Chapter 45

David
Over breakfast, David had some alone time with Phil and Colt.

“When I was in high school, this was my favorite camp besides Elite 11. I came two years straight, and it’s where I met Coach Mason.”

“How did you get invited after your freshman year?” Colt asked.

“Each year, they invite the forty best quarterbacks in the nation, including two sophomores and two juniors they’ve added to the mix. I was rated the number eight incoming sophomore quarterback. Five in front of me declined to come. While they were asking those guys, the class was re-ranked based on performances at other football camps. I moved up three spots, so I got the invite.”

“Why didn’t you come your senior year?” Colt asked.

“Baseball. I was traveling with the USA Under-18 team. The same reason I didn’t go to Elite 11. That gives you a shot at being their first two-time MVP.”

“Don’t let him fool you. Your winning twice will make him wish he’d skipped baseball,” Phil shared.

David admitted to himself that his brother was probably right.

“What did you get out of this camp?” Colt asked.

“The big benefit was the training. While I learned a lot at Elite 11, my skills advanced tremendously from this camp both my years here. Bud Mason has one of the best offensive minds around and coached longer in the NFL than I’ve been on this planet.”

“David’s right. He hired Bud to be my personal coach this summer, and I can see the improvement,” Phil said to help validate his brother’s claim.

“What makes this camp different from the ones colleges hold, or even Elite 11 for that matter, is that it’s open to spectators. That means you’ll be showing off your skills in front of all the scouts, recruiters, and potential head coaches. It’ll open doors to more schools because they’ll be able to see you live.”

“That’s not a problem for you,” Phil teased Colt, “since you have no skills.”

“There’s a downside, though,” David said. “It’ll mean that every swinging dick will want to upstage you because you were named Elite 11 MVP. I played head-to-head with Ridge Townsend my first year; he was a top-five pick in this year’s NFL draft. You’d better believe I wanted to show I was as good as he was or better. So, you better both bring your best.”

“If you had one piece of advice for today?” Phil asked.

“I’ll give you the only one that matters: have fun.”

NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans, had three outdoor practice fields and an indoor field. Today, they were using one half of one of the outdoor fields. David beat even Coach Mason to their practice area. He found some college coaches taking up residence in the bleachers the camp had brought in.

He spotted Coaches Haber and Title from Michigan. David walked over and smiled at Coach Haber while ignoring Coach Title, who he considered a bully.

David had complained about Mike Herndon, and Coach Title had told him that he would just have to deal with the idiot since he was already committed. He also refused to let David talk to the head coach, saying there was a chain of command and that David was now a part of the team and not a special case.

Coach Title’s high-handedness didn’t sit well with David because he had a legitimate beef. Mike had ambushed his younger brother at a party, beat him senseless, and dragged Phil’s girlfriend, Jill Lacier, into a back bedroom. His intentions toward her were clear to David because Mike had raped another cheerleader when she was incapacitated just a year before that.

David had shown up to the party and first confronted Mike’s older brother, who he took to his knees using a move Cassidy had taught him. Luke had decided to unlock the apartment where Mike was hiding rather than have his arm broken. David had kicked everyone out of the unit and then beaten the snot out of Mike. It was a confrontation that had been several years in the making.

So, while Coach Title was busy asserting his dominance and telling David the facts of life, David reminded him that he hadn’t signed a National Letter of Intent. That meant he was not bound to Michigan by anything other than his word, which he took very seriously.

Michigan accepting Mike to the team, combined with Coach Title’s ‘asshole view of life,’ amounted to them breaking their word to him, to David’s way of thinking. Thus, they were almost demanding that he look elsewhere for college.

The end result was that he, Wolf, and Tim had all pulled their commitment because of Coach Title. When Coach Haber found out, he tried to make amends, but David pointed out that his position coach would have reported to Coach Title. That meant David would have had to work with the jerk. So he took a hard pass.

“Good morning, Coach.”

“Hey, David. This the field you’re working at today?” Coach Haber asked.

“Sure is.”

“Good. We wanted to see the guys you’re coaching.”

“I would forget about Phil Prince if I were you,” David said and then turned to Coach Title. “He’s my younger brother—the one Mike Herndon beat up. How is that piece of sh—I mean, excrement working out for you?”

“Coach, take a walk,” Coach Haber said to Title. After he left, Coach Haber turned back to David. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“I would never badmouth you or Michigan. I wanted to play ball there right up until Coach Title showed his ass. But I won’t lie either if anyone asks me directly.”

“He really isn’t that bad,” Coach Haber said.

“Who? Coach Title? He’s more controlling than I am,” Coach Wilson, Alabama’s head coach, said as he joined them. “How’s it going, David?”

“Good. You here to see my group?” David asked.

“We’re looking at Max MacGregor as a Plan B or C kind of guy, but we want to see Colt Macklin and Axel Ohlson. I hear you had Colt in for USC’s camp.”

“He has a ton of raw talent, more than he showed at Elite 11 or at our camp. When Colt grows into his body, he’ll be on par with Clemson’s quarterback,” David said.

“So, better than you?” Coach Swank, the head coach of Clemson, joked as he walked up.

David acted like he had to ponder his answer.

“My talent might be of the generational sort. I don’t think Colt is ready to be compared to the likes of me,” David said seriously and then laughed. He spotted another coach coming. “Hell, no. We don’t need the Fighting Irish lurking around here.”

“I thought I saw UCLA’s coach in the parking lot. He was making dinner reservations with Coach Clayton,” Coach Brian of Notre Dame said.

“Dawson! Quit socializing and get your butt over here,” Coach Mason barked.

“Duty calls,” David said with a grin as he turned and trotted over to where his group was.

Coach Mason had the receivers, defensive backs, and quarterbacks gather around before they got started.

“My assistant is David Dawson, who is currently at USC. David came to this camp both his sophomore and junior years. Do you have any words before we get started, David?” Coach Mason asked.

“Our goal is to make you shine in front of all the recruiters who are here. We’ll move quickly, so I hope you’re in shape,” David said with a grin.

“Will you be throwing us balls, too?” Axel asked.

“I might if I need to demonstrate something,” David responded.

“Does he suck up all the limelight?” Colt asked Phil.

“Pretty much.”

“If you two clowns are through, let’s get started,” David said.

Coach Mason got them doing running drills. David didn’t know what Phil and Colt had been doing for the last couple of weeks, but it hadn’t been football-related. Thankfully, Axel and Max were on their game. Towards the end, David was getting on Phil and Colt pretty good. They were both competitors, so they quickly got focused.

They practiced for four hours until it was time for lunch. David had a slight smile toward the end of their first session when Colt complained that his arm might fall off. Phil had worked out in the Lincoln High system, so he was in better shape.

There was a reason David didn’t live in Houston. Hot and humid wasn’t a good combination. After just standing and watching the morning session, he’d already sweated his balls off. He was glad he wouldn’t be doing drills for Coach Mason later in the day.

David begged off eating lunch with Coach Mason and the others running the camp and found his group in the cafeteria.

“Mind if I join you?”

They all agreed, so he took a seat. Before he could take his first bite, Max asked him a question.

“What makes this camp better than the other ones?”

“We have three goals at this camp. The first is the training. Top quarterbacks want to come here because so many previous attendees made tremendous improvements in their skills. Plus, you get to see how you stack up against the best. You and Axel are showing you might have more potential than Colt and Phil,” David said.

“Bite me,” Colt said.

David gave him a stern look.

“Based on what you two did this morning in front of some of the top programs in the country, who would you rather recruit? I’m just telling it like it is. You can’t be taking plays off or goofing around when it’s time to work,” David said.

“But you said to have fun,” Phil complained.

“This is fun,” David said in a way that showed he was serious.

“We get it,” Colt said.

David continued.

“The next two go hand-in-hand. The second goal is that you’re being compared by the scouting services. They’re all here. You could say your rating doesn’t matter, but it would be crazy to believe that because colleges, boosters, alumni, and fan bases all keep score. If a coaching staff doesn’t land enough blue-chip recruits, they’d better be winning some games; otherwise, they’ll be done.

“The third goal is to get seen by the top programs. You can’t have any direct contact with them at this camp, but they’re all here to watch you. If you want to get on their recruiting list, you need to show them you have game.

“You want to be able to pick and choose where you take your official campus visits. You’re only allowed a small number, and you want to make every one of them count. That was what I wanted when I was in your shoes. To do that, I needed to have the interest go both ways. My goal was to visit the best possible programs. You’ll want the same,” David said.

“Why were you so adamant about the receivers being further from the sideline on our back shoulder throws?” Axel asked.

“It’s like this...”

From there, it was an in-depth X’s-and-O’s discussion about the finer points of playing the position.

After lunch, the campers were told to get into shorts and their jerseys. They’d switched the measurement session to immediately after lunch because key staff couldn’t make it until then. Part of the testing was for drugs or illegal substances like steroids. The camp had sprung it on the players so they couldn’t try to mask the test. Three guys opted to go home instead of being tested.

There were ten groups of quarterbacks working with their coaches. Each coach seemed to have their own approach. Coach Mason was the only one who went old-school. He had them in full pads; he said you didn’t play in shorts and t-shirts, so you should practice in what you’d wear in a game. With it being 94 degrees and what felt like 100% humidity, his guys were sweating their butts off.

When David came out for the afternoon session, he noted that the grounds staff had brought over more portable bleachers for their section of the practice field, and they were full.

Coach Mason gathered them around before starting.

“Ignore that lot,” he said, nodding toward the bleachers. Then he began coaching. “Quarterback is not just a position; quarterback is a lifestyle. It’s not going out on a Friday night and throwing a football around. It is putting in the time during the week and earning the respect of your teammates.”

With that nugget, he started their afternoon.