whatever you have. It wasn’t that bad. I only made it for them because they would ask for it.”
I greeted the guys, and we sat down at the dining-room table. Coach had ordered Papa Del’s. They had a party-size deep-dish pizza that would feed even this group. A couple of slices were more than enough. I felt good when I saw he’d also gotten a large Italian salad so I could at least say I ate something healthy. Not that pizza didn’t hit all the food groups.
Once we had something to eat, Coach Hope explained why he’d invited us all to dinner.
“I wanted to congratulate the four of you on getting offers from the University of Michigan. I understand that Ty has accepted.”
“Hey, good job,” Tim said.
“Thanks. My parents are excited that I got the offer. Dad bought the whole family Michigan gear,” Ty said.
“Coach Haber told me that he’s optimistic that the three of you will also accept,” Coach Hope said.
“We felt good about the visit, but we have a couple more places to go to,” Wolf explained.
“And I totally agree that you should make those. I understand that you have official visits scheduled for Alabama and USC, and I think you need to explore what they have to offer. I know that Bo Harrington has been in touch frequently, checking up on you. He’s pushing hard for you to join him at Alabama,” Coach Hope said, looking at me.
“They have a nice campus and outstanding football facilities. The women aren’t bad either,” I shared.
“There were several nice-looking women at Michigan,” Ty offered.
Someone was helping them recruit. Both Wolf and Tim picked up on it and started to tease him. Coach Hope stopped it before it got out of hand.
“Coach Haber called me today and wanted me to run something by the four of you. I understand that David won’t enroll in the fall because he has a movie to film. Because of that, he’ll gray-shirt and start school in the spring semester. Coach Haber said it will technically put him in the next year’s recruiting class.
“The reason that’s important is that Michigan likes to take at least one quarterback in each class. He wanted me to talk to you about the person they’re thinking of offering,” Coach Hope said.
We looked at one another. Why would Michigan ask us about whom they were recruiting unless it directly impacted one of us? For example, if they offered Wolf and got an acceptance from a highly rated tight end, they might tell him about it. That way, he could make the best decision about where to go.
All I could think was that they had had a positive response from another stud quarterback. I knew that all the top schools I was looking at either had or were recruiting high-level quarterbacks. I wasn’t afraid of competition. USC had signed Ridge Townsend two years ago. Bill had told me there was Heisman talk for him next year. Last year, Alabama had enlisted Wes Hunt; he was my Co-MVP at Elite 11 and the number one quarterback in that class. Clemson had signed Chuck Tess, another Elite 11 quarterback, last year, and had a commitment from Larry Dell, who ranked just behind me in this year’s class.
“I’m fine with whoever they take,” I said.
“Would you be fine if they took Mike Herndon?” Coach Hope asked.
That took me by surprise. I could tell that even Ty wasn’t happy to hear that news. I was okay with competing for a spot, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to have to watch my back the whole time. And I knew for certain that I would never let him near anyone I dated.
“I’m not …” I started, but Coach Hope cut me off.
“I also got a call from Mike’s dad, Coach Herndon. He asked that you give Mike a second chance.”
I let out a long sigh.
“We already did that, and it didn’t work out so great,” Wolf said, getting mad.
“I’ve already done that for him twice after the stuff he pulled, both times at his request. Funny thing is, he had no problem asking. But for some reason, he’s never shown even a thought of thanking me,” I added.
“I said I would ask,” Coach Hope said.
“Guys. I bet that on a college team with eighty-five to a hundred and twenty-five players, there’re going to be a few we don’t like,” Tim said. “I think it would be better if we knew that a guy was a dick instead of finding out the hard way.”
“Personally, I think Mike would be a problem,” Ty said.
Everyone looked at me. Since when was I the tie-breaker? My heart said no way. My head gave me two reasons to allow it. The first was Mike would never challenge me for my job. I know that made me sound arrogant, but it was true. The second was that Coach Herndon had asked. If it had just come from Michigan, I would have said ‘no.’
“I’m not going to change my mind about Michigan just because Mike’s going there. If he gets out of hand, we can always have Tim give him a shot in practice.”
That made the three of them smile.
“Of course, I would never cheap-shot a teammate,” Tim said.
I don’t think any of us believed him.
◊◊◊
Chapter 18 – I Would Have Wanted to Go Home, Too Friday October 7
Brook had had another run-in with Destiny after she dropped me off at Coach Hope’s house. They’d stopped to pick up food, and Destiny had been there. You would think by now Destiny would have given up on her plans to take over the cheerleading squad. She’d started a rumor that Brook was cheating on me with someone from Washington. I just ignored it because Brook and I knew where the other was almost 24/7. She would have had to have some kind of magical ability to sneak off and rendezvous with one of our rivals. If Destiny had been slyer, she would have made it someone from State. I didn’t think my girlfriend would fall for another high school boy.
Brook retaliated by telling everyone what a ‘round-heeled whore’ Destiny was. While I didn’t think it was very nice, I left it to my girlfriend to fight her own battles as she saw fit. At least this time, they hadn’t come to blows. I think Destiny had learned her lesson.
On the tattletale front, Ava and I had come to an uneasy truce. Paul pulled up to Brook’s house, and I got out to knock on the door. It seemed that ‘you’re welcome anytime’ meant something different to Ava than it did to me. Growing up, we’d come and gone from everyone’s houses like we lived there. Ava thought you should actually have to be invited in each time you came over. It seemed like a lot of extra work to me.
I dutifully knocked on the back door and waited. Ava peeked out the window. I wondered who she thought it would be since I picked up her daughter at the same time every day. Brook came out with her suitcase. We hadn’t said anything, but I assumed this meant she was going to USC with me this weekend for my official visit.
I had a lot planned for this weekend. Besides my official visit, I had the group from Ohio State spending the weekend doing all the preliminary work for my new house in Malibu. I also planned to see Halle and return Bandit to her. While I liked the little guy, I was a dog person.
Caryn and Megan were also going with us and planned to stay for a full week. Caryn wanted to see her family and spend time with Frank and Kent to work on the businesses there.
On the ride to school, I half-listened to my girlfriend as she ranted about Destiny. I made all the necessary noises while I mentally prepared for the game tonight. The more I watched game tape of Mt. Vernon, the more I was concerned. I think they were the embodiment of what Coach Hope dreamed his team was: defense-oriented. They played aggressive defense, and then their offense tried to grind out long drives that ate up a lot of clock. It explained why their scores were so close. They wanted to get a lead and then just hang onto it. So far, it had worked.
When we got to school, we walked to our lockers. We found Dare with his back to his locker and three guys surrounding him. Something definitely wasn’t kosher, so I motioned for Wolf, Tim, Yuri, Phil, and Roc to join me.