“This makes you look like Superman and not a real person. This isn’t freshman year of high school.”
In the first football game he ever played, he’d run the ball like a man among boys. This was before he became a quarterback. Some kids in his class had created a video and posted it on social media. They claimed he was Superman who’d appeared at Lincoln High.
David chuckled because he’d embraced it when he was younger. He might have been a high school stud, and in his first college game, he’d shown he could take over a game with his legs. That game had cost him the season as he’d gotten a concussion.
That was when reality reared its ugly head, making him realize he couldn’t do it alone. Actually, he knew that, but getting your bell rung and being forced to redshirt was a reality check.
“You’re right. I can do better,” David said, groaning because Tracy was correct and to stop her before she launched into a long speech as to why she was right.
She gave him a self-satisfied look.
“Promise to send it to me when you’re done,” Tracy said.
“As you command,” David said as he bowed to his friend like she was his queen.
“Careful. Cassidy is losing the sling this week, and she has a list of boys who need to be hurt. You don’t want me to add to her list, do you?”
He figured he could still take Cassidy, so he ignored Tracy’s threat. Now, in a few months, he would pay more attention to that threat.
“Seriously, Tracy, thanks for being honest with me.
Everyone else has been telling me how good it is,” David admitted.
And that right there said Tracy was one of his best friends.
◊◊◊
When David returned from his run, he found that Paul Andon, the studio exec in charge of his Star Academy movies and Lexi’s father, had called.
“David!” Paul said, sounding excited.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Andon?”
“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Paul?”
“One more,” he teased.
Paul chuckled and then got down to business.
“I wanted to thank you for giving me the heads-up about the Dubai call. I probably would have brushed it off if you hadn’t. We’ve decided to do two openings, one here in LA and the other at the Dubai Atlantis resort.
“I’m calling to see which one you want to do,” Paul said.
“Which one is Ben Cowley doing?”
Paul chuckled again. They must have pulled up a truck and dumped a buttload of money into his lap for him to be so giddy.
“Whichever one you’re not.”
David pulled up his calendar. School was out on the fourteenth, and the premiere was scheduled for the Thursday before Christmas. His family planned to travel to Alabama at Scarlet’s parents’ hunting and fishing lodge for the holidays. They would arrive on that Saturday.
He’d planned to fly everyone out, but he could hire pilots to take everyone. He would just meet them there.
“I’ll go to Dubai,” David decided.
“I’m sending Trip and Halle James and Jessup Fields with you. If you want to bring anyone with you, let me know. They’re booking you in the Royal Bridge Suite, which has three bedrooms. If you decide you want to use them all, I’ll put the others in their own rooms.”
“I’ll get back to you,” David promised.
“I’ve got to go,” Paul said, adding, “Thank you again.
The people in Dubai will be ecstatic that you’re going.”
◊◊◊
Coach Mason and Coach Hope were addressing the offense via video chat. The coaches had shown them several plays where the ball had been lateraled more than once to demonstrate how hard it was to stop.
“The first time we run one of these, I expect it to score.
But what will kill it is a penalty,” Coach Mason said.
“Because of the change of direction, the defender will turn to pursue the ball. If they do, LET THEM GO!” Coach Hope said.
David nodded his agreement.
“The referee will see that you’re engaged in blocking the defender in the back. Even though it was continuous motion, the ref won’t see that. Something else to keep in mind is if you are running with someone to shield them from the play, don’t engage them. The refs might call you for an illegal block,” David said.
“If you’re blocking, keep your hands inside their shoulder pads. A whiff of holding will get called,” Coach Mason said.
“The best move you can make is to position yourself for a lateral. That will force the defender to stay with you instead of chasing the ball carrier,” Coach Hope said.
“David, take them out and run it at three-quarter speed.
Let them get comfortable with what they’re doing before you go full speed tomorrow.”
David took them to the underground practice field so no prying eyes could pick up on what they were doing. When Coach Thomas ran the regular practice, they focused on the standard USC playbook.
David lined them up with him in the shotgun and Chuy as his tailback.
“Set … Hike!”
They ran their basic RPO play where David would put the ball into Chuy’s gut. His read was the linebacker. If he was moving to fill the hole Chuy was going to run through, David would pull the ball and make his second read. In this case, it was Bill running a simple down-and-out. If that was covered, David would run the ball himself.
That was what he did. But once he was across the line of scrimmage, David stopped.
“Everybody, freeze!” David called out.
Of course, that didn’t really work. Players kept running, so he had to wait until everyone moved back to where they were when he crossed the line of scrimmage.
“Now that I’ve crossed the line, I’m committed to running. My job is to draw the defenders to me and either go down if I don’t have any option or lateral the ball. What must happen if I lateral?” David asked.
“The person receiving the ball has to be behind you,” Big Cat answered.
“For example, Bill was running a ten-yard down-and-out.
He will now float back toward the line of scrimmage to make himself available for me to pitch it to him.
“Chuy stuck his nose into the breach and is about equal to where I am. The problem is that he’s among all kinds of defenders, making it almost impossible for me to get him the ball. I want you to do one of two things: either run to open grass or follow me up the field. Open grass makes it an easy toss, but following me can be more effective. The
reason is that multiple defenders will try to tackle me. If I toss it back to you, they have to either get off me or change direction to tackle you,” David coached.
Chuy nodded his head in understanding. They’d shown similar plays of David running the option where he tossed it to the halfback. The back simply ran past the main line of defense. Many times, the running back was untouched for a score.
“I’m going to take three steps, and I want everyone to continue as you would,” David said.
He now had two defenders in his face.
“This is where I have to make a decision. In this case, I’m going to toss the ball to Bill,” David said as he pitched it to Bill.
“Now, I want Bill to run the ball up ten yards and have the safety come over to make the tackle,” David said.
“Stop!” David called out. “Craig, Big Cat, and Nolan: look where the defenders are. The safety had to leave the middle of the field. Nolan, you should run to where he was at the beginning of the play. It should be wide open. Craig and Big Cat, cheat over so Bill doesn’t have to toss the ball across the field. Your goal is to find open grass.
“Finally, if I can get up, my job is to trail the play. I want Chuy to do the same. We might bust the play open or extend it,” David explained. “Now continue.”