He smiled.
“I’m telling you right now: you will be a part of The Ohio State Buckeyes football team. I don’t even care if you play. I want your swagger and confidence. This is where championships happen, and I think you’ll be a key ingredient in the years to come.
“As far as the quarterback position, we just had a freshman play in the National Championship game, which we won,” he said as he flashed his ring. “When you step on campus, he would be a senior, or off to the NFL. Now there’s no way I can guarantee playing time, but if you show progress over the next two seasons, you might be in position to redshirt your freshman year. That would give you a chance to quarterback the first team ever to have the same quarterback win four National Championships.”
He had me on the edge of my seat. What he was proposing was an extreme longshot at best, but I liked his confidence. Looking around at what Ohio State had to offer, and the tradition surrounding the program ... well, it made it all seem possible.
“I hadn’t planned on doing this right now. I really wanted to visit you and your parents together first, but I think I might have to be aggressive to win you over. David, on behalf of myself, the coaching staff, players, The Ohio State University, and the alumni, I would like to offer you the opportunity to join us by extending you an offer.”
I felt like he had just proposed to me. I was ready to accept when I felt Tami touch my arm. I’d told her to remind me never to make a quick decision. We had over a year and a half before I had to sign a national letter of intent. A lot could change in that time. I shook his hand.
“I’m honored at the offer, sir, but I need to explore all my options before making this kind of decision. I also need to talk to my parents. They would want to get to know you and your staff and to see the university before I could say ‘yes’.”
“I certainly understand that. Something else before you head off to camp: I talked to Nike, and they’ve had a cancellation and penciled you in for the Elite 11 competition,” Coach told me.
“Thank you, sir, I appreciate your help with that. I look forward to the competition,” I said with a smile.
ON OUR WALK TO CAMP, you could have scraped me off the ceiling, I was flying so high. Tami, while excited about the opportunities playing for Ohio State could provide for me, was the voice of reason. She reminded me of my visits to Stanford and USC last summer, plus my trip to Alabama later this summer.
Coach and I were the last two to join everyone in a big auditorium where we’d get our marching orders for today’s session.
“Did you get an offer?” Percy shouted out, and I just nodded.
Everyone clapped and I quickly found my seat with the guys. Of course, none of the coaches could comment, but there were a lot of smiles in the room.
It was interesting to see the different reactions from the three guys. Percy was a huge Ohio State fan and was happy I’d been offered. Flee took it as a challenge. He seemed to like having a chip on his shoulder. I’m sure it made him try harder. Roland became somewhat withdrawn and sulked. It definitely showed in his play the rest of the day. He was definitely not the number 5 quarterback in the country, based on his performance that day. He might not be the number 5 quarterback at camp. I hoped he got his head on straight by Monday when we’d be competing in the Elite 11 regional contest.
TOWARDS THE END OF camp, ESPN showed up to get ready for the Elite 11 camp on Monday. Word had gotten out to the recruiting websites that I’d been offered by Ohio State. This was technically my third offer. Of course, Kentucky was my first. My second was State when I gave them a soft verbal to save Luke’s scholarship after our fight in my freshman year. Then they had a coaching change, and I was able to pull my verbal. I wasn’t sure if they even considered honoring their initial offer or not.
USC had been concerned because it wasn’t clear if I would even play quarterback, so they held off on making an offer when I went to their camp last summer. The one thing they did have going for them was they offered Bill a scholarship and he accepted. If I planned on playing with all my teammates, I would have to look hard at USC. Something that did give me pause was I was wary of the location: USC was right in the middle of LA, and being from a small town, that had its pluses and minuses.
One of the ESPN staffers asked if they could interview me, and I agreed. I suddenly wished I had my talking points with me, but I was confident I could finagle it. Before they got started, they explained they were from ESPNU, which was the ESPN network that covered high school sports.
ESPNU: “When did you first realize you wanted to play quarterback?”
David: “I never played football until my freshman year. My game had always been baseball. I didn’t even go out for football in middle school. I thought I might try out for the swim team, but my Uncle John had other ideas. He was college roommates with one of the football coaches and called him to see if I could play. He started me out as a backup fullback. I found I liked the hitting.
“Our varsity team had a rash of injuries and I was promoted to fill in as our fullback. During practice, I was inserted as the scout-team quarterback. I was just goofing around and made a stupid challenge to our defense. I guess I did pretty well because when our quarterback got hurt, I was put into the lineup. We were down pretty good and we staged a furious rally. Unfortunately, it didn’t end with a storybook ending; we lost.
“Since that game, I’ve started every game, and when I was healthy, loved it.”
ESPNU: “What are some things you’re working on this summer in preparation for your junior season?”
David: “Footwork and speed. Footwork is the foundation of every good pass. It’s much easier than just using your arm strength. It’s also what will advance my skills the fastest, mechanically.
“Speed? I actually thought I was getting to be fast enough to play the position. Then I went to STIC to get some one-on-one training. To demonstrate how far I had to go, they had me practice against a defensive end who starts for the Buffalo Bills. Everyone says the game speeds up as you move up in level. Let me tell you, he smoked me!”
ESPNU: “What was it like to win State your sophomore year?”
David: “That was the first goal we made when Coach Hope came to Lincoln High. The guys worked hard to get ready. Being a young team, I don’t think anyone gave us much of a chance. We know the kind of work we put in. I was so happy for the team when we won.”
ESPNU: “Be your biggest critic here. What do you think you need to do to take the next step?”
David: “I need to be a better student of the game. You only get so much time on the field, and I need to be focused and learn something every time I step out there.
“I also need to become better at reading defenses, and knowing where to go with the ball. Defensive coaches will figure out a way to make life hard for me. I have to always be aware of changing schemes.”
ESPNU: “How is the recruiting process going?”
David: “Things are just getting started. I’ll focus on it this coming year, as a junior. Ohio State was my first camp this summer, and they liked me enough to make an offer. My next college camp is at Alabama. Last year I went to Kentucky and USC. Kentucky was in on me early. They offered during my freshman year of football and have kept close ever since.”
Chapter 6 – Ohio Elite 11 Camp
Monday June 15
Elite 11 camp was a mess. The first problem was the weather. There were high winds, and you could see on the radar that a huge summer storm was headed our way. Tami told me she wished me luck today and then made me give her my debit card. She was going shopping.