Chapter 3
The night before the game, the football team was loaded onto buses and taken to a downtown hotel. The new players soon learned that room assignment depended on a combination of depth chart and seniority.
Players like Willy Powell, USC’s center and offensive captain, got a room on the top floor with the best view.
Those like Nick ‘Big Cat’ Collins, a freshman, had a room on a lower floor overlooking the parking lot and on the same floor as all the coaches. David and Alex were both starters with no seniority, so they were on the top floor but overlooked the dumpsters.
After a team dinner and quick meetings, everyone was allowed to do as they pleased so long as they didn’t leave the hotel. David was called to a conference room where Coach Merritt, Coach Thomas, and Coach Stackhouse wanted to go over film with him one last time.
After the film session, Coach Thomas held David back to have a word with him. When they were alone, he began,
“How are you feeling?”
“Equal parts excited and scared,” David admitted.
“You might not know this, but I played quarterback when I was in college. I was a career backup until midway through my senior year, when our starter went down. I was terrified when I stepped onto the field. In my first two series, I fumbled a snap and threw an interception.”
David winced because that was his worst nightmare.
“I settled down after that,” Coach Thomas said. “We got our butts kicked, but I discovered I belonged on the field.
My coach told me what my role was and to just do my job.”
“Good advice.”
“I want you to take it to heart because we’re good enough to beat UNLV without any heroics on your part. I know that you have the ability to throw a ball into a tight
window and make a play, but that isn’t your job tomorrow. I would rather you dump it off, and we have to punt the ball.
The only way we lose is if we turn the ball over,” Coach Thomas said.
David wanted to argue because he was confident in his abilities, but Coach Thomas got paid to make these calls. If he wanted David to play it conservatively, he would.
“If I were UNLV,” Coach Thomas continued, “I would want to force you to make bad decisions. They’ll blitz, try to trick you with disguised coverages, trash talk, and get you to doubt yourself.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what Coach Stackhouse told me.”
“Well, she’s right. Keep a clock in your head when you drop back to pass. If nothing is open, either dump it off or run the ball. They have never seen someone like you with your size and speed.”
“I can do that.”
“And if you’re going to get hit, slide. I can’t risk you getting hurt,” Coach Thomas added.
“Yes, sir.”
“You ready for this?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then get a good night’s rest. Room check will be at 10:30,” Coach Thomas said to dismiss him.
◊◊◊
Alex had brought his game system and had it hooked up to the hotel’s TV. Most of the freshmen were in his room, playing a football video game. Big Cat and Chuy were currently playing.
“I can’t believe you picked Cleveland. Have they won anything this century?” Bear asked to harass Big Cat.
“That’s my team you’re disrespecting, and they’re getting better,” Big Cat said to defend his Browns. “My dad
was a Ravens fan, so I grew up a Ravens fan. Deal with it.”
There was an electronic sound at the door, and David walked in.
“Well, hello, boyz,” David drawled.
“We’re ordering pizza. Are you in?” Alex asked.
“I could eat,” David agreed.
“Bear’s collecting the money,” Alex told his roommate.
“You know the rest of the team will want in on this,”
David said.
“They can get their own.”
“When the offensive line shows up, are you going to tell them they can’t have a slice?”
Alex knew David was right.
“What should we do?” he finally asked his roommate.
“Have these guys go door-to-door and collect money. I’ll ask one of the coaches if we can use the ballroom we had dinner in. That way, our room doesn’t get trashed and smell like pizza all night,” David suggested.
“I’ll organize this bunch while you deal with pizza and locations,” Alex said.
Alex chuckled as he walked down to Willy’s room because he’d taken the easy job. He found him with a few other linemen in his room.
“Hey, Dawson’s organizing pizza. I need you to figure out who wants some,” Alex said and told Willy how much per head. He also explained that they had to get their own drinks.
“I like this. It’s good to see the new guys doing a bit of team building. I’ll make a couple of calls and get you the numbers. I assume everyone will want in,” Willy said.
By the time David returned from talking to the coaches, Willy had gotten them a rough headcount. Alex was impressed when David ordered pizza from a handful of different places. He explained that he’d learned that trick from one of his personal assistants. That way, no one place was overwhelmed with orders.
A half-hour later, players began to come down to the ballroom. Alex noted that the coaching staff had joined them. The team managers took over when the pizzas started to arrive. Willy held the team off until the last batch of food was delivered.
“Before we eat, I want to thank the rookies for organizing the food. Be sure to put your money into the pitchers at the end of the table …”
Willie was interrupted by Coach Merritt.
“No need to pay. I like this idea of a late-night snack where we’re all together before a game. I’ll get the university or boosters to pick up the tab. Next game, the sophomores are responsible for organizing the food. Be sure to thank the freshmen, and let’s eat!”
Alex saw that David had paid upfront for all the pizzas and had collected all the receipts. He made a show of giving the receipts to Coach Merritt. He chuckled when Coach Stackhouse made everyone switch tables so they were eating with people they normally didn’t hang out with.
It also wasn’t lost on him that David went from table to table to talk to each of his teammates. He saw that the coaching staff also noted his roommate networking.
Someday, that boy was going to run the world.
◊◊◊
David got to experience one of the game-day traditions.
When Pete Carroll was hired at USC back in the early 2000s, he started the Trojan Walk. Exactly two hours before each game, the Trojans arrived at the Coliseum on their buses. They would parade through the crowd on their way into the stadium under the Olympic torch.
It created a fan-friendly vibe that brought the players right to the forefront of the game-day experience while becoming a fixture of pregame B-roll for every USC home
game. Plus, how cool was it to see kids reach out and high-five their heroes?
David was halfway to the entrance when he heard,
“Daddy!” as Coby wiggled free of his grandma and ran to him. His son was all decked out in a number 11 jersey with Dawson on the back. USC was one of a handful of schools that had never put the player’s name on their uniforms, but his mom thought it was silly. His whole clan had them on.
David scooped Coby up, carried him over to where his family was, and said hello to all his kids. They wanted to tell him about tailgating. His mom had found a company that did it all for you. All his dad had to do was pull up and put cheese-filled hotdogs—which his kids thought was ambrosia—on the grill and kick back.