The two new girls were Ms. Scarlet White and Ms. Deborah Lane. I watched as they tried to figure out who was going out with whom. I was impressed with their choice of rock, paper, scissors. Debby won and picked Tim. I could tell Roland was about to take offense, but Scarlet kissed him on the cheek and he seemed to be okay.
The girls took us to Baumhower’s. They ordered fried pickles and wings for an appetizer. They also ordered a pitcher of beer. The guys stuck to soft drinks and iced tea. I skipped the tea because it was sweet. We grew up on sun tea, where you put the pitcher in the sun and let it brew the tea. All that Mom ever added to it was fresh mint.
The guys all ordered steaks—the rib eye. I ordered an extra side of steamed broccoli and saw a skewer of grilled Gulf shrimp that I wanted. All eight of us ended up getting the shrimp, once they tasted mine. When we got ready to leave, I somehow got stuck picking up the tab. I knew the guys were good for their portion, so I didn’t complain. The girls went to the bathroom before we left. When they came back, we went in different directions. The girls must have planned this.
Ashley took me to a bar with a band playing so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. This limited our conversation, which was fine. Ashley wanted to dance, and as she consumed more alcohol, she got much closer to me. Then she was more than drunk.
On our way home, I realized that I had no idea where she lived. When I opened the door to our room, Tim was missing. I just took off Ashley’s shoes and then poured her into my bed. She was out by the time I came back from the bathroom.
Thursday June 25
I WOKE TO MY PHONE’S alarm. I had set it so Bo and I could go to breakfast before we met with the Alabama coaches. Tim had never made it home. I figured he was old enough to take care of himself. Ashley was so out of it I had to check to make sure she was still breathing. I left her a note with my cell number on it and asked that she call me later.
“I talked to the Alabama coaches last night. They’re very interested in you,” he said.
“But?”
“But they just offered, and got a verbal acceptance from, Wes Hunt.”
“And that makes two top five quarterbacks in the last two years,” I finished his thought.
Wes Hunt was currently rated the number 1 quarterback in the upcoming senior class. I would get to see him at the Elite 11 camp.
“You have to expect they will attract the big-time players. They’ve been national champions three out of the last six years and consistently been in the top five as far as recruiting classes go. You don’t do that without getting the top talent. You need to decide if you want to be a big fish in a small pond or swim with the sharks.”
“What’s your advice?” I asked.
“If they offer, great, but I might be relieved if they don’t. My major concern is you might get stuck behind one of these guys and not see any playing time until you’re a senior. While one year as the quarterback at Alabama would be big, it might not be enough to get you into the pros. Actually, coming here might make it harder to make the pros. You’ll be discounted because of the talent level around you.
“You could make a much bigger impact by leading teams like Michigan or Georgia. While they have excellent talent, they do not have Alabama talent. It’s just that much harder to stand out when everyone around you is so good.”
“Sounds like you don’t believe in me,” I said.
“Far from it, David. I just think your path to the pros is much clearer elsewhere.”
“But an offer from Alabama will look good on the resume,” I said.
“Yep. Picking up offers from Ohio State and Alabama within weeks of each other will make people take notice. Heck, while you’re at Nike, stay an extra day or two and make an unofficial visit to Oregon. It might make the guy at USC get off his duff.”
“I talked to Bill and he said he loves it there. He’s taking a summer class and working out with the team. I think he might even have met a nice girl. I set him up on a date with Sage, a model I met.”
“USC is a sleeping giant. You help bring them back to the top and you can write your own ticket,” Bo said.
“What about Florida?” I asked.
“Yes, Florida, Miami, Texas, Nebraska, all schools where they’re on the verge of greatness. You go to any of them, and you become the difference-maker.”
My phone alarm went off, telling us we needed to get to our meeting.
BO AND I WALKED INTO a room with about twenty Alabama coaches or staff waiting for us. I was glad we were smart enough to be wearing Alabama gear to the meeting. I was introduced to Coach Wilson, the head coach for Alabama. We were here to see what Bo did with the GoCam and his other videos.
Bo first introduced himself and stated his credentials for being a quarterback fixer. He listed a few of the quarterbacks he had worked with in the past. Then he showed them his video of me from yesterday. He had the GoCam footage of what I saw on one half of the screen, and the video from his camera on the other. He had synced them up.
“This is from early in the day. I want you to notice a couple of things. First of all, notice how shaky the GoCam video is. You can see David’s base is moving too much; he has happy feet,” he told them.
They got a good laugh out of that.
“He looks good, though. His posture’s correct, he’s holding the ball high and tight, and he’s moving his feet and keeping his lead foot pointing towards where he’s supposed to throw. I’d rate him, from just looking at this one play, as a high Division 1 prospect,” Coach Peters, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, said.
“Let’s compare him to later in the day,” Bo said.
The GoCam was much steadier, and I had more zip on the ball. The coaches and staff began talking to each other. Bo let them go on for a few minutes, and then took back control of the meeting. He ran my first effort, and then the later one a couple of times.
“Notice him pick up the receiver faster. His footwork has smoothed out, giving him a better base to throw from. David is also using his core better and has shortened his stride slightly. The core is helping him get more zip on the ball, and he’s getting a better spiral because his release point is where it needs to be, about three inches beyond his lead foot.
“This is why he is the number 1 prospect in his class and was selected to be the youngest ever to be invited to the Elite 11 competition. Personally, I’ve never seen a kid his age with a higher ceiling,” Bo finished.
The room was silent, and then my phone alarm went off.
“Sorry, guys, I promised a few of the campers I’d take them running this morning,” I said.
“What do you mean?” asked Coach Wilson.
“They wanted to learn how to add more speed, so I’m going to take them on a run to show them,” I said.
“Bill, go with him,” Coach Wilson said.
Bill needed to get his running shoes, so I told him where to meet us. He showed up while we were finishing up stretching. There were about forty guys there. There were pretty much all of the defensive backs, receivers, running backs and quarterbacks. Basically, there was everyone who needed to improve their speed.
I had them jog to the practice fields. I ran backwards most of the way, with the help of Flee so I wouldn’t kill myself. This way I could talk to them about how to change their distance running. When we got to the field where we would be having our camp, I had them run the different drills I’d learned.
Turns out, Bill was Alabama’s strength and conditioning coach. He helped explain why the different exercises I was showing them would increase their speed. He was also better at spotting form problems since he did this for a living. I wondered why this wasn’t part of the camp experience. I had yet to see where speed training was included in any of the camps I’d attended.