Chapter 5: Don’t You Want To Share?

Saturday September 5

Today marked the first day in which the guys and I started to get serious about the recruiting process. Our first step was to go to the Stanford – Northwestern game. We were interested in both Stanford and Northwestern for similar reasons. Academics were high on my list, and both schools had a lot to offer in that regard. I also felt that I wanted to play in one of the power conferences, because it would put me in position to play for a National Championship. Last year the ACC, Big 10, Pac-12 and SEC were all represented. I predicted a similar mix would make up the list of four teams this year; with an outside chance that Notre Dame might finally become relevant in the National Championship discussion again.

We had debated whether or not to skip another trip to the Northwestern campus, but when we looked at the schedule they were the only team within driving distance that was playing an opponent we wanted to see. Stanford was ranked #21 and Northwestern had a good team.

The plan was to meet at the high school and then caravan to Evanston. Brandon, my new PA, had organized everything. He had coordinated with the guys and worked with Northwestern to get us tickets and hotel rooms. By NCAA rules, a school could give a student athlete, on an official visit, three tickets to a game, plus airfare, food and lodging. On an unofficial visit, you could only receive three game tickets. I reserved my extra two tickets for Brandon and Alan. Jim planned to take his mom and dad and they had purchased an extra ticket so his sister Suzanne could go. She had hooked me up with her roommate last year. I didn’t plan on a repeat performance, because I had forgotten most of the night after I’d done beer bongs and Goldschläger shots. I wanted to at least remember what I did this trip.

Alan had been very persuasive when he suggested that we go to Granny’s for breakfast before we met up with everyone. I think he could talk me into anything I really wanted to do. I hadn’t had a cinnamon roll in ages and needed my fix. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was surprised when I saw Tami waiting for us. Alan wouldn’t look at me, so I knew he was responsible for this. Tami just cocked her head and dared me to object. I just smiled and walked past her to Granny, who had spied me as I came in.

“David! Welcome! Come meet some of your fans. Your game last night has been a hot topic of conversation,” Granny said, and she guided me through the restaurant.

I spent the next ten minutes going from table-to-table with Granny, meeting her customers. Most of them I knew, because we were a small town. The benefit of the meet-and-greet was it gave me time to come to grips with Tami going with us. She and Alan were two of my best friends, after all. I really would like to go to college with them, even if she and I were not together. When I finally was able to join Alan and Tami at the table, there was already a plate of hot, just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls. I focused on putting some butter on mine so it could melt before I ate it.

“Alan tells me you had a good game last night,” Tami said.

I had my mouth full so Alan talked for me.

“He was showing off last night, because there was a bunch of recruiters in the stands.”

I swallowed.

“No, I did it for you, so you could claim to be an undefeated head coach.”

Tami watched as Alan and I traded jabs at each other as we ate our breakfast. I noticed she had my promise ring on a silver necklace. She winked at me when she caught me looking at it to let me know she’d seen me check it out. To say I was uncomfortable with Tami going with us to Northwestern was putting it mildly. It had only been a couple of weeks since she told me she wanted to date other guys. I would have to have a long talk with Alan about him inviting her without talking to me first. It could’ve been she had invited herself, but a heads-up would have been appreciated.

We finished our breakfast and went to the high school. Tami had called shotgun and when we came to a stop, Alan jumped out of the car. Tami reached over and touched my arm to stop me from getting out. It was as if she and Alan had planned this.

“Hang on. I think we need to talk,” she said.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“Are we not still friends? I thought our plan was to go to college together,” she said reasonably.

Our plan had been to go to college together, but that was before. While I had no objection to her attending whatever university she wanted, I no longer felt she had a say-so in where I went. In my mind I had removed her from the equation. We both needed to move on with our lives, even if seeing her reminded me that I still loved her, which in turn took a lot of the joy out of the trip.

“Okay.”

With my one-word answer I could tell I’d pissed off Tami.

“Why do you have to be like this? We’ve been best friends since I moved here over ten years ago. I still have plans for us when we grow up and decide to move to that phase of our lives. You made it clear that you care for me when you gave me this ring. At some point, I plan on collecting the promise it represents.”

“A phone call or a text would have been nice. This is almost sneaky,” I said, as Alan and Brandon got in the back seat.

“Out, both of you,” I said to Brandon and Alan. When they stepped out of the car I turned to Tami. “So what’s the deal?”

“I figured if I asked you’d say no. It’s always been easier to ask for forgiveness than permission with you. Frankly, I didn’t think I’d need permission to go look at colleges.”

This opened up a whole new set of issues, but everyone was waiting on us. As time dragged on, Tami got a nervous look as if I might actually kick her out of the car. I was tempted to make her ride with someone else, but I knew word would get back to my mom. I would rather suck it up and deal with this than fight any more with my mom.

“I understand why you’re here. What has always been my problem is when I feel like I’ve been manipulated. I know you talked Alan into helping you. It’s the same crap. You’re always doing an end-run on me,” I said as I glared at her. “Since when have you been afraid to ask me anything? For that matter, if you thought I’d say no, why’d you force it?”

“I’m afraid to ask you because this is how you react,” she said.

“In the future can you just talk to me? Our friends don’t need to be in the middle.”

“I agree, and I’m sorry.”

I rolled down the window and told the guys to get into the car.

“Nice,” Brandon said when he got a look at the backseat of the car.

“Check this out,” Alan said, as he flipped down the tray in the seat back and showed Brandon that there was a tablet built in for each of them to use.

The guys in the back geeked out over all the features Range Sport had added to my Charger. Alan pointed out the Wi-Fi and showed Brandon how to use the car to answer his phone or make calls. I was focused on not talking to Tami. She let me think about what she said as we drove to Evanston.

When we were about halfway, Brandon told us what our itinerary was for the weekend.

“I’ve arranged for you to meet with both the Stanford and Northwestern coaching staffs before the game. We’ll do the tour of the Northwestern facilities first. Then, while the tour of the campus is happening for everyone else, you and Jim will meet with Stanford. They’d like to work you out so they can see the two of you in person.”

“Why just the two of them? Why not Tim, Ty and Wolf also?” Alan asked.

“They want to give the other guys a year to develop. The quarterback position is critical, and they want to see if David is everything they think he is. Jim’s a senior, and they have a high interest in him after what he did at the summer lineman camps.

“This is also not a home game for them and they don’t want to be poor guests. We arranged to have the workout done off-campus,” Brandon said.

“Will Tami and Alan get a chance to talk to academic advisors?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s been arranged. They’ll also help them with their applications. Both Alan and Tami have the grades to get in without a problem. I hadn’t realized you all did so well grades-wise. When do you plan to take the standardized tests?” Brandon asked, referring to the ACT and SAT college entrance exams.

“In the spring,” Tami said, as she joined the conversation. “Have you looked into tutors for the exams?”

“Uh,” Brandon stammered.

“I think she directed that at me,” I said to get him off the hook. “I believe in working with others to make me better - whether it’s academics or athletics. I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to you about that. I think we can set something up for my friends at Lincoln and Wesleyan so everyone has a good chance to go where they want to. I might need help because I’ll be in LA at the end of the year for my new movie and the release of Star Academy. At some point I need to prep for the tests in January.”

“That makes sense,” Brandon said, as he took notes on his phone.

“What about the game and the rest of the day?” Alan asked.

“I got twenty tickets. We had to pay for Tami, Jim’s sister and Ty’s two brothers. I went ahead and paid for those. We can bill them for what they owe us,” Brandon said.

“I’ve got Tami. Plan on covering all her expenses when she travels with us,” I said.

“What about me?” Alan asked.

“Send his parents a bill,” I teased as I winked at Brandon in the rearview mirror.

He took notes and Alan looked worried. I just let him think I wasn’t paying for him. He looked at Tami and she gave it away.

“‘Stupid boy’,” Alan mumbled.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he shot back.

“After the game there will be something for the players only. Everyone else is free until the next morning. There will be a breakfast and then you’ll work out. It’s my understanding that two other quarterbacks will be here this weekend, Felix Johnson from Miami, Florida, and Ben Luck from Springfield, Missouri,” Brandon said.

“Flee! I hope he brought Candy,” Tami said.

Flee had been at my camps at Ohio State and Alabama. He had also made it to the Elite 11 competition. His size was an issue for many of the programs he wanted to play football for. I was glad he had picked Northwestern as a possible destination. He would be a good fit for their style of play. I also knew Ben. He had been one of the quarterbacks in my group at the camp in Houston. While Ben had been good, I felt Flee was the better player. It would be interesting to see what they both did in their workouts for Northwestern.

“Offers will be made after the workouts,” Brandon said. “Of course you already have one from them, from when you came to a game last year.”

As I drove, Tami and Alan talked poor Brandon’s ear off. I’d picked up on Brandon saying that Tami and Alan wouldn’t go to the after-game festivities. I had been worried about Tami, and me potentially having to watch as a college guy picked her up. I was nowhere near ready to experience that. It was one thing to theoretically talk about Tami wanting to date other guys; it was quite another to watch it.

We went to the hotel first to get everyone checked in. I was surprised that Tami was rooming with me. Alan and Brandon had a room. When we unpacked, I questioned Tami about it because there was only a king-size bed.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“If you hadn’t noticed, this is a big game for Northwestern and we couldn’t get another room in the hotel. The choice was I either roomed with you or Brandon. While he’s cute, I prefer your company,” she explained.

She could tell I wasn’t ready for this and came over to me and gave me a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she began. “I know this is hard on you, but you need to get past it. At some point, you might even see me with a guy.”

“Why are you really here?” I asked.

Tami could have visited Northwestern any weekend she wanted to. She had a car, after all. It wasn’t as if she had to come with me.

“How are you doing, knowing you have another brother?”

I guess my mom had talked to her, because I hadn’t revealed that tidbit of information to anyone outside the family. As far as anyone knew, including Phil, he was my uncle. I hadn’t heard from my parents since they went to Las Vegas to talk things through. Mom was madder than I had ever seen her when she found out.

I’d been shocked when I discovered my dad had strayed from his wedding vows. He was the one Dawson I thought would always be faithful to his spouse. I figured it was just a matter of time before Greg and Uncle John slipped. I was actually surprised Greg hadn’t already. I thought his chances of staying faithful were going up because of Kyle, Mac and Nate. Combine that with Angie being a total babe, even as a MILF. I worried about my brother still, because he had been used to a variety of women while in high school. He also seemed very interested in hearing about my exploits.

I always felt I was more like my dad. I wanted a woman to love and it would be just the two of us. When I found out he had a son out of wedlock, I didn’t really know what to think. For the first time in my life, I felt disappointed in him. Not necessarily for cheating on Mom, but me more for how the whole thing had been handled. I could never have a son and not be part of his life, and I’d thought my dad was the same way. I knew he loved Greg and me. How could he turn his back on Phil all these years? I was also disappointed in my grandpa for helping cover it up.

“Did you talk to my mom?” I asked.

“Yes. Don’t worry about her. She’s working through it, and still loves your dad. She also knows she treated you badly and is sorry.”

I realized I was still angry with my mother. She’d forced me to stay home from the party where Mona had ended up in bed with Mike. While in the grand scheme of things I was better off knowing what a complete ass Mike was, and that Mona would do what she did, I still had a hard time with how Mom had handled it. The one thing I’d thought I could count on was complete honesty with my parents. Any and all topics were fair game. We had very frank discussions within our household, but my new half-brother, and everything he entailed, was a completely new ballgame.

I felt that a level of trust had been broken. It made me sad to think my mom would keep Dad’s affair from me. I somewhat accepted her irrational behavior. This was the mother-of-all-reasons. If she’d just told me why, instead of playing because I told you so, I could’ve accepted it. Finding out the real reason later had changed things for me. I knew trust was a big thing for me. I hadn’t had the best luck with relationships. It was the one thing in my life I couldn’t seem to get right. What I had just realized was that I felt the same way about my relationship with my mom as I did about my relationship with Tami. While I loved them, things had fundamentally changed.

I thought about that last statement. I understood my dad’s infidelity was a big deal, and understood my mom not wanting to talk about it. They needed to work that out themselves. My problem was that I felt she took it out on me. It was as if she fell into frustrated-parent mode. Mom had found it easier to boss me around instead of talking to me. Mom and Dad had never been those parents that would tell you to do something just because they said so. We had in-depth conversations, not flippant one-liners. This led me back to the conversation I was having with Tami. In the past I would have shared with her everything I was going through with my parents, but she was just a friend now. I wouldn’t tell anyone else about my father’s infidelity. It wasn’t my place to share that kind of information. So I wasn’t going to talk to Tami about it. If my mom wanted to tell her, fine.

“I guess it would’ve been nice if she’d told me that. Did she tell you when they’d be back?” I asked.

I could see Tami debate if she should tell me or not. I just turned my back on her and finished unpacking.

“How did things get so bad?” Tami asked.

Was she serious?

“It started when you decided to change our relationship.”

I just shook my head and walked out the door, leaving her to her thoughts. I went down to the lobby to wait for everyone.

I spotted Candy in the lobby and she was alone. Most of the rest of our group was already downstairs. A bus had been arranged to drive all the recruits and their families over to the stadium. There were others that I assumed were also there to catch the bus. I snuck up behind Candy, wrapped her in my arms and kissed her neck. She twisted around and kissed me, and it was more than hello.

“What the fuck, Dawson?” Flee said as he and his mom walked up.

I reached for him and hugged him also. He had to fight me off as I tried to kiss him. When I was done, Mrs. Johnson held out her arms.

“Do I get one too?” she asked, which caused me to blush.

She didn’t give me a choice and gave me a big hug. Thankfully, she just kissed my cheek.

“I want you to meet my teammates,” I said as I grabbed Candy’s hand, and saw Flee roll his eyes as I dragged her across the lobby.

I’d had several conversations with other quarterbacks about Flee’s girlfriend. Everyone agreed he was outclassed. The jokes about her being a stripper weren’t just because of her name. Her body reminded me of what Pamela Anderson would have looked like as a teenager. The only difference was I was pretty sure Candy’s breasts were real. So why was she with Flee? Their best guess was that he must be packing a monster in his trousers. I had roomed with him and knew that wasn’t really the case. I happened to think they loved each other.

When I walked up with Candy in tow, everyone turned to stare at us.

“He’s been here thirty minutes and already found the best-looking girl in Evanston,” Wolf said.

“Hey, Candy,” I heard, and turned to see Ben Luck and his family walk up.

She hugged him also, but he didn’t get a kiss, I was happy to see.

“If I’d known you were going to be here, I would have skipped,” Ben said to me.

“I agree,” Flee joined in.

“I want you guys to meet my teammates,” I said and then turned to my guys. “This is Candy, who for some reason loves this scrawny Elite 11 quarterback, Flee Johnson. Someday she’ll come to her senses and leave him for me, but for now, I suffer. This is Ben Luck, another quarterback I met at a camp this summer. This is Jim Ball, my left tackle, and currently rated one of the five best linemen in the Midwest. Ty Wilson just transferred to Lincoln and is the best running back you haven’t heard of yet. This is Tim Foresee, our defensive captain and a heck of a linebacker. Finally, this is Wolf Tams. He’ll be playing on Sundays as a tight end.”

The guys all puffed up when I introduced them. I saw their parents smile also. I then introduced everyone else.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Flee asked and then did it for me. “This is David Dawson, the number-one-rated player in all of the junior class according to all the scouting services. He was also the Co-MVP at Elite 11 and if you ask me, he was robbed. If he had been an incoming senior, he would have been the MVP hands down. He’s also about to get his ass kicked if he doesn’t stop hitting on my girlfriend.”

I hadn’t heard about the ratings. I knew they had me as the #1 quarterback, but normally there was some freak who played defensive end or linebacker who slipped into #1 overall. Quarterbacks rarely were in the top five.

“Don’t even try. David is our designated fighter,” Jim said.

“I had to learn for my movie,” I said as I waggled my eyebrows at Candy.

I would have to slip in that I was a model at some point to remind her of everything she was missing. Of course, she had seen my routine before, and wasn’t falling for any of it. Flee was used to her getting hit on. That was just something that came with dating someone like her. The bus pulled up and Tami grabbed my arm.

“Come on, Romeo, before she thinks you’re serious,” Tami said.

I was impressed when the bus stopped and Coach Patrick, Northwestern’s Head Coach, greeted us each by name as we got off. He took us to a meeting room and I saw that besides the guys I had met, there were probably fifteen other recruits and their families. That meant that there were over seventy people in the room. Coach Patrick took the podium to greet us.

“First of all, thank you all for your interest in Northwestern football. If you weren’t sure, I want you all to know that we had over a hundred and fifty requests from athletes around the country who wanted to attend today’s game. You were selected for this weekend because we think you all would be a great fit both academically and athletically here at Northwestern. We would like you to use this opportunity to find out what makes Northwestern special and hopefully by the end of this weekend we can find common ground and commit to one another. Nothing would make me happier than if all of you eventually played for the Cats.

“Before we get to the football side of things, I wanted to point out a few things we are proud of academically here at Northwestern. One of the things the NCAA mandated was that member universities take graduation seriously. To that end, we have to submit our graduation numbers and a report is produced in November. Our preliminary numbers show that 97% of athletes graduated at Northwestern.

“That’s not all. The National Collegiate Scouting Association, or NCSA, helps student athletes and their families navigate the cutthroat, competitive, and often confusing world of college recruiting. One of the tools they provide is a Power Ranking, which uses things like graduation rate, U.S. News & World Report ranking and other criteria to show where you can get the best education. Northwestern ranked #7 last year,” Coach Patrick shared.

Brandon leaned over and pointed to his tablet. Stanford and Notre Dame were ranked one and two.

“Northwestern is on the rise as far as football goes. After we beat Stanford today, who many predict to win the Pac-12, we should jump into the top twenty-five in the polls. If we play like we know we are capable of, we should challenge for a slot in the Big 10 Championship game. If we win that, we have a shot at making the final four and playing for a shot at the National Championship.”

I was sure that there were a hundred teams thinking the same way today. Everyone’s record was 0 – 0 and you controlled your own destiny. I loved this time of year. Anything seemed possible. Heck, Northwestern might upset a loaded Stanford team. If that happened, good things could happen. Personally, I thought they were a middle-of-the-pack team. If I had to pick the top four, I would go with Ohio State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and my surprise pick was Iowa. The reason I picked Iowa was because their schedule had them avoid the more powerful schools in the crossover games. Each school in a division had to play two schools in the other division. Iowa got Indiana and Maryland, the two weakest teams in the East. I felt Northwestern was in the next group, which included Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State.

I half-listened to the sales job. I had to chuckle when we were told about the traditions at Northwestern and then their mascot Willie the Wildcat came in. I think Ty’s little brothers thought he was cool. He reminded me of the coyote in the old Roadrunner cartoons. Even though they had similar names, the Northwestern Wildcat had been introduced in 1930, so he was the original.

After Coach Patrick was done, we were broken up into groups of four or five and given a chaperone for the group. Ben, Flee and I were grouped together because we were quarterbacks. Our chaperone was Gus Lawrence, a sophomore quarterback. We were given a quick tour of the facilities, and I was surprised when I found out what was next on the agenda.

“Next we meet with the press,” Gus announced.

“Why?” I asked.

“It’s all part of recruiting now. The Big 10 even announces which recruits are on each of the campuses each week. They will want to post your pictures and have brief comments about your visit. The fan-based recruiting websites also want information,” Gus explained.

“Welcome to big-time football,” Brandon told me.

We were paraded out in front of a wall with the Northwestern logo and had our pictures taken both individually and as a group. We then split up and each sat down with a reporter. I smiled when I saw mine was Margaret Chin. She was a sideline reporter for ESPN, who was carrying the game today. The other guys were sitting down with print reporters. I hadn’t prepared my talking points for a filmed interview. Also, Brandon wasn’t up to speed on that aspect of his job. While I knew it wasn’t live, and they would edit what I said into a short sound-bite, I didn’t want to come across as a bumbling idiot, either.

ESPN had set up an interview area complete with three cameras, lighting and sound. One camera was arranged to get the establishment shot; that was where you could see us both facing each other as we talked. The other cameras were focused on each of us individually. They wired me for sound and I sat down across from Margaret. She was on her tablet and completely ignored me until someone announced they were ready. The lights came on and she looked up and smiled at the camera that was facing her.

“I’m with David Dawson, the number one recruit in the junior class and Elite 11 Co-MVP. How does it feel to be the number-one recruit in the junior class?”

“I think it reflects more on the team I have around me, because they are the ones that make me shine.”

“I’m sure they do,” she interrupted me. “But your team wasn’t there when you were named Co-MVP at Elite 11.”

“It was my team that helped me prepare. They took time out of their summer to help me learn plays and get ready. My teammates were with me on that field in all the preparation they helped me put in. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

“David, you committed to State your freshman year and then withdrew the commitment. Now I see they are not even mentioned in the list of teams you are showing interest in. What happened?”

I’d committed to State to save Luke Herndon’s scholarship. At the time, I hadn’t thought through the consequences of my actions. One of the things my uncle had taught me was to be a man of your word. Stand up and deliver on your commitments, even if it wasn’t in your best interest. I should never have allowed State’s coach to blackmail me into it. When I finally decided on a school, I intended to keep my word. The thing that let me off the hook was that the commitment was made to the head coach who had been fired.

Then I stopped to think about the question. What was I missing here? It was rather aggressive. Normally, the opening questions were creampuffs. I would need to be careful.

“I grew up watching State play, and several of my teammates were offered scholarships and accepted. Unfortunately they had a coaching change, which caused me to reevaluate and open my recruiting back up. As far as the websites, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that right now. I’ve just started the process, so I’m open to just about everyone,” I said.

“Is that why you had Kentucky as your favorite, but you recently downgraded them to be equal with everyone else, or did something happen with your recruiting?”

I had promised Coach Styles that I would put them at High Interest until the start of my junior year, and then put them at Medium Interest like everyone else.

“No, Kentucky is still in the mix. I went to camp there and really liked what they are doing. They were the first to offer me a scholarship. That means a lot to me.”

“You have garnered several early offers. The list is a virtual who’s-who in college football. Besides Kentucky, you have received offers from Northwestern, Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon. Did any of them stand out?” she asked.

“They all did, and when the time comes it will be hard to pick from that group and several more I plan to visit and evaluate.”

“When can we expect a decision?” she asked.

“The earliest would be the fall signing period of my senior year. I wouldn’t be surprised if I waited until the spring of next year. This will be an important decision for me, and I need to take my time and make the right choice.”

“Okay, I think we got it,” she said to end the interview. Then she smiled at me. “Could we do one more? I want to do a filler piece about your other activities.”

“I assume you want to talk about modeling and acting,” I said.

“Yes. Do you mind?” she asked.

Most reporters would have just ambushed me. I appreciated she had given me a heads-up about the topic of conversation. I quickly ran through what I should say to plug everyone I was beholden to.

“I’m with David Dawson, currently the number-one recruit in the junior class, and wanted to ask him about something other than football. This winter you have a movie being released, Star Academy, and people might begin to know you as David Dawson the actor more than as a football player. I also see you’ve done quite a bit of modeling. How did all that get started?”