Junior Year Box Set

I realize it sounded funny coming from me, who’d admitted to everyone how much I loved the contact. That little fact wasn’t lost on my teammates helping out on the drill. They’d heard similar tirades from our coaches over the years.

“If he’s broken free, just go down and cover the ball. If your lineman has him engaged, help him out.”

“What do you mean?”

“The reason you step up in the pocket is to allow your lineman to push him past you. It might even help to take a step towards the rusher while stepping up. That will shorten the space he has to get loose from his block,” I said.

“Show me,” Matt said.

I had Jay play the backside tackle and Larry the rusher while I played quarterback. Once Larry got his shoulders past Jay, I explained that I was in trouble and needed to move. I stepped towards Larry and angled so I would be behind Jay’s backside; that way, he was in a better position to re-engage and make the block. It gave me a little more time to find an open receiver.

“Work on those cone drills where you move a couple of yards, and it’ll save your life,” I suggested.

We all offered each other suggestions to improve our games. I expect it was one of those times where you’d heard the advice before, but when it came from someone else, it sank in. We all knew football and played the position. I’m sure we all learned some good things.

◊◊◊

After practice, I was summoned to the video room again. When I entered the room, I found the same people there as yesterday.

“I asked David here to apologize in public for what I said yesterday,” Coach Title said, and turned to Jeff. “I would hope that you would delete what I said yesterday because it wasn’t fair to David. Since then, I’ve talked to several people, and my evaluation was completely wrong. I’m embarrassed to say I knew better,” he said.

“Okay, I’ll make sure it gets edited out,” Jeff assured everyone.

“I did get a chance to talk to the main evaluation services, and they agree that David is the number one recruit in the country.”

“David, I want you to know that we at the University of Michigan would be happy for you to play baseball. We fully support your efforts with USA Baseball,” Coach Haber said.

Apparently, someone had been talking to his boss. I still wasn’t going to commit this week. My original plan had been to take all my official visits, and I would stick with that. I realized that committing to Michigan now would just be laziness on my part. I was also 99% sure that Michigan was just telling me what I wanted to hear. Unfortunately, they weren’t unique in that regard.

◊◊◊

Cassidy had all our team join us after camp. She didn’t push any harder than usual, so I was okay, even with my weighted vest. The three guests all struggled. It seemed to be eye-opening for them to see how hard we worked out. It gave them a taste of what to expect when they reached college.

Everyone talked and decided that Monical’s was called for.

◊◊◊ Friday July 22

I’d made an appointment to meet with Coach Hope before football camp. I wanted to talk some sense into him concerning Phil, Yuri, and Roc and their desire to come with me to Mexico. He’d said he might suspend them for the first game if they missed the first week of fall football practices.

I thought I might bribe him, so I stopped by Granny’s West and picked up coffee and cinnamon rolls. They always put me in a good mood, so I assumed they would do that for Coach, too.

“If you have what I think is in that bag … yes, you can date Cassidy,” Coach Hope said as a greeting.

“Do me a favor and don’t tell her that. I think we’re too good as friends to date,” I said with a smile.

“Now, you have me nervous. It must be something big if you’re bringing me food and coffee.”

I handed him his roll and coffee and grabbed mine. They’d added Cuban coffee to the menu, so I had a small one. Sales hadn’t picked up yet, but I figured it was only a matter of time. I had to admit, it was an acquired taste. Personally, I preferred tea, but I loved the jolt the Cuban coffee gave me.

“What’s that?” Coach asked, pointing at my coffee.

“Cuban coffee. It might be too much for you,” I teased.

I opened it and handed it to him.

“Stir in the foam, or it’ll about kill you,” I suggested.

They made the foam out of sugar and a little coffee. It helped cut the bitter taste. Coach did as I suggested and tried it. His eyes bulged, and he blinked.

“Are you sure that’s not a controlled substance? I have a funny feeling I might regret drinking this.”

“You should see Cassidy after she’s had one.”

He just shook his head, and then we got serious about eating our rolls. When we had polished off our cinnamon rolls, I decided to broach the topic of the threatened suspensions.

“Phil, Roc, and Yuri want to go with me to Mexico to be batboys for Team USA. I realize you’re planning to suspend them if they go, but I wanted to make a case for not doing that if I can.”

“This should be good. Hang on while I get the rest of the coaching staff in here to listen to your spiel,” Coach Hope said.