Chapter 10

By the time the rest of the players starting reporting to campus, I was in mid-season form. Never had I been in better shape this early in a season. I instantly drew the attention of the coaching staff the first day of practice. I finished every drill first, I dominated every offensive lineman we had, I didn’t care what I had to do to win, I did it. By the end of the first week of practice, I had accomplished two things. First, I had no doubt secured my position with the first unit, no one was better. But secondly, I had isolated myself from the rest of the team. I sat alone, I ate alone, I dressed alone. It was of course, by my choice.

Although this would be my third year in college, I was still technically playing as a sophomore due to being red shirted my first year. This defense would basically stay intact for the next two years, we had only one senior who started for us. Unlike the previous two seasons, this year we were opening with a ranked opponent in their stadium. We traveled to Virginia for our first game of the season, one that would be be nationally ranked as we were. We opened the season ranked ninth, our opponent was fourteenth. For the first time since joining this team, we had a legitimate shot at a National Championship. All the pieces were in place, we had a great defense, we could run and throw the ball effectively. It would come down to a few bounces of the ball and the ability to keep players healthy.

I was taped and ready to go at least ninety minutes before the game, the locker room was unusually quiet for the first game of the season. The game was the featured game of the week, meaning it would be nationally televised. I knew a lot of people in my small town would be watching, not that I needed any motivation. By the time we hit the field, I had worked myself into a frenzy.

They received the opening kickoff and ran it back to the twenty seven yard line. Our defense took the field for the first time, lining up quickly. We moved around quick a bit pre-snap, trying to throw the opposing quarterback off, making him unsure what formation we would be in once he got the ball. This year, with the speed we had on the line and at linebacker, we would definitely see a lot of blitz packages called. As I lined up on the outside shoulder of the left tackle, I heard an audible on the very first play of the game. We sent eight men on a dog left from the opening snap, letting them know it was going to be a long night.

By halftime, we had built a 28-0 lead, completely dominating the first two quarters. Defensively we had only allowed two first downs, they had a total of seventy nine yards of offense in two quarters. I had a decent first half with three tackles, but I had been so close two or three times to making a big play, I was somewhat disappointed.

On their first possession of the second half, they attempted a wide receiver reverse, that came back to my side. Normally when the entire offense moves to your left, you follow it, you move to the motion. I don’t know why I held my ground, something seemed wrong. As the play moved away from me, I saw the one odd player coming back to the ball, I knew immediately. The receiver had just been handed the ball when I hit him between the shoulder pads at full speed. I lifted him up off of his feet, then drove him into the ground. In the process the ball squirted out, one of our defensive backs snagged it in mid-air and ran it back for a touchdown. Two quarters later, we had won our opener 42-0 in a convincing fashion. I had a good second half with five more tackles, the forced fumble and two sacks.

By the time our conference schedule began we were 3-0, had moved up the rankings to sixth, and statistically had the best defense in college football. I had accumulated six sacks, and was among the top tacklers on the defense. Everything was falling into place, except for that the fact that I was down right miserable. All I could think about was Ashley and what had happened. As much as I tried, I just couldn’t let it go.

Halfway through the season, there were only four unbeaten teams left in the country, we were ranked third. We were on a collision course with Florida, who was ranked just below us at fourth. They too were unbeaten and eyeing a National Championship. I got a call early in the week from Courtney’s Dad asking if I possibly had any extra tickets I was not using for the upcoming game. I told him as far as I knew, no one needed my tickets, he could have all four. I promised to leave them at the stadium club box office for him, the morning of the game.

The game with Florida was a sellout and again a nationally televised game on a major network. Florida was an offensive machine, a pure pro style passing offense, this would be our biggest test to date. They were averaging over thirty points a game thus far into the season. I arrived in our locker room about nine that morning and began to get taped up for the game. I had been very fortunate thus far this year, I was basically injury free, just a bump and bruise, here and there.

We opened the game with the first possession of the day on our own twenty one yard line. Two plays later we fumbled the ball, Florida recovered on our eighteen yard line. It took just one play for them to score, we were already down 7-0, with barely two minutes off the clock. Our offense came out and immediately tried to press the ball to get the points back, we threw an interception deep in our own end of the field, a few plays later it was 10-0. The entire load of this game had shifted to the defense, if we were going to come back, it was up to us to make a stand. We held them for most of the rest of the first half, they scored once, as did we, the score was 13-7 at the break.

The defense spent the entire halftime making adjustments. I was moved from my normal defensive end position, to outside linebacker on the same side. We would be rushing at least one to two extra players per down, trying to force a turnover. We definitely caught them off guard on the first series. On the second play of the half, I was able to break through and get a huge sack, a loss of fifteen yards. They were forced to punt the ball to us, we had excellent field position and scored quickly to take the lead 14-13.

From that point on, we were merciless on defense. We allowed nothing, they had to earn every yard they gained. We blew the game open in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter scoring twice giving us a 24-13 advantage. We knew that was going to force them to start to throw on just about every down. As a defense, we were going to pin our ears back and get after their quarterback. We sacked him six more times in the fourth quarter, winning the game 31-13.

From that point on, we never looked back in the rear view mirror. We finished the season unbeaten and ranked second in the country. We would play a team from Ohio the first weekend in January for the National Championship. Our coaches tried to prepare us for the hype that would surround the game, but nothing can really prepare you for a game of that magnatude, unless you have been there already.

Coach gave us ten days off for Christmas and New Years, but we had to be back on campus January 2nd to resume practice for the championship game. I was torn on what to do for those ten days, debating on whether to stay at school or go home. Since I had not been home in close to six months, I decided that maybe enough time had passed since that night with Ashley. I caught a ride with another player who had to pass within a few miles of my home town so he agreed to drop me off. I stopped in Coach Ray’s office to tell him I was leaving campus for the holidays. He asked me to sit down for a minute, he wanted to talk to me.

“Brian, as you know, we are in constant contact with pro scouts, agents and people around the pro game. Things have changed a lot in the past two decades, a lot of underclassmen are now leaving school early for the draft. I have actually been contacted by several scouts who seem very interested in you.” he started.

“With that said, I am not a big proponent of kids leaving school early, unless the situation is completely right for them. Even though you’re technically a sophomore, I have heard talk you could be a 3rd or 4th round pick this year, if you declare early.” he continued.

“I haven’t even thought about it Coach. I mean, I am only a sophomore. You really think someone would draft me?” I asked.

“Oh I am sure of it. The only question is, would you move up into the higher rounds with one or two more years playing here. Let me do some digging, we can talk when you come back.” he ended.

I left his office in a state of disbelief, I couldn’t imagine it. To be drafted as a professional after only two seasons, it didn’t seem possible. It’s all I thought about on the ride home, there was actually a chance that I could play pro football and possibly make a great deal of money. It was around noon on December 23rd when my friend dropped me off at home. I noticed that Ashley’s SUV was not in the drive, I actually felt somewhat relieved. I went inside, unpacked my bags, starting two loads of laundry. I fixed my self a sandwich and was sitting at the kitchen table eating when Ashley came through the door.

“Hey, when did you get here?” she asked, sitting the grocery bags down on the counter.

“Just about thirty minutes ago, a friend dropped me off here. I have off until January 2nd.” I answered.

“That’s nice, I was hoping to have company over the holidays.” she told me, putting the groceries away.

While she seemed to be genuinely delighted to see me, for the first time in I can’t remember how long, she didn’t hug or kiss me. I just sat there eating as she put away the remainder of the groceries. I finished, got up and rinsed the dishes, placing them in the dishwasher. I went and laid down for a while, it had been a long trip home, I was up most of the night. I was startled from a dead sleep by the cell phone on the nightstand next to the bed. I picked the phone up, looked at the number, it looked familiar, so I answered.

“Hey Brian, how are you son?” came the familiar voice.

It was Mr. Timmons, Courtney’s Dad, in-spite of what had happened between his daughter and I, we had become somewhat close in the past few years. It was always good to hear from him.

“Hey Mr. Timmons, I’m doing fine sir and you?” I asked.

“Just great Brian. Look, I am having a really big Christmas Eve party tomorrow night at my house. If you’re coming into town, I would love for you to stop in for a few minutes.” he asked.

“I’m in town now sir. I got in last night. But I don’t know if it’s a good idea I come by, I mean I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.” I replied.

“You won’t make anyone uncomfortable Brian. Both my wife and I would love to see you, I don’t think Courtney would mind either.” he shot back.

“Oh, she isn’t seeing Darren anymore?” I inquired.

“I don’t know, I hope not, I can’t stand that asshole. Anyway, forget about that, just please stop by for a few minutes.” he begged.

“Ok sir, I will come by for a few minutes, I promise.” I said.

Ashley must have been in her bedroom while I was on the phone with Courtney’s Dad, she walked up to my door almost as soon as I had hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Mr. Timmons, he asked me to stop over at his house tomorrow night for his Christmas Eve party.” I replied.

“Oh ... You’re thinking of going?” she inquired.

“I promised him I would stop by for a few minutes. He still calls me at least once a month at school, he has always been so nice to me. I couldn’t say no.” I responded.

“Is Courtney going to be there?” she asked, in an annoyed tone.

“I have no idea Ashley, I didn’t ask.” I answered.

She turned and walked down the hallway toward the front of the house. For the rest of the day, you could feel the tension in the house between us. I tried my best to be cordial but it was difficult to say the least. I went to bed early that night just so I wouldn’t have to deal with the situation any longer. I heard Ashley up several times during the night, I had no idea what she was doing.

I woke up early on Christmas Eve and decided to go into town and just walk around. Even though it was a very small town, everyone always went all out decorating for Christmas. I stopped in at the diner and had breakfast, a few cups of coffee, then started walking down main street. I saw several people I knew, stopping to talk to each of them for a few minutes. I window shopped for a while, then decided to go to Van Buren’s to get a haircut. Mr. V, as everyone called him, had been cutting hair in our town for over thirty years, he had cut my hair since I was a toddler. Lately he had slowed down, hiring two other barbers to help him part time. As I opened the door to walk in, I saw the place was packed. Mr. V looked up from his customer, his face lighting up upon recognizing me. He waved me to come in immediately.

“It’s ok Mr. V, I can come back when you’re not so busy.” I said, thanking him.

“No, no Brian. You come right in, we will squeeze you in.” he said, shaking my hand.

He turned to all of the men, their ages varied from teenager to senior citizen and addressed them as if they were all old friends.

“I think you all know who this is. If you don’t know, get out.” he said laughing hysterically.

Everyone in the shop roared in laughter, as most of them waved a warm hello to me as I sat in the only chair open. As soon as Mr. V, finished with the customer he had in his chair, he motioned for me to come over and sit down. I tried to refuse, pointing to all of the people who had been sitting there waiting, but most of them motioned for me to go ahead. I sat down in the chair, as Mr. V quickly wrapped the white cover around me and secured it to my neck. He stepped around in front of me with clippers in his hand.