“My contract calls for three more shoots this year. The commitment is substantial, especially if Range walks away from it. They’ll have paid a lot of money with nothing to show for it. When money’s involved, people do crazy things.”
Tami then told me about her tour of the campus. I guess Les Wexner’s donations earned him the right to have one of the hospital buildings and the performing arts center named after him. She told me the proper way to refer to the different buildings was to shorten Wexner and call them ‘the Wex.’ She had an appointment with a guidance counselor tomorrow so she could see what they had to offer as far as an undergraduate program and then possibly medical school. She told me they had an honors program for gifted students she wanted to look into.
She walked me back from the aquatic center after we swam laps. I was the first one back to my room. I checked my emails and called Mom to tell her I might stay through Monday if I could get into the Elite 11 competition. Since we had to be on the field by 9 a.m., I decided to go ahead and go to sleep.
The other three guys came in and tried to be quiet, but I wasn’t used to having roommates. I woke up each time one of them came back to the room. I was afraid that if I ever had a roommate, this could be an issue.
Thursday June 11
I WAS UP AT SIX, AND couldn’t get back to sleep. I decided to get my run out of the way. I had mapped out a route to run this morning that would show me the campus. I tried to be quiet, but I woke Flee.
“What are you doing up so early?” he asked.
“Running.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“I’d enjoy the company,” I answered.
We went out in front of the dorm and stretched.
“What’s it like being the man for the junior class? Do you have many offers?” Flee asked.
“I hadn’t really thought too much about it. I’ve been playing baseball and modeling. I thought I’d focus on recruiting this summer. I’m in no hurry to make a decision.”
“Any offers?” he asked.
“Kentucky,” I said.
“That’s all?” he asked as he gave me an incredulous look.
“I’ve kept the recruiters at bay up until now. Why, do you think I should have more offers by now?”
He snorted.
“I wish I had any offer right now. Everyone’s scared of my height. I don’t know why, though. Russell Wilson of the Seahawks is only five-ten. All the schools I talk to want the guys who are six-two or taller.”
We began to jog to ease into the run. People seemed to be getting up, and there were even a few joggers out. My planned running course went out the window when two cute girls came around the corner a quarter of a block ahead of us. We might not get as much of workout, but I wasn’t against taking in the view.
“What’s your ultimate goal? Is it to play quarterback in college?” I asked.
“I want to make it to the NFL.”
“What’s your backup plan?” I asked.
“Oh, bite me!” he said.
“Settle down, we all need a backup plan. I was just going to suggest you focus on schools that would help you achieve both goals. I’m sure all the big-name schools like Ohio State would serve both purposes. But if the top tier doesn’t work out, you need to focus on plan B. For example, if you were looking for a degree in engineering, you might consider the University of Illinois or Georgia Tech.”
He made a face. If he were a girl, I’d know what it meant: I had just said something very stupid.
“That’s what my mom keeps telling me. I want to go to as many camps as I can this summer to show I have what it takes. If I don’t have any offers by then, I’ll start sending out videos to other schools.”
The girls started to give us nervous looks so we peeled off and crossed the street. We were able to pick up the pace and get a good workout in.
WE CAME BACK AND SHOWERED and found that Percy and Roland were just getting up. The four of us went to breakfast. Percy was giving me funny looks all through breakfast. I finally called him on it.
“My sister googled you,” Percy blurted.
“Dang it, I thought my juvie records were sealed,” I complained.
The other two looked to Percy for confirmation.
“You were never charged,” Percy shared with a straight face.
Wow, how did he know that? I was going to have to see what Lily had been posting on social media.
“What did you do?” Roland asked.
I looked around to make sure no one was listening and motioned them in closer. I could see they were nervous.
“I knocked out my football coach’s son,” I shared.
“Why did you do that?” Roland asked.
“I’m not allowed to talk about it,” I said mysteriously.
I’d hoped to sidetrack Percy, but he was not to be denied.
“David’s a model and a movie star,” he announced.
“If my girlfriend finds out you’re a bad-boy model-slash-movie star, I will kick your ass,” Flee promised.
“I thought Candy only liked little guys,” Roland teased.
“Up yours, too,” Flee shot back.
“I think she has a thing for Percy,” I shared.
“Leave me out of this,” Percy grumped, since he obviously wasn’t sure if I was teasing or not.
“You know, you’re right. I saw her checking him out. I think she’s after his daddy’s money,” Roland confirmed.
“Again, screw you both,” Flee said with a smirk.
“Is that how you get all your women?” I asked Percy.
He flipped me off and we all laughed. The joys of male bonding.
THE MORNING SESSION was spent working on footwork and making all the different passes. It was obvious by midmorning that Roland, Flee and I were in another class compared to the rest of the campers. Percy needed time to develop his skills and playing time. He had a ton of potential, but he was just a little raw.
After lunch, we played seven-on-seven. Flee and Roland were patient and took what the defenses gave them. They reminded me a lot of how Ridge played, except they weren’t as polished as he was. I watched as they methodically worked their way down the field. The problem with ten-plus play drives was it gave the defense ten-plus chances to make something bad happen, or you’d have ten-plus plays to make a fatal mistake. Both of their first drives ended in interceptions.
I decided to change things up and was lucky in that I had a receiver on my team who was small, but fast. On my first play, I told my receivers I wanted them all to go five to ten yards out and then do buttonhooks. I wanted Speedy to run a fly pattern. Up to this point, the other quarterbacks had all been throwing the ball in the five- to fifteen-yard range. Defensive guys aren’t stupid. They adjust to something like that.
“Set, HUT!” I called out.
I grinned inwardly when I saw the defenders all jumping the routes. My speedy guy, Rick, blew past his man. I launched a long ball and let him run under it. It was a nice easy catch and trot into the end zone. That might not have been my best strategy because there were eighteen of us and we were only using four fields. That meant I had to wait for the others before I got my next turn.
We ended up getting to go four times each. The last time was interesting. I’d thrown long balls on my three previous turns, and scored each time. I noticed they made me go last. I saw the Ohio State coaching staff, including Head Coach Wes Casey and Quarterback Coach John Lunt, was watching our exercise. Something else I saw was that the defense was made up of camp counselors, a.k.a. college players!
I huddled up my team.
“I think we’re going to have to work for this one. Did you all see who the defenders are?” I asked.
They responded with nods and all looked a little nervous.
“Settle down. They have more to lose than we do. Think how much fun we’ll have the rest of camp rubbing it in that a bunch of high school kids took down the big tough college boys,” I said.