Chapter 21

Matt
“Quit riding my dick about it,” Ridge complained. “I have no idea what the coaches have planned. You should man up and go ask them what they’re thinking and quit bothering me because I don’t know.”

Ridge had come in for his daily workout, and Matt had ambushed him. Word was officially out that David Dawson was planning to play both baseball and football at USC. David had been helping Ridge prepare for the NFL, so Matt had been trying to get him to share what he knew. David was the one guy who could mess up Matt’s plans to be the starter next year and eventually make it to the NFL.

Personally, Matt liked David. They’d met at a football camp right after Elite 11 before their senior year of high school. Matt and two other Elite 11 quarterbacks had come to the camp because David had skipped Elite 11 to play baseball for Team USA in the Pan Am games. David had been the first junior to ever be invited to Elite 11. It was the camp where the top high school quarterbacks competed against each other to determine who was number one.

The prior year, David had been named co-MVP. From what Matt had heard, David had actually been the best, but the Elite 11 people had a hard time admitting that a junior was the top dog.

At camp, reporters kept asking all the quarterbacks about the asterisk that would be next to the winner’s name because the actual best wasn’t there to defend his title. After the winner was announced, the top three, including Matt, went to the camp David was attending to see who really was the best.

Matt wanted to hate David because he hadn’t really touched a football all summer, and he practiced for one day. The next, he showed everybody that he was head and shoulders above the other quarterbacks. The scary part was that Matt knew David wasn’t at the top of his game. Given time to hone his skills, he would have been better yet.

David quietly showed his prowess that day in camp. He didn’t act the big man like Matt suspected the others would have if they were that much better than their competition. Instead, David took the time to coach them all on how to improve. Somehow, he had turned a potential dogfight into four guys working with each other to better themselves and have fun doing it.

That summer, Matt had already announced his intention to attend USC. He was ranked as the number four quarterback and the tenth overall recruit in the nation. His plan was to redshirt his freshman year and learn the offense. Ridge Townsend was their starter, and the preseason buzz had him as a potential Heisman candidate. Matt had been told that Ridge might jump to the NFL, so Matt could step into the starter role as a redshirt freshman. That would set him up to be the starter for the next four years.

He had picked USC because they had a history of sending their quarterbacks to the NFL. Even the big-time programs were hit-or-miss when it came to advancing their quarterbacks to the pros. USC was one of a handful that delivered, making it the place Matt and his parents thought was the best for his long-term future.

In the fall of his senior year, Matt had received a call from Coach Clayton telling him that David was coming in for an official visit at USC. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Matt had made it a point to make an unofficial visit that weekend.

David had been nothing if not gracious. He’d even invited Matt, as well as several USC football players, to the actor Zac Verwood’s party. Matt had actually developed a bit of a man-crush on David when, at the party, a model had walked up to David and laid a serious kiss on him. At the time, Matt had thought that it must be nice to be the top dog.

Coach Clayton had asked Matt to sit down with him after he’d talked to David. Coach Clayton told him that if David decided to come, they wouldn’t be offering him. Coach had asked him to hold off on his second choice, Washington, until David declared where he was going to school.

Matt had called some of the other top quarterbacks and heard similar stories. Everyone was waiting to see where Dawson planned to go. His announcement would set off a domino effect at all the schools he bypassed. It only made sense for a school not to recruit two elite quarterbacks. Coach Clayton had promised that if David went elsewhere, Matt would receive the lion’s share of the coaching.

“Speak of the devil,” Ridge said as David walked in.

“What did I do?” David asked.

Matt laid eyes on the bane of his existence and froze, now remembering better what his competition looked like. Matt was six-two and tipped the scales at 200 pounds. David was a couple inches taller and had maybe forty pounds on him, all of which looked to be muscle.

The two of them were staring at each other when Crystal, Matt’s new girlfriend, strutted into the locker room, looking like a lost poodle at a pit-bull fight.

“There you are!”

Every guy in the place was looking at her, except David. He threw his duffle bag onto the bench and began to take his clothes off to get ready for practice. Crystal got to Matt and turned to David as he removed his shirt.

“Hi, David!”

“Hey, Crystal. You might want to leave,” David suggested as he began to unbuckle his belt.

Matt all but picked her up to get her moving out of the locker room.

“You can’t come in here,” he said as he pushed her out the door.

“But I wanted to see you,” she said.

“How do you know David?” he asked, suddenly worried about his competition for a completely different reason.

“My sorority went to a party at the Baseball House, and he was there.”