Chapter 22

I rolled over and ignored the sound of the first alarm that rang at 6:45 in the morning. Life was good. Damian had an eight o'clock Psych class Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I only had one eight o'clock class this semester – Scuba Certification on Thursdays.

Kelly and I had coordinated our schedules as much as we could. We had History 20 – American History up to 1877 at 9:05 on Mondays and Wednesdays. We met at the Pollock Dining Hall at eight o'clock for breakfast. We headed for the Wartik Labs and our first class. Kelly and I made our way through campus hand in hand, enjoying the glorious mid-70's late summer weather.

I was surprised after we found room 110 and had seats. The professor for the class wasn't at all what I expected. I understood most introductory level courses were taught by grad students or very junior instructors hoping to make professor and get tenure someday. The instructor, a stout, compact woman of 5'-1" and maybe 140 pounds, had short dirty blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She began her introduction.

"I'm Dr. Katherine Brennan, professor of military history for the Pennsylvania State University. Welcome to History 20." She paused briefly and scanned the classroom. I noticed more than a few of my fellow students were surprised by her. She smiled. "I know what you are thinking. 'What in the hell is a full professor doing here? Who did she piss off to get stuck with you?' I'm here by choice!" She smiled and paused to gauge our reactions.

"I teach mostly older undergrads and grad students in my courses. I always like to teach one course with younger students, such as you. You're not jaded yet. I love to watch when the light clicks on and you get it – history. Get ready people. We are going to launch ourselves on a tour of the first couple hundred years of history in our country. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a fun ride together."

With that, Dr. Brennan launched into the day's lecture. Kelly and I shared a look. This professor's warmth, humor and love of teaching history were infectious. This was going to be fun!

It was. The fifty-five minute class passed much too quickly. Kelly and I parted with a kiss. I had to head to Economics 4 in the Thomas Building. Kelly went back to her room for an hour until she had to head off to Electrical Engineering West and her philosophy class.

I hoped I would get a more dynamic instructor for economics than Dr. Noble was last semester. I knew economics was important for me to understand if I expected to teach kids social studies and history, but man, it was soooo boring last semester.

I expected my fears were coming true when the professor walked in the front of the big auditorium. He was a short bald man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. I initial impression seemed confirmed when the little man introduced himself as Dr. Frederick Blanchard in a high nasal voice. I groaned silently to myself. How in the hell would I stay awake for this guy?

Fifty-five minutes later I was chagrinned to find I had judged my professor much too quickly. After briefly outlining the course contents, Dr. Blanchard launched into an explanation of how economics affected nearly everything in our lives. He illustrated his examples clearly and with a touch of humor. If all his lectures were like his first one, I wouldn't need two cups of coffee just to stay awake like I did last semester.

I relaxed at my room reading the Daily Collegian. I was upbeat when I met Kelly back at her room after her philosophy class. We grabbed lunch and then relaxed together at her room until it was time for our next classes. Kelly had golf for an hour and fifteen minutes. I had Poly Sci 3 – Intro to Comparative Politics at the Forum.

Dr. Sally Hewitt was the professor for my Poly Sci class. We would meet Mondays and Wednesdays at the Forum for our big lectures. On Fridays we met with one of her grad assistants in a small class. I was assigned to Brian Kelley's 9:05 class at 207 Hammond. Dr. Hewitt seemed like an interesting lecturer. I shouldn't have trouble; I was interested in the subject too.

I headed for football practice after Poly Sci. Normally Tuesday was the day the coaches went over the game plan for Saturday's game. Since we didn't have game videos to review, Coach Burton presented us with the game plan for our game against Florida International.

Florida International was a FBS team (old I-A) but wasn't highly regarded. They were in the Sun Belt Conference, not one of the powerhouse conferences. Our arrangement with Florida International was simple. They came to our stadium for us to beat up on them and we paid them a half a million dollars. Our team sold out our 107,000 seat stadium, made tons of money for the athletic department and we got to fine tune our team before our real season started in a couple weeks.

I'd checked on-line on Sunday to see how FIU ranked. FIU didn't show up in any of the rankings of the Sunbelt Conference last year for top rushers, passers or receivers. I didn't find them in the conference rankings until I looked under scoring. One guy on their team was tied for 29th in scoring in their conference with 24 points. The other guy was tied for 33rd with 18 points. I'd outscored their top two scorers put together last season and I wasn't top scorer on our team! They were going to have their work cut out for them.

Coach Burton praised FIU's top running back and quarterback. He warned us we had to be careful with them. Some of the older team members joked as Coach Burton unveiled the game plan that he sounded just like Coach Paterno, praising each opponent before we beat them. He ended with a pointed reminder. A few years ago I-AA Appalachian State beat highly regarded Michigan in their season opener. Michigan never recovered their poise that season. Coach Burton preached "Never underestimate your opponent."

I hurried to clean up after practice. I needed to be in front of the dinner line at the Training Table. I had class at six o'clock. My NAUI Scuba Certification course met on Monday evenings. I had permission from the coaches to be a few minutes late for evening meetings. My class wasn't over until 7:20 pm. I headed up to the Natatorium after I gobbled down dinner.

I changed into my swimsuit in the locker room and headed for the indoor pool where I expected the class to be held. I didn't find a scuba class. Denise, the receptionist at the front desk told me that my class was upstairs in one of the meeting rooms. I hurried up, arriving a couple minutes after the six pm start time.

I found the room and ducked inside. The other people in the class were seated at tables, watching our instructor. I pleased to see that Mr. Coleman, my boss, was teaching the class.

"Have a seat, Kyle," Mr. Coleman said, pointing to an empty seat in front.

I noticed I had made another mistake. No one else in the course was dressed to swim that night. I guess I didn't pay attention to the information on-line for the course. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal.

Mr. Coleman explained that we would not be in the water at all that day. We had a lot to learn about diving before we put on tanks and went in the water. Mr. Coleman went over the course schedule and then talked about the requirements to become certified as an open water diver.

We would complete all the requirements except for the open water diving test. We could arrange to do that through the university in the spring when water conditions would be warmer or we could take our partial certification home and complete it at home during the summer with another instructor.

Mr. Coleman discussed the risks and rewards of scuba, the equipment required, and physical requirements to dive safely. We would get in the water on Thursday morning. We would practice our skills snorkeling before we used air tanks for real dives. I expected that I would have no problems with the snorkeling section. I had taught Snorkeling BSA a couple times at scout camp to help my brother.

I changed and headed for the Lasch Building when class was done. I arrived about fifteen minutes after the receivers meeting had started. I settled in and listened as Coach Adams briefed us on what to expect from Florida International d-backs on Saturday. He took time after the meeting was done to review the part I missed while I was at class. I did my daily workout and run before I headed back to my dorm room. I gave Kelly a call before bedtime to say good night and tell her that I loved her. We made plans to meet for breakfast on Tuesday.

Kelly and I met at the dining hall at 9:00 on Tuesday morning. I headed off to 207 Sackett Building for my Math 111 calculus course. I was pleased to see Dr. Gowavaram was teaching this course again. He was a good lecturer. I was also pleased to not see Bai Huo Wen, the grad assistant who "helped" me last fall with Math 110. We only had 39 students in the course, so there was no need for grad students to do individual instruction. We would meet Tuesdays and Thursdays for 50 minutes a session.

Kelly met me in front of Sackett Building when my class was over. We headed east for our next class, English 134 – American Comedy. We walked across campus using the IT building skywalk to get over Atherton Avenue in the center of town. Our classroom in the Leonhard Building was located on the east side of campus near the White Golf Course.

Our instructor was assistant professor Debra Pitts. She was a very pretty blonde haired woman in her early thirties. Watching her teach was going to be real easy on the eyes. I was going to have to be careful not to stare too much. After all, my girlfriend would be sitting beside me in the class.

We would have a lot of reading for the class, starting with Mark Twain. We would cover all the modern comedy writers in America in the next sixteen weeks. We would also have essays and analysis papers on each of the books we read over the course of the semester. Kelly and I agreed that we should have fun together with this course.

Kelly and I headed back to Pollock Commons for lunch. Kelly had to head back across campus for Golf. I went to the Lasch Building to work out and study film of Florida International.

I stopped off at the academic center to arrange for a tutor to help me with Math 111. There wasn't any sense waiting until I got in trouble. I passed the academic honor board on the way. I paused to look at the board. Kyle David Martin stood out prominently on the Dean's List. I very much wanted to keep my name there where it belonged this semester. I talked with one of the assistants at the center. I asked if Kevin Lee, my tutor from last year, was available. He said he would try to get Kevin, but couldn't guarantee it. He would have Kevin or whoever would tutor me call in a few days.

Kevin Lee called me Wednesday night. He was going to be my tutor again. We compared schedules and agreed to meet Tuesdays and Thursday after lunch so I could work on my calculus homework while Dr. Gowavaram's lecture was still fresh in my head.

I was reading the first book for American Comedy on Wednesday evening after Kevin Lee called when our room's phone rang again. I answered it on the second ring.

"Hello, Is Damian there?" a female voice I didn't recognize asked when I answered the phone.

"He's over at the Lasch Building working out right now," I explained. "Would you like to leave a message?"

"Tell him Mel called," she replied. "He has my number."

"OK, I'll give him the message," I replied. She thanked me and said good bye. I made a note for my roommate and set it on his desk.

Damian returned a half hour later. "You got a message while you were out, ' I said. 'Who's Mel?"

"Mel called? Cool!" Damian said. I gave Damian a quizzical look. "Her name's Melanie. She's a friend from high school."

Raising my eyebrows, I asked, "A friend?" I remembered Damian's going out late last Friday evening for sex. "A really good friend? You know ... a friend with benefits?"

"No comment, Kyle," Damian answered. "Billy and I are trying to set up something with Melanie and her roommate Sarah for Saturday night."

"Did Melanie transfer here from another school?" I asked. "I don't remember you talking about a female friend from your high school last year."

"Mel has always been a Penn State student, "Damian explained. "She couldn't get space here on Main Campus until this semester. She commuted to the Erie Campus last year."

"I see," I said. "Are you going to introduce me to her some time?"

"I'm sure you'll meet sometime," Damian allowed.

I went back to my reading. It was obvious that Damian wasn't going to give me any more juicy details about Mel or her roommate.

--oooOooo--

Coach Burton announced a change he decided to make for our team's preparations for home games. On Friday nights we would have dinner at the Training Table as usual and then go over to the Lasch Building for our team meeting and to do final studying of our opponent. Instead of going back to our dorm room for the night, we were going to take buses over to the Toftrees Resort Hotel a few miles from campus. Coach Burton felt we'd be able to get a better night's sleep that way without all the distractions of staying at the dorm.

Kelly and I settled into a comfortable routine – breakfast and lunch together, history and English together and then spend a little time together in the evening after I finished with football. We didn't get as much time together as we wanted, but it beat the time we had together in the summer.

I was psyched up and ready to get on the football field and hit somebody by the time we finished practice on Friday night. After dinner the team headed over to the Lasch Building for a team meeting before going over to Beaver Stadium. The university had a start of the season pep rally planned for the evening.

I didn't realize how big a deal the pep rally was until our team walked over to Beaver Stadium for the rally. The university set up stands with food and games outside the stadium to entertain the crowd of students before the pep rally. The team gathered in the tunnel when the rally started. The Blue Band and the cheer leaders warmed up the crowd for us. Coach Paterno whipped the crowd up with a speech and then turned the microphone over to Coach Burton.

Coach Burton introduced the starters on the defense first. Karol Zizka and Jake Washington drew the largest cheers when they ran out through the gauntlet of cheerleaders to the center of the field. Coach introduced the offensive line next followed by our tight end, Evan Foster.

Evan drew sustained applause. His two and a half years as a starter earned him the students' respect. Hassan Jackson ran out next. I followed him when Coach called my name. I was surprised at the cheers and applause I received. Hopefully I would live up to their expectations. Shawn O'Conner drew sustained cheers and applause when it was his turn. Zack Hayes, our captain and undisputed leader, ran out to the loudest cheers of the evening. It was his due. Our hopes for the season did rest on his broad, sturdy shoulders.

My friends and I stared around the stadium, taking in the feelings of the 20-25,000 fans cheering our success tomorrow and the remainder of the season. The Blue Band serenaded us and the crowd with another rousing march and then led us in singing the fight song before the rally ended.

We funneled back through the dressing room and back to the buses when the rally was over. Our overnight bags had been loaded earlier in the night before we went to the stadium. The buses delivered us to Toftrees for a quiet evening. We were assigned very nice double room suites. I shared my room with Damian, just like I did on the road most of last season. Damian and I went down the hall and joined Jay, Shawn, Trevor, and Tony. We played some poker and watched TV until our 11:00 pm curfew.

--oooOooo--

Saturday morning went just like a road game last season. Get up, get breakfast, do position meetings, spend some time for personal pre-game preparations and take the bus to the stadium to check out the field. The field was in good shape. The sky was a clear bright blue with scattered clouds. The heat of the morning warned us that this was going to be a hot game. It was seventy-seven degrees when we checked out the field at ten o'clock. The Weather Channel predicted the temperature could reach ninety in the afternoon.

We went back inside for a late morning snack and then dressed for the game. The coaches warned us to get ourselves hydrated. Each of us went through our pre-game rituals to help prepare for the coming contest. I was pleased to see Chip imitating Zack and Jay studying the playbook. Chip was going to watch the game from the stands since Coach Burton planned to redshirt him this season. My friend was taking his responsibility to prepare himself seriously.

I reviewed the game plan a bit after I dressed. I felt relaxed and confident that day. That was quite a contrast with twelve months ago. Then I was so nervous that I threw up. That reminded me of Aaron's support to calm me down. I glanced around the locker room, checking on the freshmen.

I glanced down the row of lockers. Jared Cantrell, who some of my friends had dubbed 'my protégé', was engaged in an animated discussion with Bruce MacCauley of blocking assignments on kick and punt returns. Both guys looked fine.

I scanned around the locker room. David McCall was sitting along across the locker room in the d-back section, staring at the ceiling and looking kind of pale. I walked over to him.

"How's it going Dave?" I asked cheerily as I sat down on the stool beside him.

Dave gave me a startled look as he stuttered, "Umm ... OK."

"You nervous?" I asked gently.

"Yeah," Dave confirmed.

"You ready to throw up?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so," Dave answered.

"Good, you're in better shape than me a year ago," I replied. "Last year I was in the john puking my guts out before the game."

"Really?"

"I was," I confirmed. "Do you know what happened when I got out on the field?"

"I watched that game on TV," Dave answered. "You ran the kickoff in for a touchdown on the first play of the game."

"Exactly," I answered. "I was worrying for nothing at all."

"Well ... that's you," Dave countered. "Everyone knows how talented you are."

"That wasn't true last summer," I explained. "I had been with the team less than a month. I knew maybe fifteen plays in the playbook. I'd never returned kicks or punts in my life. I had reason to be scared." David nodded his understanding. "You know the blocking for special teams right?"

"Yeah, I know them," David replied. "I'm not worried so much about the returns. I find my man on the field and hit him. I can do that."

"Good," I said smiling. "I wouldn't want their gunner to take me down on a return before I got started."

"I'll get him, Kyle," Dave answered. "I know I can do that. It's basic football. I've been blocking and tackling guys since pee wee. I'm more worried about having to go in on passing plays. Am I ready to run with college receivers? Everybody is bigger and faster than I'm used to in high school. Can I handle this?"

"Faster? Yeah, college receivers are faster," I confirmed. "You're one of the fastest guys on our team."

"Except you," Dave countered. "You beat me all the time when I go against you in practice."

I leaned in close and whispered to him, "Don't tell the others I said this. I have more trouble against you and Shawn than I do the other d-backs. You make me work for every catch."

Dave looked surprised at what I told him. "You're a good cornerback," I explained out loud. "Any way, the first string will play until we have a good lead. When you get on the field the d-line will be teeing off on the quarterback. If you stay with your guy for two or three seconds, you'll be fine."

"Do you really think so?" David asked.

"Absolutely," I conformed. "You're a good cornerback now. You're going to be an excellent cornerback when you have more experience."

Dave and I sat together for the next twenty minutes talking about cornerback and wide receiver play. I told him about the tricks I'd learned to help me get separation from a cornerback and some of the things I had done to me to stop me from catching a pass. Dave listened intently. I knew that would help him get in the proper frame of mind to play football.

Dave seemed much more relaxed when we went out for warm-ups. I was pleased that I had done my good turn for the day. It wouldn't hurt me either. Dave would block better for me on returns if he was comfortable on the field.

I made a point of stopping by the East Halls guys who always hung a "Kyle's Krazies" banner for me. We talked for a couple minutes. Christian and I stopped by to thank Kelly, Bev, Cindy and Jen for their "Kyle's Krazies" and "Christian's Crew" signs. Christian and I returned the kisses our girlfriends blew to us before we headed inside.

I saw Dad and Andy in the family section. I gave them a wave when they saw me looking their way. I headed inside with my friends to complete our final preparations. Coach Burton addressed the team and reminded us of the goals we set for ourselves this season – go undefeated and play for the BCS Championship on January 8th. We huddled for a final cheer and then headed out for introductions.

I waited patiently in the tunnel in front of most of my teammates for our introduction. Our team ran out onto the field behind Coach Burton, Zack Hayes and our other captains. I raced between the lines of band members as they played our fight song. We ran across the field to our benches as our 107,000 fans cheered wildly.

Zack, Jake, Evan and Karol took the field with Florida International's captains for the coin toss. We won. Coach Ferguson gave me and the other kick return team players final instructions before we took the field. The other special teamers and I huddled briefly on the field while FIU got set for the kick. I called for the guys' attention.

"Nail the guy you're blocking everybody!" I commanded as the guys looked to me. "Make a hole for me. Let's take this ball home!" We broke our huddle with a shout and lined up for the kick off. I drifted back to the five yard line. FIU's diminutive kicker had a strong leg. He boomed the ball down the field to me. I drifted back a couple yards and settled to receive it.

I caught the ball to my chest at the two yard line and started forward. I scanned right and saw Dave McCall engage his man. The blocking wedge was forming in front of me as I scanned towards the center of the field. I ran to get behind them. I watched as Shawn Byrd on my left shoved his man towards the sideline and out of the play.

I continued forward, watching my blockers engage FIU's wedge busters. Damian kicked his man out smartly. I accelerated through the crease he made for me. I dodged a couple arm tackles as desperate tacklers tried to adjust in the chaos around us. I faked one more guy as I cleared the mass of struggling players. The kicker adjusted to try to tackle me. I faked right and he stayed on me.

The guy had to be the shortest person I had ever seen on a college football field. I doubt he was as tall as Kelly's 5'-7" height. I lowered my shoulder and bowled over him. The lucky SOB managed to grab an ankle as I trampled him. The sucker wouldn't let go! By the time I shook loose, FIU's pursuit hammered me from the back and put me down.

I hopped up when the two tacklers climbed off me and tossed the ball to the referee. I smiled as he placed it on our 39 yard line. It wasn't a touchdown like last year, but it still was a good return. The crowd roared its approval as our special teams exited the field.

I met Zack and the rest of the offense in the huddle. Coach Burton decided to test FIU deep immediately. We might not complete the pass, but we knew we would force FIU to spread out and account for my speed immediately. That would make our job moving the ball much easier.

I lined up out wide on the weak side and looked across the line at the cornerback assigned to cover me. He lined up about six yards off the line of scrimmage. Obviously FIU had done its homework. They knew I was fast and they were going to give me a cushion. The other way teams without fast cornerback try to cover me was by knocking me around at the line of scrimmage and throwing off my timing with Zack. I was big enough to beat that. USC found out the hard way last January.

I smiled as I sprinted off the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped. The cushion disappeared in the blink of an eye as I sprinted downfield, passing the defender in the first fifteen yards. I turned back twenty-five yards downfield. Zack rifled the ball to me as I continued running. The defender helplessly ran after me, a couple yards behind me. I pulled Zack's throw in over the DB's outstretched arms.

I accelerated away as I settled the ball securely in between my left arm and my side. I scanned downfield, spying the free safety. He had lined up deep and was hustling over to intercept me. I tried a spin move as he hit. He was a good tackler. He put me to the ground as I spun.

I jumped up and tossed the ball to the ref. He placed the ball at FIU's 18 yard line. I jogged back to our huddle as the Penn State crowd cheered my 52 yard reception. The cornerback on my side gave me a twelve yard cushion on the next play. The free safety cheated to my side too when he lined up. That was perfect, just what Coach Burton anticipated.

Zack hit Anders in the now wide open middle of the field for a twelve yard gain on the next play. Our big offensive line smashed into FIU's line and gave Shawn O'Conner room for a five yard run to the one yard line. The next play Shawn smashed into the middle of their line again to score a touchdown.

My friends and I trotted off the cheers of the faithful as the Nittany Lion did the first seven of what we hoped would be many push-ups that day. Sixty-one yards in four plays in less than a minute and a half – that was exactly how we wanted to start our season.

The FIU Panthers did better than we expected on offensive. They mixed some runs, generally short, with a lot of passes. They kept our defense off balance enough to sustain a decent, though time consuming drive down the field on us. By the ninth play, we managed to catch a break when their QB miss-fired on consecutive passes at our 22 yard line. Coach C dialed up a blitz and sacked their quarterback on third down. The Panthers tried a 46 yard field goal. Shockingly that short kicker had enough leg to get the ball through the uprights to close the score to 7-3 Lion's favor.

FIU's kicker boomed the kickoff deep into the end zone, so I accepted the touchback. FIU was determined that they wouldn't give anything up deep to me. They lined the cornerback up a dozen yards off the line of scrimmage. The free safety was lined up twenty-five yards deep and shifted to my side of the field. They pulled a defensive lineman and sent in a nickel back to help contain Anders and Hassan.

I could have ten or twelve yards on any play we wanted. I faked a deep route and turned back and Zack could toss me the ball. They left Anders and Hassan good cushions too. We worked the ball down the field using a mix of runs and short passes, taking the easy yardage they allowed us. I assume FIU's plan was to wait for us to make a mistake. We didn't. It took nine plays and six and a half minutes for us to get the ball into the end zone. I caught a pass in the back of the end zone by out-jumping two d-backs to finish our drive. Andrew Perkins kicked the PAT to bring the score to 14-3 our favor.

I expected that our defense would be able to put some extra pressure on their quarterback with an eleven point lead. I was wrong. FIU managed to put together another long drive mixing a few runs with a lot of passes. It took them ten minutes and too many successful long third down plays to drive the ball into our end zone. Their successful PAT narrowed our lead to 14-10.

I waited my third kick off of the half at our five yard line. The little guy boomed the ball deep again. I drifted back close to our goal line and waited for the ball to come down into my hands. I glanced down when I caught the ball and saw I was just outside the end zone. I scanned the field, left to right. Shawn was lined up to block his man. The wedge was forming to my front and right. I looked over and saw Dave explode and level the guy on the right.

We planned a return right this time. My blockers walled off most of the tacklers as I exploded through the gap between Dave and Joe Ricci, the blocker on the right side of the wall. I sprinted down the sideline past my blockers for daylight.

The FIU kicker ran across the field to try for a tackle again. I faked like I would go right along the sideline. I cut back as soon as he shifted right. He came up with air as I dodged past him. By now David, Shawn and Joe were ready to escort me for the end zone. The kept the pursuers away as I sprinted in for another touchdown.

The other guys on special teams mobbed me to celebrate as the crowd roared its approval of my score. Andrew Perkins booted the PAT to put our lead back to 21-10. Hopefully this would discourage the pesky Panthers.