We ended up practicing almost two hours to get the timing and my range down.
I wasn’t surprised when ESPNU showed up. It wasn’t very hard for them to find us when the rest of my family brought them. They filmed our practice, and Bo explained what I was doing and why it was such an effective play. Bo had me demonstrate the different ways to throw a long ball. I could throw it on a rope and aim for the back shoulder. Then there was the normal deep ball trajectory. Bo had me throw one, and Justin was able to swat it away from Craig. Then I threw the high arcing teardrop pass. It went almost as high as it did long. The only way the defender could get to it was by running through the offensive player.
Run correctly, it was like the skyhook in basketball (and yes, I did go look that up after Coach Mason mentioned it). No one could defend against it. The ball came down at such an angle the defensive back didn’t have a chance. The hard part was the throw itself. It was like dropping a ball into a garbage can thirty yards down the field. Luckily that was one of the drills Bo had me run when I didn’t have anyone to work with me. The key was to err towards throwing it out of bounds. If you got it too far inside then it turned into a jump ball.
The perfect use for this pass was when you had a receiver tightly covered. It was a way to get the ball into his hands when you would have a hard time doing so with any other type of pass. If my receiver had a step on the defender, it was better to use the more natural long pass. You didn’t need to be quite so accurate with your throw.
WHEN WE WERE DONE, we all went to a local pizza place, including the film crew. I took Bo aside to get his inside scoop about last night’s coaches’ session.
“It looks like you’re a lock to make the final eleven. If you want to be MVP, you have to win the seven-on-seven tournament and do so decisively. There’s a lot of resistance to letting a junior win. The one ray of sunshine is that Coach Trent told them that you being a junior shouldn’t be a factor. Even so, Coach Allen told me it was working against you.
“If they had to vote today, Wes would be the MVP. Tim did himself a world of hurt on Wednesday. I went over and watched him practice with his seven-on-seven team, and he looked fine today. He might also be in the running because of him facing his fears and overcoming them.
“The other guy who has made a big turnaround is Doyle. He told his coach what a life-changing experience Elite 11 has been for him. Based on his attitude change and his skills as a quarterback, he’s up to number five,” Bo said.
“Who are the top five as of Wednesday night?” I asked.
“The top five are Wes, you, Tim, Roland and Doyle, in that order.”
“What about Flee?”
“He was at number twelve. He needs a good showing tomorrow,” Bo said.
We went back to the group and I found Tami flirting with the guys. It must have been innocent fun because no one seemed bothered by it—except for me. If I was going to go back to her being just a friend for now, I needed to accept that she would eventually date guys. Seeing her flirt, though, made me decide that her tagging along with me all summer was over. We had solidified our friendship and established what was expected moving forward.
I decided that since I was in Oregon, I would visit the University of Oregon before I went back. I didn’t think Tami and I would end up going to the same college now. I certainly wasn’t planning on making my college decision based on where she went.
I really wasn’t excited about going to Oregon. If I was going to go so far from home, there had to be a really good reason. USC or Stanford made sense if I continued to do movies. A good reason could be Oregon’s recent successes. I had a feeling they would be in the National Championship hunt for the next several years. They didn’t quite have the storied tradition Alabama, Ohio State or Florida State had, but you just couldn’t argue with their recent success.
The other reason was their offense, which I loved. Marcus Mariota was the second overall draft choice and last year’s Heisman Trophy winner. The biggest knock on him during the draft was the Duck’s innovative offense simplified quarterback decisions and was roughly the same scheme he played in high school.
If my ultimate goal was to play in the NFL, then Oregon might not be the best place to go. I felt Mariota was the exception. The other side of the coin was only two teams produced first-round quarterbacks this year, and Oregon was one of them.
My plan was to go to visit Oregon with Mom and Dad. Greg had to get back to help Angie with the kids. Tami looked over and saw something in my face. She stopped flirting and came over.
“We were just having a little fun,” she said.
“I know.”
“Then what was with the look?” Tami asked.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make a face. I do need to tell you, though, that I won’t be coming back with you. I’m going to stay a couple of days.”
“Why? What are you doing?”
“We’re going to visit the University of Oregon. I’m not serious about them, but I don’t need to burn any bridges, either,” I explained.
“Don’t you want me to come?”
“There’s no reason for you to waste your time. I’ll see you when I get home.”
I knew I was being petty, but such was life. I wanted to be apart from Tami for a few days to figure this all out. I thought I knew what would happen with us. I just wasn’t prepared for her to be in bed with me one day and flirting with other guys the next.
Chapter 13 – Elite 11: Seven on Seven
Friday July 10
It was a perfect summer day for football. I could smell the fresh-cut grass as I stretched to warm up. They had created brackets for the tournament. I was the number 3 seed. Wes and Roland were number 1 and number 2. Flee was rated number 14 and was my opponent in the first round.
I was confident I could beat Flee, but I was nervous. I felt my stomach rumble. If I had to play right now, I would have puked on the sidelines. Coach Allen got my team together and told us we would play the second game on field three. They had four fields prepared for the tournament. Getting ready to play was Doyle, the number 6 seed. If he won, I’d be playing him in the next round.
I watched the first couple of series of Doyle’s game with interest. It was obvious he was going to win unless his opponent made a huge comeback. What made me nervous was that the defense we would face was stellar. They had the athletes to match our firepower, and they had recruited NFL-caliber coaches to defend against us. The only advantage we had was that we had run our plays for the last four days, and the defenders only had yesterday afternoon to work with their coaches.
Coach Allen brought our team together.
“Don’t expect this to be easy. I think that is excellent news. Challenge yourself today. You’re not going to win every battle. These guys are just too good for that to happen. If you make a mistake, just let it go. Get back in there and play through the disappointment.
“I’ll be calling the plays. We’ve been building to this since you were invited to Elite 11. You have the knowledge and the skill to be successful. I want to see that translated onto the field today,” Coach Allen said.
We went off to the side and I threw to my receivers to get everyone in sync. I really liked Dan Berger and Justin Dampier. Dan reminded me of Bill. He just made me look good. Anything I threw to him, he caught. Justin was dangerous. He ran precise routes, and then once he got the ball, he had some wiggle in him. If I had these two guys on my high school team, we would be unbeatable. It was a real rush to be playing with this talent.
Craig Hendricks and Jim Butler were no slouches, they just weren’t at the same level as Dan and Justin, although they both could walk on at Lincoln High, start tomorrow, and be stars.