Junior Year Box Set

“The other issue I have is the last time you had a quarterback taken in the first round of the NFL draft was Otto Graham in 1944. You have only three or four players currently on an NFL roster. That tells me that you’re either not recruiting the kinds of players it takes to win a National Championship, or worse, they’re not being coached to get to that level,” I said.

Brandon had given me the stats. He felt the real prize this weekend was the opportunity to meet with Stanford. While Northwestern was close enough my family could make all my home games, I really didn’t think they would be my final destination. While I didn’t want to burn any bridges, I wanted to let Coach Patrick know that he shouldn’t hold a scholarship for me if he found his quarterback.

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Brandon had rented a car to take Alan and Tami home. It was cheaper to return it in Evanston, so I followed him to the rental place and gave him a ride home.

“I think you were a little too direct with Coach Patrick. The shot about Northwestern not coaching them up was a little harsh,” he said.

“I can see your point, but what I said was true. I think it has more to do with the caliber of kids he’s recruiting. Maybe the correct answer is the caliber of kids he is getting yeses from. Notre Dame and Iowa both recruit Chicago hard. In-state schools are also picking off the best prospects. There are years when Northern Illinois might be the best team in the state.

“I also understand that it takes time to turn a program around. Northwestern has never been a top-tier team, and until Coach Patrick came, they weren’t even respectable. But he’s had time to establish himself, and I think he should be pulling better recruiting classes. The other issue they have is they’re not that easy to get into,” I explained.

“Don’t you think he knows that?”

“Yes, but I was letting him know I knew. If Coach Patrick expects me to go there, he needs to find a way to get quality recruits to help me out. I can’t do it all myself.”

“Was that why you told him about the other receivers you had met at camps?” Brandon asked.

“Think about it: if I had those three join my core group, we’d have the makings of a pretty good offense.”

Brandon shook his head. I think he realized that Northwestern was never going to convince those guys to go there. If they couldn’t, it just proved my point. I decided I wanted to find out what happened last night. So I asked him.

“We all went to a party, and I got distracted,” Brandon said, and I could guess how. “When I found them, they were drunk. I was worried about even getting them back to the hotel in their condition. Alan insisted on helping me get Tami to her room. When we got there, she went straight into the bathroom and puked. Alan joined her. To be honest, I didn’t want to deal with vomiting drunks and left them in your room.

“I’m not sure what happened after I left, but Tami was really pissed at Alan, to the point where I’m a little concerned about what might have gone on. I’d hate to speculate,” Brandon said.

“All I’m going to say is you should have never left them together. It hasn’t been that long since you were going to college parties. I’m sure you knew what could happen with two drunken people thrown together in a hotel room. I quite honestly expected more from you.”

I realized that I had changed. Before this weekend, I would never have been so forceful with people. I sensed that I was being a little too aggressive and really should dial it back some. Brandon was right. What I said to Coach Patrick was uncalled for. I’d seen my mom in action and cringed when she was too direct with people. The positive side of it was everyone was clear on where they stood. The negative side was people sometimes didn’t want to deal with her. I needed to find a happy medium.

“Hey, sorry about that,” I said. “I’m just not happy that I potentially lost my two best friends this weekend. You had no way of knowing what they would do. The responsibility lands on their shoulders. No one forced them to drink so much.”

“Looking back, I should’ve known. If you give me a second chance, I’ll do better,” Brandon said.

“I’ve been heavy-handed all weekend. Please don’t think that I quit working with people if they make a mistake. Heck, Kendal’s still working for me, and she tattled on me to my mother.”

At least that got a weak smile out of Brandon. It was hard enough that he worked for a teenager. He didn’t need to worry about his job being in jeopardy anytime something didn’t go my way. I also wanted him to call me on my mistakes, like how I treated Northwestern’s coach. I didn’t need my personal assistant to be a yes-man.

I dropped Brandon off at the high school so he could get his car. On the trip back we had talked out our issues. That was good and necessary since we were scheduled to make several more recruiting trips.

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