Chapter 24: Elite Camp

Wednesday July 9, 2014 – Freshman Year

Bo Harrington met us at the apartment where we'd be staying. He'd found us a three bedroom within walking distance of the Camp, and Hunter and Ridge had agreed to room with me. Bo suggested we needed time away from the facility. Bo had rented the unit right across from us. I got settled into my room, and joined him across the hall.

The West Coast guys were not getting in until late this afternoon. I'd caught the first flight out of O'Hare and had arrived just before lunch. Bo had food waiting when I got there.

"I have had several inquiries about you."

He then told me of the list of recruiters, several of whom had already been in touch with Bo, and a handful had been to see me play. I was glad to see the list included schools I was targeting. The newest three were Cal, Stanford and UCLA. The girls' trip had let them know I was interested.

Bo got a determined look on his face.

"Some have asked me who your contact person is," he told me.

"Why don't they just talk to me?" I asked.

"I think I better explain some things to you. Most top quarterbacks are on traveling seven-on-seven teams. That coach is not affiliated with their high school. He also works as the go-to person for recruiting. He is one step away from your family and high school," he told me scratching his head.

I was starting to see there was more to this than Bo was telling me.

"Just say it," I said.

"Okay, IF ... there ever was something provided that was not within the guidelines of the rules, it would be done through your contact person."

"Ah, I don't think I want one of those. I don't want to sell my soul to get into college," I told him.

"I figured as much. The problem is you need to play their games. You need to designate someone they can talk to. I know you have Tracy handling things. That's fine for getting information out, and fielding requests to talk to you; but some of them will want to talk to an adult for negotiations."

"What kind of negotiations?"

"Things like the number of quarterbacks they will take in a class. Will they focus on offensive players to support you, or are their needs on defense. Some other things might be housing arrangements and a lot more."

"I take it a lot more could get me in trouble."

"It sure could, but they have been doing this for years, and most have never been caught at it."

"Would you be willing to help me?" I asked.

"Yes, but I won't be a party to you jeopardizing your future."

"Good, we're on the same page: no deals, no special arrangements. Thanks, that's a load off my mind."

We spent the afternoon going over tape of me at USC. He was pointing out where we would need to work when the other two got here. He had an early evening practice time scheduled from five to eight o'clock.

Bo and I met Hunter and Ridge out front. I was surprised when they each had girls with them.

"David, Bo, I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Penny," Ridge said.

"This is Samantha or Sam," Hunter said as an introduction.

We all shook hands, and Bo and I helped carry their luggage upstairs. I gave Bo a questioning look, and he just shrugged. Hell, if I had known I could have brought a date ... then again, maybe not. We got them settled, and then we all piled into Bo's rental car, and went to the Methodist Training Center right next to NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans. It had three outdoor practice fields and an indoor field. Tomorrow we would be using the facility for camp.

Since we only went three blocks, I decided to walk home. We met three receivers and a video crew. Bo got everything set up. Hunter and Ridge left their girls on the sideline and made a beeline for me.

"Hunter said you would be cool with this. I hope you're not pissed we brought our girlfriends," Ridge said.

"Why didn't you tell me? I would have brought someone. Now I'll have to just use your girls," I teased him.

Hunter looked nervous, but Ridge had a different look. I wasn't sure what it meant.

"I don't know about that," Hunter sputtered.

I winked at Ridge and Hunter caught it.

"Fuck you, asshole!" he said as he gave me a shove.

Bo called us over and ran us through his drills. I don't know what the other two had been doing for the last two weeks, but it wasn't football related. It was a good thing we had today's session because they were both off just a little bit. Towards the end Bo was getting on them pretty good. They're both competitors, so they quickly got focused; besides, they were tired of me making them look bad.

I didn't feel like getting back into the cramped car so I ran back to the apartment. I decided to skip my nightly workout. I wanted to be fresh for tomorrow. I was looking forward to a big day. I needed to make a good impression. This year was all about making an impression with the scouting services. My junior and senior years were when the heavy recruiting would begin.

I actually beat them, as they got stuck in traffic. I was in the shower when they came back. When I got out, they were planning dinner.

"David, aren't you on a high protein diet?" Ridge asked.

"Yeah, I vote for a good steak house. I hear that Houston has some great ones, but I don't want to break the bank," I told them.

"The girls want to go get sushi," Hunter told me.

"Why don't you guys go do that and I will take Bo out for a steak."

"You don't mind?" Sam, Hunter's girlfriend, asked.

"No, not at all. It'll give us a chance to talk," I told them.

I was actually relieved. I didn't want to feel like the fifth wheel. Bo had worked in Houston after he left Lincoln in the fall. He knew just the place to take me. When we got back, I got to know the girls better.

"I just left Hunter in LA. He never mentioned a pretty girlfriend," I said to start digging some dirt.

Samantha was a very cute blond who was all legs. She seemed to be a little older.

"I wasn't going out with her. Sam was my physical therapist. I had one last appointment the Monday after I got returned home and I got brave and asked her out," Hunter told the story.

"He was so cute. I thought I was going to have to ask him out he was so shy. Then he comes back from hanging out with you all week, and he changed," Sam told us. What she didn't know, was he'd finally gotten laid.

"I told her it was all because of you," Hunter said trying to clue me in.

"I was afraid I had damaged you for life," I teased him.

Hunter blushed and everyone wanted to know what happened.

"This guy is an animal," Hunter started. "The first night he picks up this college girl. They went out to dinner and then came to our room. He kicked me out for hours."

I was tempted to call him on it, but I could tell he didn't want to tell Sam he spent the night with Mia. I just shrugged.

"The naïve boy that I am, I was pissed at him the next morning. We were waiting around for something in the lobby, and he starts making calls. I'm thinking he's calling home. Nope, this Midwest boy has serious contacts there in LA. He was calling, honest to God, models," Hunter said now on a roll. "Back me up on this Ridge, you saw one of them."

"What was her name?" Ridge asked me.

"Are you talking about Sage the ballerina, or Rose the Latin goddess?" I shot back, knowing full well it was Rose, because Sage and I never were able to meet.

He snapped his fingers.

"Rose! She comes strolling in at the end of practice. You know how it is. All the guys are cutting up and making a lot of noise. Coach was telling us about the activities they had planned for us. When they saw her it went dead quiet, and for a good reason. She was an F! O! X! Fox!" Ridge told the girls.

"Here I'm pissed because I liked Ava, the girl he met the first night. I thought he was cheating on her. I never stopped to think people just hooked up," Hunter confessed.

Everyone gave him a hard time. Hunter can take it as well as dish it out, so I was expecting him to rat me out.

"I came back to the room the second night from dinner, and walked in on David and Rose going at it. I about died. He didn't even break stride, they just kept going."

"My ass was getting cold from the draft at the door. I think he watched us for like thirty minutes," I said. "I finally had to kick him out when that couple wanted to join us. He was causing us to draw a crowd."

"Don't believe him!" Hunter defended himself. "I guess I did peek a little, but it wasn't for thirty minutes. It was more like thirty seconds."

Ridge pointed at Hunter.

"Brother, you and I need to talk, later."

"You do and you're toast," Penny told Ridge.

"How did you two meet?" I asked Ridge and Penny.

"On a bet," Ridge told us.

"Oh, don't start that crap. You know you had the hots for me. Just because your best friend bet you to come talk to me, doesn't mean you weren't interested," Penny scolded him. "This dork was at a middle school dance, holding up the wall. He had been flirting with me all year, so I knew he was interested. His buddies bet him he wouldn't ask me to dance. He finally got up the courage to ask me. We've been going out ever since."

I liked Penny. She had spirit and I could tell she kept Ridge grounded. Hunter on the other hand ... I was afraid he found himself another gold digger. How could you be going out with someone for only two weeks and then fly them to Houston?

I wanted to be fresh for tomorrow so I went to bed. I checked my messages and Tami wanted me to call her. I didn't bother getting on video chat.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I just wanted to tell you that you'll do great tomorrow."

"Thanks, Tami, I love you."

"Goodnight, David, I love you, too."

Thursday July 10, 2014 – Freshman Year

I got up and went for a short run. It was already humid so I decided to stretch in the air conditioning of the living room. I moved the coffee table.

My focus, on stretching after a run, was to increase my flexibility and coordination. I find it helps my overall performance. While I was stretching, the girls came out and sat at the kitchen table watching me. I had taken my shirt off when I came in and they were taking in the show. It had been a while since I had so blatantly been checked out. Hunter and Ridge came out. Hunter had his head in the refrigerator when Ridge figured out what the girls were doing.

"David, get some clothes on. There are women folk in the room," he complained.

"You just be quiet. We were just discussing when you and Hunter were going to get in shape like that," Penny said.

"Leave me out of it. I'm never going to look like that," Hunter said.

I just finished my routine and took a shower. I had forgotten to take my supplements last night so I brought them out to the kitchen. I made myself a protein drink and took all my pills. Ridge started looking at them all.

"What is BCAA?"

"It helps me gain more strength to complete more reps during weightlifting, which results in new muscle mass and improved results. It also reduces soreness after a workout," I answered.

"I've seen Creatine, before, what does it do?"

"It's stored in your muscles, and later converted into energy when needed. During workouts more energy can be used, and creatine will allow for it to be available. Creatine then increases muscle mass, and allows for enhanced performance."

"What was that you drank?"

"That's the most important one. It's whey protein. It helps with strength, speed, and recovery time. Since whey doesn't need to be broken down, it starts working immediately, and doesn't need time to be converted into something useful to your body. Whey protein also leads to faster muscle repair, and increases your metabolic rate."

"How does it taste?" Ridge asked.

I made him a small glass full. It tastes terrible, but the results make it worthwhile. He got a look like he drank a glass of curdled milk.

"Gawd! That's not good."

Hunter took it from him and tried it. He just shrugged and downed the rest of it. We heard a knock at the door and Sam went and let Bo in.

"I was just showing them the supplements you have me taking," I told him.

"They don't work out hard enough for it to be a benefit," Bo told me.

"Speaking of which, I didn't get to lift yesterday. Is there somewhere I could work out at after camp?" I asked.

He asked me where I worked out. It was a national chain and he knew where one was.

"Do you mind if I come too?" Ridge asked.

"If you want to go and watch that's fine," Bo told him. "But if you're going to try and do his workout, you'll be too sore to throw tomorrow. I can help you get to David's level, but it'll take time."

"You guys suck. Now I'm going to have to get my fat ass to a gym," Hunter complained.

We all knew he was bullshitting. We all worked out. Bo was just goading them into working out harder. It was funny to watch him push their buttons.

Our group walked to a place for breakfast which was across the street from the training center. I was happy to see you could order a' la carte. I ordered six eggs, steak and a small salad. When it came, Sam looked concerned.

"You're going to eat all of that?" she asked.

"The diet Bo put me on makes me hungry all the time. If I don't eat this much, I lose weight," I explained.

"When you do intense workouts, and eat a high protein diet, you build lean muscle mass," Bo told her. "His body is burning up enough calories for almost two people."

The girls were going to the beach. They would meet the guys after camp. We went as a group to the Methodist Training Center. Sign in had already started. They limited the camp to forty quarterbacks this year. In past years, they had upwards of a hundred, but found it was too many. This camp was five times more expensive than the other two I attended this summer, combined. You were broken into teams of four quarterbacks, and each team got intensive instruction.

They brought in some of the best college quarterbacks as counselors. The other thing was you couldn't just sign up. You had to be invited. Being rated number eight in the sophomore class had me waiting when I first sent in my application. Of the seven ahead of me, five had declined to come. I was re-ranked upwards in front of two more QBs, and one other was selected. They allowed two incoming juniors and two sophomores.

Next year, I would get priority placement because of this year's invite. Bo told me it wasn't a sure thing, but they had only declined five guys over the years. So I was a little nervous. These guys were the best of the best.

We had three goals at this camp. The first was the training. Guys wanted to come here because of the success stories of people making amazing advancements in their skills.

The next two went hand-in-hand. The second was you were being compared by the scouting services. They would all be here. You could try and say your rating doesn't matter, but you would be crazy; for colleges, their boosters, alumni and fan bases all kept score. If a coaching staff couldn't land enough blue chip recruits, you better be winning some games. Otherwise you would be done.

The third goal was to get seen by the top programs. You couldn't have any direct contact with them at the camp, but they were all watching. If you wanted to get on their recruiting list you needed to show them you had a game. You were only allowed a small number of official visits during your junior and senior year, and you needed to make every one of them count. My goal was to visit the best possible programs. To do that, I needed to have the interest be both ways.

I asked Ridge why he was coming. He was already rated the top pocket passer and the number eighteen recruit, overall. He told me he was doing it because he hadn't signed a letter of intent yet. Either he or USC might have a change of heart. Alabama was not giving up, but he needed to leave his options open.

Personally, I think he just wanted to see how good he really was. I had seen flashes that told me he would be playing on Sunday, if he didn't get hurt. I'd seen him take our seven-on-seven team apart. He was a machine. If I was game planning against him, I would just be looking at how to keep the score within reach, because you weren't stopping him. Maybe you could slow him down some.

We arrived at the sign-in desk and I forgot my name. They had the Houston Texans' Cheerleading squad signing us in. Just for full disclosure, I had spent a few minutes on their website. One of the girls I was smitten with was Kaitlyn. I was leading the guys to the table, and I came to a complete stop three feet in front of it. The guys almost ran me down. Ridge shoved me, and I stumbled up to her.

"Hi, Kaitlyn," was all I could get out.

"Well, hello, handsome. Do you have a name?" she asked me.

I did. Oh My God, she was gorgeous. Oh crap, everyone was staring at me. WTF was my name? Ridge whacked me in the back of the head. That seemed to dislodge it. But now I felt stupid. She was trying not to laugh at me. Then I remembered I was a Dawson.

"You know who I am. You have been looking through the folders and figuring out who the cutest guys are. I bet you pulled mine out and put it on top."

Bold statement, maybe, but I saw mine was on top. She got a big grin on her face. I heard Hunter, behind me, mumble, 'Oh, crap'.

"So you think I have been looking for cute guys?" Kaitlyn asked me.

"Not just any cute guy, but me," I told her.

She raised her hand to me.

"Hang on a second, handsome," she told me. "Cass, Lindy, get over here!"

Oh, shit, she was getting back up. Ridge and Hunter took a step back. Nice wingmen.

"What's up?" Lindy asked.

"Take a picture of me with this one. We need to send it to all the girls so they're warned. He's too cute and too smooth for his own good. I want to be able to say I knew him when."

Kaitlyn and Cass stood on either side of me and had our picture taken. Suddenly Ridge and Hunter wanted in on the act. All five of us got into the shot. I had her text me the pictures. I sent them to Lily so she could tweet them out and put them on my other social media. Kaitlyn then had me tell her my name. She looked sheepish when she found my envelope on top, so I just smiled at her.

They sent us to the locker room where we each had name plate above the locker. In it we had a jersey with our name on it. I had number eleven on mine. We also had everything we would need. We were told to just get into shorts and our jersey. This morning was about measurements.

I was surprised when they gave us all a physical. Part of it was to test for drugs or illegal substances like steroids. They had sprung it on us so we couldn't try and mask the test. Two guys opted to go home, instead of taking the test.

We were then put into our teams. I was happy to see Ridge and Hunter were put onto my team. As happy as I was to have them in our group, I was equally unhappy to see our fourth: Mark. He was following me around like a bad penny. Ty had told me he'd moved to California. Now he was here. I decided to take the high road. It was only for a couple of days after all.

"Hello, Mark. I would like you to meet Ridge and Hunter," I said as an introduction.

"I guess they let just anybody into this thing," Mark said.

Okay, forget the high road.

"Let's get something clear. I'll kick your butt if you're going to be a jerk. We all came here to get better. I'm not putting up with your snarky attitude for the next few days. So, what's it going to be?"

Hunter and Ridge looked at me funny. I think they were putting the pieces together that Mark and I didn't get along. Mark blanched when I said I was going to kick his ass. He also knew I was serious and would do it.

"They would kick you out of camp," Mark told me.

"I'll track you down after hours and you won't have anyone to pull me off of you. So, what's it going to be? Ass kicking, or you act like a civil human being."

He looked at the other two for help.

"Don't look at us," Hunter told him. "My guess is if you act like a dick all day, we may help him."

Mark blushed and then nodded.

"Let's call a truce for camp. I don't want this to be awkward," he said offering his hand.

I took his hand and we shook. Ridge stepped between us and put his arm around each of our shoulders.

"It's good to see we're all competitive. It's also good to see we can work together. Now, let's go kick some ass on the football field," Ridge said with a smile.

We met our coach and camp counselor. Coach Bud Mason was a long-time quarterback coach. When he first got into coaching in the NFL, he was with the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders relied on quick movement by their wide receivers on the outside sidelines for the deep threat, or long ball. It had been a hallmark of Al Davis while he was alive as their general manager. Coach Mason looked to be almost 70, but there was still fire in his eyes.

Our camp counselor was Quaid Rudd, the starting quarterback for Florida. Last year's season had been the worst since 1979. They lost their last seven games and finished 4 – 8. It was the first time they had missed a bowl game since 1990. Quaid was not a lock to start this year, but he was an alumnus from the camp, and had enough talent to be recruited to Florida. It was one of the places I was interested in going, so I hoped to get a chance to talk to him about the campus.

"Quaid and I have had a chance to watch you all on film. Ridge, we need to work on your release on your long ball. You are overthrowing it and we need to get you a more natural motion. Hunter, you have a high ceiling if we can get you focused. You're too inconsistent right now. Mark, you have a great short game. I will help you develop a medium and long game to make you a well-rounded quarterback, or you're going to have to find a very specific college program to fit your style," Coach Mason told the guys.

"David, how you survived last season, I have no idea. We need to make you more of a pocket passer or you will not survive at the next level. I know the trend is for a quarterback being both a run and pass threat. I personally don't agree with it. I think it shortens your career."

"Now, I'm not one for a bunch of drills. I want to see you in live action. We've got some boys to come in so I can see you with actual players. I don't need to see you throw to garbage cans. I'm sure you can do that, or you wouldn't be here.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm old," he said and I chuckled. "Something funny about that son?"

That caught my attention.

"No, sir." I answered.

"Ah, good, a boy with manners. What I was going to say is I'm not your mama. I'll get on you hard. We only have a few days and I don't have time to mess around with you complaining. So if I come across as gruff and uncompromising it is because I want you to be the best damn football player you can be. If you feel like crying, be a man, and do it in your car on the ride home.

"Now let's talk about Quaid. I personally picked him. The reason I did was because he played on the worst Florida team in many years. You're all used to winning. So was Quaid until last year. It takes real character to go through what he did. I picked him because he has the character to turn things around. I want a fighter at quarterback. Quaid had his nose bloodied and he is back for more. I want him to give you all a reality check. Before you're done with football, you will face adversity. I hope you can learn some things from Quaid which will help you when you do. Plus, he is one hell of a quarterback. So listen to him when he talks."

We were then sent to lunch. Quaid went with us, while Coach got things ready for the afternoon.

The camp had pasta or hamburgers for lunch. I had them give me four hamburgers without the bun and a big salad. I also brought a couple of protein drinks, because I was afraid of what might be served. I was glad I did. We found a table to talk. Mark chose to go sit with some other guys he knew.

I had gotten my iPad and brought it to lunch. Kendal wanted me to start blogging. I felt it was kind of like having a diary, but sharing it with the world and that made no sense to me. A diary should be your inner most thoughts, not shared with the world. Despite my misgivings, I promised I would start at camp.

"What are you doing?" Hunter asked me.

"My blog."

"Don't tell me you do the whole social media thing," Ridge commented.

"Sure I do. Want to see my stuff. I think I even have video of why I dislike Mark."

I showed them my football website and I dug into the archive and found the video of Mark saying he was a better quarterback than I was. I then showed them the one where I was on ESPNU announcing for State. I had done five minutes as a rebuttal.

"Who are they?" Quaid asked pointing at the girls.

"The blond is my manager, Kendal. The cute brunette is my social media guru, Lily. And the one sitting next to me was my girlfriend and is my media slash recruiting person, Tracy."

"Good lord, she's as hot as that girl you were with in LA," Ridge said.

"The girl in LA was even better looking with her clothes off," Hunter shared.

"Hunter!" I warned him.

"Sorry, Dude, I wasn't thinking," Hunter apologized.

"What are you guys talking about?" Quaid asked.

I pulled up the photos of Rose and me at the pool.

"I don't have a thing to teach you," Quaid moaned. "I need you to come to Florida, and I'll be your wingman."

"Wait till you see this," it told him.

I showed him the photo of Kate Upton kissing me on the plane.

"Is that... ," Hunter asked as I nodded.

I couldn't help myself. I pulled up the video of Adrienne in Chicago where I put the lip lock on her.

"Hey, is that Adrienne ... Dude!" Ridge exclaimed when I kissed her.

There were some high fives, I'm embarrassed to say.

"That job as my benchwarmer, bag boy and picking up my overflow isn't looking so bad, now, is it?" I teased Ridge.

"Penny would kill both of us."

Yes, I think she would. We then talked about Coach Mason. Quaid told us what he knew.

"I came to camp my senior year. I was honestly not the best quarterback here. We had won state the year before mainly due to our defense. So I was motivated when I came here to learn. I was lucky in getting Coach Mason as my coach for camp. He taught me to be a quarterback, and when it showed up on the field, I got a lot of offers. I owe a lot to him. He got me headed in the right direction. I came back as a counselor to learn more from him."

I went to the locker room to put my iPad away. I came in to find Mark talking to a recruiter. Their body language screamed sneaky, so I turned on my iPad video and taped them. I then saw Mark take money from the guy. I quietly went to my locker and put my iPad away. Mark and the other guy didn't appear to see or hear me. They left and I hurried out to find the guys. I never expected to see that. What have I stumbled into?

Hunter saw my mood had changed. I didn't know what to do.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I ran into Mark," I tried to play it off.

Dang it, I shouldn't have told them I saw Mark.

"You know what? Let's just forget I said anything, and go learn some skills."

There were ten groups of quarterbacks working with their coaches. I saw Bo doing his thing with video and the trash cans. Each coach seemed to have his own approach. Coach Mason took us outside. He had us in full pads. He said you don't play in shorts and t-shirts, so you should practice in what you would wear in a game. He was definitely old school. It was also 91°F and it felt like 100% humidity. We were going to be sweating our asses off.

There were three fields outside and we got half of one of them. The other five halves had groups working on them, too. We were the only ones fully decked out in our gear. We met ten guys who would be working with us.

"These guys have volunteered their time. So I do not want you killing them. There is supposed to be only light contact, but if you lead them into a defensive back you'll answer to me.

"While your arms are still fresh, I'm going to teach you three ways to throw a deep route. Quaid, get in here and show them what I mean," Coach Mason told us.

One of the receivers ran a post and Quaid put it on a rope. The boy had some arm strength. He then threw what we were used to seeing. It's where the ball has some arc on it. Then he showed me something I had never seen before, at least not in person. He threw the rainbow, putting a huge amount of air under it, and the receiver ran under it and caught it.

"Mark, tell me when, why and what the risks are with the first pass," Coach Mason said.

"If you have a small window in which to get the ball to a receiver you would need to get it there as fast as possible. The risk would be it getting picked off by an underneath defender."