I was in line to register when I saw the first flash of lightning, followed a few seconds later by thunder. The problem was that they had no backup plan. One of the staff made a general announcement that said we had to wait until it was safe. I noticed the rest of the staff were taking notes on how we handled the news. I pulled out my iPad and checked my weather app. There were severe storm warnings through noon. Rain was expected off and on for the rest of the day.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out we weren’t going back outside until later today. I sat and watched to see how long it would take them to figure it out. I mean, seriously. We’re on the Ohio State campus, which has a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility.
I sent a text to Coach Casey asking him to call me when he got a chance. When he did, I told him what was going on.
“They have more on the ball than you realize. They’re constantly evaluating you, so be on your toes. Now go find one of the staff and let me talk to them. They were waiting for someone to suggest they use our facilities. We had it booked as soon as they saw the weather today.”
“Why would they put us through all this, then?” I asked.
“TV. You need some drama to sell the show,” he said with a laugh.
I handed the phone to one of the staff, and he smiled at me when he realized what I was up to. I knew it was all just a ploy when buses pulled up to take us to the indoor facility. I also saw a camera crew capture our exchange.
When we finally got signed in, one of the documents was a release to be filmed. I was surprised when I saw my mom’s signature already on the document. I decided not to let them trick me again with apparent incompetence. They knew exactly what they were doing.
I had noticed a few of the quarterbacks seemed to get upset and express their opinions. I was sure that was why we went through the exercise.
I found Flee and Roland as we stood around waiting to find out what we were to do next. We were surprised when Flee confessed this was his third time at the Elite 11 tryouts.
“Tell us what to expect,” Roland said.
“We did drills: vertical jump, forty-yard dash, power ball toss, and agility shuttle,” Flee said.
Flee was interrupted by a call to get started. We were all pulled together as a group, given a quick motivational speech, and then sent to our first drills. We were told there were 80 quarterbacks from 18 states at our event. Of the 80, there were 31 who’d already received Division 1 FBS (formerly Division 1A) offers.
We started off using cloth ladders laid down on the field. There are many different footwork drills you can do while stepping inside and outside the ladder going both forward and backward. We were given a ball, quickly shown the drill, and then we would do it. There were four guys in a line who’d do the drill forward and then run it backward. There were four ladders in a group, so there were a total of sixteen quarterbacks in my group.
When we were done doing our footwork drills, we were brought back together and told about our next assignment: stretching. Our group of sixteen circled up and stretched. Then we got into parallel lines ten yards apart. They had us get on our knees and throw the ball back and forth to warm our arms up.
Then they brought us together as Coach Trent, the lead coach, wanted to talk to us.
“How you all doing? You warmed up and ready to go? What an opportunity for you guys. A lot of work has gone into this so you guys would have a great experience. We have some of the best coaches in the country here today to help you get better. For every four of you, we have one coach. Everything is in place for you to experience success.
“We want to see you do well. I expect to see you compete. Forget about everyone else. You’re competing to get better, so you’re competing against yourself. I expect you to do as good as you possibly can. Don’t let the other 79 guys take away from your experience. This is for you. Take a deep breath and focus on the task at hand. Don’t worry about what’s going on around you.
“I want to get to it, so let me break this down for you. What are we are looking for? It’s not the guy who throws the best football, or the guy who has the best footwork. I’m looking for a leader on the field. Right now, you’re the man on your team. You’re the one all your teammates look up to and expect to win the game. In a year or two, you’re going to be fed to the wolves. You’re going to walk into your first meeting and there are going to be six other guys who never want to see you take one step onto the field. There’re going to be a hundred other guys who don’t give a shit about some freshman quarterback.
“I don’t want you to be one of those guys. I want you to be the guy that everybody notices when he walks into that room. I want you to be the guy they all know who you are and why you’re there. That’s what I’m looking for today. All right!
“Don’t be nervous, be excited. Take advantage of this situation and use it to take that next step. You guys ready to excel?”
“Yes, sir,” we all answered.
“Okay, you’re in your same groups. They tell me it’s only raining a little, so we’re going back outside. I want to see you dealing with a little adversity. A little wind and water will do you good.”
We loaded back onto the buses and then went to the field to get started. The second phase of the camp was called ‘The Second Quarter–Everything Counts.’ It was ten separate stations and we spent ten minutes at each. We did a variety of drills like take snaps from under center, or from the shotgun, and make plays.
Our group, number 4, went to an end-zone drill with Coach Allen.
“I want to see a five-step drop. You’ll have three reads: the post, the back flag, and then the checkdown or sideline. What I want to see is your lead foot pointing at your read. That way when you stride to throw the ball, you’re in position. Think like a fighter on his toes and how he bounces. So, five steps back and plant your back leg. Your front foot is pointing to the post receiver. If the play’s there, I want you to throw it right away. If not, bounce and throw to the flag. Next, bounce and throw to the sideline. Dawson, you’re up!”
They had the three-legged ball stools like I’d seen at USC. The ball was waiting for me as I ran up. I did my five-step drop and sent a rifle shot to the waiting receiver.
“Good job! Next!” Coach Allen called out.
This was how I liked to run drills. There was no messing around. You got in line, and when it was your turn you did what you were supposed to. Then the next guy went. I also liked that they split us into groups of eight. Half of us did the drill on the right-hand side of the field and the other half the left. We would then switch sides.
The next station was with Coach Simson.
“You’re going to do one of two things. We’ll have brooms to indicate rushing players, and we want you to hold the ball in the pocket and move. I want to see your feet moving and you need to be ready to throw the ball. If I yell ‘Break,’ I want you to sprint outside the pocket, reset your base and throw. Who wants to go first?”
I jumped in. I did my drop and got into the pocket, and one of them held a broom out and pushed me to the left. I kept thinking ‘quick feet’ as I drifted away from the pressure. Then Coach Simson called “Break!” and I sprinted to the right, reset my feet, and threw.
Flee was next. He did well until he had to sprint out and throw. He didn’t set up again. He just threw on the run and overthrew his target. When he came back in line, I could tell he was upset.
“Shake it off. Next time get your feet under you before you throw.”
He wasn’t quite sure, so I showed him. On his next turn, he did it perfectly.
We kept working through the stations. It got interesting at the long-ball station. They had a receiver and a defensive back. You had to place the ball on the sideline so the defensive player couldn’t get it. The only problem was the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was misting now so the ball was wet.