A guy with a PA started calling out where everyone should go. When they called quarterbacks, I started to head off when one of the coaches grabbed my arm.
“Oh, no, you don’t! You’re coming with me.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but where are we going?”
“I’m BJ Erickson, Defensive Coordinator and Linebacker Coach. You’re David Dawson, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m stealing you. Those yahoos will just mess up the way you throw. I think you have more potential on this side of the ball. You just showed what you could do against a high-level division one talent. I want to teach you how to dominate that talent.”
I thought about it, but I wasn’t sure.
“Can I do both?”
“Of course you can. We’ll work with you in the morning and then in the afternoon you go play quarterback. Now we have camp for everyone, and then we have camp for the elite. See that big bruiser at the end?” he asked, and I nodded. “Go tell him I want him to teach you to be a middle linebacker.”
I went and put my football gear on. The bruiser turned out to be their soon-to-be four-year starter at the position. He gave me the basics: how to get into a stance and move as a linebacker. He glided, parallel to the line, and then he exploded to the ball. Right before lunch, he brought over a huge lineman to teach me how to shed blocks. That kid had to outweigh me by a hundred pounds.
“He’s probably going to move you around because you haven’t put on enough weight yet. But I want you to stand him up and get by him.”
The first time was a disaster. The brute just ran over me. Holy cow, he was strong. I got up and we went again. This time I decided to give him a shot and see if I could slow him down that way. He came off the ball and tried to control me, but I put my shoulder down and hit him like I would a defensive lineman. There was a tremendous crack of the pads that had everyone turning to see what was going on.
Unlike a regular high school player, this beast absorbed the hit, got a big paw on me and pulled me down. Damn it, that didn’t work.
Then I remembered one of Cassidy’s lessons. You don’t meet force with force. My goal was to get past this mountain and make a tackle, not tie him up.
The next play I acted as if I was going to take him head-on and, at the last moment, I slammed both my palms into his left shoulder to redirect his momentum and I walked through the hole. This guy was intense. I had heard all the words before, but he had some new combinations.
The next time he thought he’d be ready for me and was back on his heels. This time I smacked the crap out of him, putting him on his ass.
On the next play, I used the same swim move that Bill had used on me. This time he kept me engaged, but we both knew I’d beaten him.
We were called to lunch. The monster quit growling at me and took off his helmet. He just shook his head at me as we trotted into the Nutter Center to grab a quick shower and then go eat. I couldn’t believe how many guys hadn’t even broken a sweat. I could smell myself, so I knew I needed a shower.
After lunch, we were pulled into an auditorium to watch some video of the morning’s practice. I hadn’t realized they were videotaping anything. I found our group. They’d saved me a seat next to Coach Hope. Kentucky’s head coach, Matt Styles, came to the podium. I looked around and would guess there were three hundred campers and about fifty or more high school coaches in the audience.
“Good afternoon. Good to see everybody. I’d like to welcome you all to the University of Kentucky. I’m impressed you all want to improve your game. We’re excited, excited that each and every one of you are here today. Our players and coaches have worked extremely hard to get ready for you.
“After this session, the other coaches and I will show you some things that I think will help improve your game. The offensive and defensive players will be separated, and we’ll have a one-hour film session. Then we’ll get into helmets and shoulder pads so we can run drills and then we’ll play seven-on-seven.”
He next brought up Ned Braun, the offensive coordinator. Coach Braun showed highlights of the morning practice. He singled out people that had done well. From our group, Ty and Bill made the video.
Then he brought up BJ Erickson, the defensive coordinator. Cory, one of the Grant brothers from Washington, was singled out for his defensive play.
Then Coach Styles came to the podium.
“I want to show everyone an example of the kind of improvement that can occur at a camp like this. I want Trevor Allen to come up here.”
I recognized the behemoth I had been going head-to-head with.
“Trevor will be a senior this year and is rated one of the top lineman prospects in the country. We had a little one-on-one drill this morning, and I want you all to see what Trevor does to linebackers.”
He played Trevor manhandling me and putting me on my ass. Several of my teammates recognized me and started to give me shit. Then they saw me try to level him and Trevor just shrugging it off.
“Now I want David Dawson to join us.”
I got up and went up front. I made a point of not standing too close to Trevor, and everyone laughed.
“David plays quarterback for Lincoln High and is a top-ten national prospect in the upcoming sophomore class. Coach Erickson talked him into playing a little defense this morning because of this particular play.”
He ran the play with Bill and me before practice.
“We had David work on his linebacking skills this morning, hoping we would see something like this.”
The next play showed me pushing Trevor to change his momentum and getting around him. Then I put him on his ass, and finally I used the swim move to beat him to the other side.
“David, tell us what made the difference in those three plays compared to the first ones where Trevor controlled things.”
“Well, I was warned that I needed to get stronger if I wanted to play in college. Trevor made a believer out of me. Then I remembered what Coach Hope’s daughter, Cassidy, taught us. You don’t meet force with force. You defeat force by redirecting it. That’s why I pushed Trevor to the side.”
“But the next play you ran over him.”
“Yes, sir, can you show that again? I just want to remind Trevor that it can be done.”
He started the play again.
“See how he’s back on his heels? He was ready for me to try to move him again. His force wasn’t coming at me, so I became the force and put him on his ass.” I looked over and gave Trevor a sheepish grin. “Sorry, man.”
I WENT WITH THE OFFENSIVE players and then they sent the quarterbacks to a smaller conference room. I was surprised there were only eight of us. We had brought four on our bus.
Coach Braun came in and sat down at the head of the table.
“We don’t have much to show you on video yet, so I wanted to teach you how to evaluate game film. The further you go in football, the more important it will be to prepare by knowing what to expect from the other team. John, please hand out the check sheet.”
John handed us out a form with a long list of questions.
“You need to watch game film with a purpose and a plan. The purpose is to find ways to defeat your opponent and the plan is this checklist. It will make you do it the same way every time so you don’t miss anything.”
He put the form on the screen behind him.
“At the top of the form, you put the opponent. Right under that, you have three slots for their opponent in the videos you watch. Next, you put down their coverage packages. The form breaks it down by their lead coverage against a pro set, twins, trips, etc. You’ll find that most teams only have a few consistent packages, though they may seem to start a play differently. You’ll use the form to find their core set.
“We do this because we want to make sure you understand what their tendency is against each one of your formations,” Coach Braun said.