Dream big, or don't dream at all! (UT)

Neil_1113 · August 29, 2010

That... that voice.

"Alvin, you need to go!"

A chuckle escaped from my mouth as I stared down my mother, seeing the tears form in her eyes as her little boy, who is not so little if I may add, strides his way off to college. As the corner of my eye caught the glimpse of an arm swinging towards my face, I quickly swerved my body out of it's little arm length and came back grabbing my little brothers waist and tackling him to the ground, mounting myself on top of him.

"I will always be the king of the mountain!" I proclaimed with pride, but the smile that sneaked through my little brothers face as he pretended to be angry showed that this is far from over. Wrestling with my brother is something I'll miss. I picked my little brother back up to his feet, as I turned and gave my mom another grin, trying to help her small attempt at trying to hold back the tears. I turned and hopped into my jeep, the lack of the doors giving me more "freedom" as my little brother called it. As I started the car, I watched as my little brother was held back by my mom from trying anything else. He was laughing as he waved towards my direction, and I gave them one final wave before backing the jeep out of the drive way and pulling onto US-64. This would be my first college experience, and with a full ride of football, how could one NOT be absolutely in bliss standing in my shoes? Or well... driving at the moment. 5 hours to get there, but with the momentum carrying inside of my stomach, twisting it up with excitement, I think 5 hours will really be nothing.

Well, while I drive it only makes since to give you a little brief introduction of who I am. Otherwise joining me on this adventure wont seem even remotely as fun as this can be! So join me on this flashback, and watch and I'll unfold before your eyes into the man I stand before you today as. But first, let's see my 13th birthday.

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"Kyle! Where are you? Seriously, I give up!" I screamed throughout the room, looking for my friend who was doing an almost unrealistic good job at hiding. As I turned the corner, expecting him to be in the only place I haven't looked yet, I heard a laughter that was so unique, so unraveling on the nerves, and extremely loud... I turned and looked through the window of the room to the front deck, and to my surprise Kyle was outside playing around with Joshua, my little brother. I ran back out of the room, and through the kitchen with tunnel vision towards my enemy, Kyle whom I swore I would beat at this game of Hide and Seek. As I almost made it to the door to the outside, an arm shot out and grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I turned, trying to inform this person that they were stopping me from my long sought after goal, but to my shock my grandfather was standing there, my arm in his and a smile crossing his face.

"Alvin, what have I said about running through the house? You almost made grandma spill her mashed potatoes!!"

"Oh, I wasn't running, I was power walking!" I shot back in retaliation, smiling at my quick thinking. However, he wasn't that poor in mind, and he turned towards my grandmother with a smile of his own. "You hear that dear? Power walking!" He turned back to me, as my grandmother let out a chuckle. "Well," he said, "if I catch you doing anything related to power in this house, I'll show you the hidden power in my arm across your rear. Are we clear?" Chuckling at his wise crack, I nodded and slowly edged my way out of his grip. Turning around back towards the front, I started to "walk" towards the door, but it was too late. Everyone from the outside was coming in as my mother, like a cowboy to a herd of horses, rounded all of my friends up from the outside and brought them in. I turned and realized the adults were all around one side of the table, while me and my friends joined them at the adjacent side. I leaned forward, excited as my mom brought out the birthday cake from the opposite room. A birthday song later, I leaned over and blew out my candles after making a wish. Kyle, who leaned over next to me and stole a finger's worth of icing from the cake, turned to me as he licked the icing off of his finger. "So" he said as he swallowed, "what did you wish?" I started getting pink as the rest of the room grew silent, looking at me awaiting my answer. I astonished everyone as I responded, but instead of the normal response from a 13 year old child, I came out with an answer that nobody was expecting. "I wished that I could be the best quarterback ever."

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My high school years were fun as well. Being one of the best quarterbacks my small high school had ever seen, I was quickly surrounded with popularity. It surprised me that even at a Christian high school, popularity was such a big issue! I was in 8th grade when I first tried out for the football team, even though they had it since 6th grade. I was nervous coming onto the field for the first time, but the coach assured me I had nothing to worry about. My middle school team went 3-4 that season, and I really only played the last game. Which we won... by 3 touchdowns. The coach commented on how he should've let me play more because of my last showing against a team that was 5-1, now 5-2.

So going into high school, which was the same school by the way everything was set up (it went from elementry to high), my football coach of the high school team was excited to see me play. After going 4-0 with the Junior Varsity, averaging 4 great passes a game, 12 touchdowns altogether, and 9 runs for 87 yards and a touchdown, my coach asked me to move up to varsity. I made the first freshman starting quarterback ever to play on varsity, and from our teams record of 0-3 we came back and finished out the season 4-3 while going and losing the first round of the state championship. Pressing through though, by this time my popularity at school had grown hugely and it was as if I was the savior of the school. However this forced me into thinking I had a reputation to keep, and thus my individuality really suffered. By the second year, everyone loved me because I could change who I was around most of the "groups" in my high school. I went on to lead our high school team to 6-1, with a state championship bid only to lose at the finals. My third year came along, and my school credits were up a ton. If I continued the way I was going with school, I'd be able to graduate by the end of this year. Though, my concern now was I had one more season to impress the crowd.

Starting out 3-0 was an amazing start to this season and I thought I had everything down pack. Instead, during the 4th game one of the outside linebackers rushed in and although I completed a pass for a touchdown that very play, he came down hard on my ankle and the pain rushed through my body like an electric shock. I stood up and tried to play anyway, but the coach saw my inevitable limp and told me to come out. I watched as the opposing team came back 21 points the next half to beat us 28-24. The next week the doctor prohibited me from playing, and I was forced to watch our team get slaughtered, 24-0. By the third week I couldn't take it anymore, and after bending as much straws as I could muster, I finally got the ok from the doctor. I went in elecrified this next game, beating them 38-10. A 5-2 record after our next win, brought us as a low level team into the state championship.

After beating three teams in a row, 24-21, 28-14, and 31-14 we found ourselves finally fighting for the state title. The first three throws longer then 5 yards for me were interceptions, causing the game to quicken the pace a little, bringing the first quarter score 10-0. By the second quarter though, I was back on my game hitting 12/15 and 2 touchdowns. 21-10 was the score coming into the half. Our coach briefed us on how important this game was too me, and how everyone should go out and give me one last good game. I was really respected on the team, so this hyped everyone up. We went out, and after a bad throw by me leading to yet ANOTHER interception that was ran back for a touchdown, we hit two touchdowns in a row, and picked off 3 of their own throws. 35-17 was the third quarter score, and as we went into the 4th quarter I thought this game was flawless from here on out. Instead, after two fumbles from our running back, both in which they scored off of, brought the score to 35-31 bringing my confidence down a notch. After kicking a field goal within the last 4 minutes of the game, our lead was brought down even more to just 1 measly point, 35-34. After a quick 3 and out, they had one more chance to do damage to us as they still had a minute and thirty left on the clock. After 4 tight plays, they managed to get to our 45 with 45 seconds left to play. Two run plays later, and they absolutely demolished our defense with those plays by the way, they found themselves inside our 20 with 4 seconds left on the clock. They set up for the game winning field goal in which most of our fans couldn't even look at. They kicked it, it went up, and it went in putting an end to this fairy tell story. 37-35 was the final score.

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After that day, although everyone told me I played an excellent game (though I think they had slightly forgotten about the 4 different interceptions I threw, bringing my total for my life at high school to 7..) and I still couldn't get any motivation from anyone even though they tried. I locked myself in my room for a day or so after, replaying the scene in my head. I thought I had gotten everything I could ever want during that game, but I let my team and myself down that game. I just couldn't keep the momentum on our side. I was brought in one last time with a meeting with the coaches, and as I was looking through my options with my coach at colleges, I got the visit of a lifetime. Jason Portobello made his way up my doorstep and my mom let him in as I was sitting on the couch with my coach. I looked up and immediately almost let out a yell when I saw him, but kept my composure. For the moment, anyway. I stood up and immediately greeted him, as my coach looked up at what the ruckus was and smiled at the sight of Mr. Portobello. Jason approached him and offered a handshake, which was politely taken by my coach. Jason turned and looked at me now, eying me up and down with a smile on his face.

"Man, do I like what I see! Your name is Alvin, correct?" He asked me, his eyes not changing from mine now. I nodded, as no vocals seemed to have been ready to come out. He smiled again, laughing at the obvious nervousness that was screaming my name. "Calm down boy, I'm not here to tell you bad news. But first, could I have a seat?" Snapping out of my fantasy realm, I quickly turned and pointed at the chair. "Yes, uh, yes sir." He took the chair and looked at me as I sat down across from him on the couch where my coach joined me. My mom looked anxiously on from the hallway. "Well, Mr. Sloan it seems as though your stats are in and I have them in my hand." For the first time, I noticed he was carrying a brown office folder in one hand. He opened it on our coffee table, and started reading them aloud to us. "5.2 for your 40, 32 inch vertical, 300 squat, 245 bench... but more importantly," he said, as the smile that never left his face grew wider.. "3.5 GPA with a 1300 exam score. My, my, my! That is impressive son!"

Turning his attention towards my coach now, he nodded. My coach brought out a paper from his bag on the floor that he always carrys with him, and layed it for Mr. Portobello to see. "Ah yes, the football statistics. 62% completion rate, 2430 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions! You've also got 120 rushing yards, averaging 3 yards per rush. Thank you." Mr. Portobello said as he nodded towards my coach again. My coach grabbed the peice of paper and put it back in place, as my attention still is fixed upon the Tennesse coach in front of me. "Well," the Tennessee coach continues, "I truly do like what I see. I like your morals, I like what my assitants have told me from talking to you, and I truly look forward to getting to know you more as you join my squad. Being born in Tennessee, your mother told me you'd love to get a chance to play for a team you've always cheered for. Well here's your chance son. Whenever you make a decision, let me know alright?" He layed his card down as if I was supposed to call him later, but instead I jumped up out of my chair with estatic movement.

"Yes! I mean, I don't have to talk to you later. I know right now! I want to do it." My coach let out a laugh, as did the Tennessee coach and from the corner of my eye, I saw my mother turn towards her room as tears started rolling down her face. Mr. Portobello looked me in the eye now, and for the first time his smile faded and he held his grip firm as I shook his hand before he left. "Now listen to me alright. I don't want you to think this is just fun and games. I saw your last game, and I don't want any of that type of throwing on my squad. I know you can do better, and I'm here to bring that out of you. Are we clear?" The nervous excitement turned to a serious monotone through my body as I answered. "Crystal, sir." He smiled and nodded good day, before turning and walking out towards his limo waiting out side of my house. "Pack your bags boy, you've got a few hours drive to Knoxville!" With that, Mr. Portobello entered his limo and it drove away, leaving an 18 year old boy with a bunch of dreams and now, the chance to meet them.

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"13 miles from Knoxville"

The sign read, and suddenly all aspiration started coming back up. I knew this 5 hour drive would be a lot quicker then it seems when you talk about it, but I didn't know it'd fly by this quick! I have 13 miles until I reach my new home, and according to this GPS, 16 minutes until I reach my destination. That's 16 minutes left of pondering moments, 16 minutes left of being a boy looking for a dream and only 16 minutes left until I reach that dream. I know I can do it, and in 16 minutes I'll prove it to the world. First starts training camp, but that's fine. I've done them before. 16 minutes and my life will be officially changed. Just... 15 minutes...

Neil_1113 · September 7, 2010

Training Camp

Training Camp Journal: Week 1.

Our first meeting together was today, at night. Most people got in this week I realized, and the "official" time of the training camp started monday night. We ran a scrimmage game for those who weren't too tired from their travels, though surprisingly out of a team of 81 we only had enough for a 6 on 6 game. That's ok though, it showed me some of my team in depth. We had two of our quarterbacks playing, obviously on seperate teams. The first guy's name was Sonny Dragos, he's actually our starter. He was decent, but I've seen better. Like the second guy, somebody I guess that just joined the team. Thomas Tobin. Now that guy had an arm. I wouldn't say hall of fame material, but good enough to get the job done. I think he'll be taking Dragos' spot. None of our half backs played, but one full back did. His name was Sam Stith. I do hope we have a better full back, because just in scrimmage he fumbled... twice. No wide recievers played, which made this a very weird game.

Although we had a couple tight ends play, which kind of filled in for recievers. Al Brohm was one guy who was really nice, extremely funny. He has a thick southern accent, although he's only a couple hours away from where I lived. He came up here with one of his close friends I heard, but I couldn't talk to him too much. After all, he was on the opposite team. Another tight end was Steve Turner. This guy was also good. He has outstanding hands, caught every ball thrown to him and then even picked off Dragos! I'd hate to be throwing against him anytime soon. We had two offensive guards play as well. I don't remember who they were, but one was a starter and the other was his back up. I'm curious as to see how it plays out though, because they both seemed equal in playing time. One guy who caught the whole teams attention though, was Jake Faulk, our currently starting center.

Quite possibly the best center I have ever seen in my life, both on the field and off. He's hillarious, and could make anyone cry tears of laughter. We had to stop plays on three different occasion because he had our full roster or recievers cracking up. On the field though, don't get in his way or he'll easily run you over. Jon Blye, one of our second string corner backs who might see a good amount of playing time played as well. He was average level, someone who can get the job done but will not stick out of a crowd. He drops the passes like average people would, which kind of made Dragos mad when he threw him a perfect spiral and he dropped it, twice. Him and Stith should get together, have a turnover party or something. Kelvin Holt also played, who is a cornerback.. third string and probably won't see a catch all season. In this game, I could see why. I know there were two others playing with us, but for the life of me I just can't remember them either. Oh wait, there's our kicker who played with us... Henry Garrett. I think he's better of unmentioned though... his horrible kicking skills match his horrible personality. But I guess when everything is perfect, there always has to be something to ruin it every chance it gets. Well Henry, I'm not that easy to unnerve...

Week 2:

We had our team lunch together. I unfortunately only got to meet the 3 sitting at my table, but boy were they a hoot! James Johnson was one of them, an inside linebacker that's likely to get the red shirt like me. We both recognized each other potential during warm ups today, and just stuck close to each other. Turns out, he's the roommate that wasn't there last week. Family problems I suppose, but I figured it'd be best not to ask right now. Another inside linebacker was there as well, Ron Wilson. He got redshirted a year or two back I think, but didn't improve. I think now he's on the team just as a back up to a back up backing up the back up of our starters. If that made sense ha. Turns out, his whole family moved from Lebanon to come here. No, not the amazing city somewhere outside the US, I'm talking the city several hours away from here. The third guy was James Branch, a wide reciever that will probably be getting red shirted too. Later during practice, I watched him play and it amazed me. If he could get his game down and locked, he may be one of the very best wide recievers out there.

After lunch, we went out to our normal practice. A very hot day outside made this even more unbearable but we kept pressing through. Coach Portobello pushes us hard, harder then I was expecting but that's alright. I like the challenge. With James next to me most of the practice when applicable, he made this day a whole lot easier. After our first practice we had an hours break before our second practice of the day was to happen. I didn't know what to do so I thought I'd go ahead and give my mom a call, let her know everything was alright. However right before I was able to get the call dialed, Steve Turner made his way over and grabbed me by the back. He lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder, laughing as he brought me back outside. A bunch of the guys were all out there with the expressions on their face that seemed to have matched mine. Steve then calls out for some other guys, all juniors and seniors and they met us outside. Steve went on to announce "the ceremony of a lifetime." He told us, "sometimes the best way to say 'Hey! Welcome to the team!' is by showing you our affection. So to start, here's a little partying gift from all of us upper classmen... and sophmores."

Suddenly the doors burst open and several very attractive women came out wearing tight Tennessee cheer uniforms. "Men, I'd like you to meet our very own cheerleading squad. And not the ones on the field, if you catch my drift." Steve nodded and the girls made their way, dancing on laps, the ground, and everything else you could possibly think of. Steve then stood back up after the dancing was slowing down, and called for everyones attention again. "Now, for the grand finale. Let me show you.. the puppies! Ladies?" All of a sudden, the ladies brought their hands up to their tops, but right before they undid anything two huge barks caught the attention of everyone. The ladies slowly found their way back inside along with the upperclass men and sophmores. Confused, we looked at each other then realized these bulldogs had no chain. The dogs slowly edged their way forward, and we took off running. They took off after us and we started trucking it down the football field and back, the dogs running after only those who kept running. Some guys just couldn't run any longer and fell over, but the dogs skipped over them. I counted as I was running, 6 dogs. I turned and saw James trip a few yards away. As one of the dogs looked to keep on running, I forgot they were doing this and had a panic attack thinking it was running full speed ahead at James. So instinctively (and foolishly), I stuck my foot out and nailed the dog right across the head. The dog didn't like this, but turned over onto it's stomach after being hit. It got back up but before it could do anything, I jumped on it's back and held it in between my arms.

Suddenly the doors busted back open and one of the ladies came outside, whistling this faint whistle, a dog whistle I noticed. All of the dogs got up and ran over, prancing their way to her as she started petting them. She realized however, one wasn't there. She looked up and saw me mounted on top of it, and immediately ran over. "What are you doing?" She asked, as she stopped in front of me a few yards. "Let him up!" I looked at the dog, then back at her and as the momentum wore off I came to the realization that this was just a prank. Foolishly, I stood off of the dog and the dog turned around, growled at me, then ran to it's owner I presume. "I'm sorry mam" I said, "I should've known." She looked at me after I said that and her face twisted into an angry one. "You knuckle headed freshman! You don't attack the pranksters, you get even! You could've killed my dog! Who do you think you are?" Her questions didn't even make sense, but when I finally turned my attention away from James and towards her, I found myself unable to answer. She was one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen, and she wasn't dressed in the cheerleader outfit like the other girls like I thought, but she was dressed in a sports jacket and jeans. Her blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail, and she looked around my age, maybe older or younger. I've never been good at guessing ages though. "I uh, well I was.." She cut me off before I could say anything, although I don't think I could've said much at this point. "You were just being a freshman. If you want to make it through this camp, you better snap out of that attitude. And don't look at me like that, it's kind of creepy." I just realized now I was staring at her, right in the eyes. I quickly averted my eyes and did everything I new to stop the redness flushing to my face. She rolled her eyes and turned around, walking back towards the other dogs patiently waiting for her. Man, was she beautiful! If only I could figure out who she was... But I have to snap out of it! Before we end the day, we still have our second training session! Here goes nothing...

Week 3:

Soreness. That's all I could think about as I woke up this morning. My legs were killing me, and I didn't know how to move in such pain. I had worked intensely before, but never to the point of this. I didn't even think this amount of horror in your legs could happen. I got rolled out of bed by Rob Pittman, one of our starting wide recievers. I sat up, noticing one of my roommates were gone, while the other two were still here with me getting dressed. I turned to eye James Johnson, who looked to have the same lost look I had in my eyes. "Come on sunshine, it's time to wake!" James smiled as Rob said this, and suddenly darted across the room, tackling Rob to the floor. "I'm an inside linebacker, don't think you can break my tackle. For the record, it's James... James Johnson." James stood up and nodded, then made a dramatic exit in just a t-shirt and boxers. I looked at Rob, and both of us just busted out laughing. What a start to my second day.

Another two a day I heard, although this time the offense would be focused on most. Which means I'd be practicing with the 3rd string team. The weather wasn't so hot out today as it was yesterday, which made practice a little more nice, barely but anything counts. One play Coach Morris, our offensive line coach, noticed I was doing something he didn't like. He stepped in and showed me how to pick up my elbow when I throw to put a little bit more "zip" to it as he called it. I tried it the very next play, only for it to get intercepted. Thanks, coach. Although I must admit, it felt better to throw that way and the ball did come off cleaner. I tried it again after we lined up for the next play, and sure enough a slant in got us a touchdown as I was able to plant the ball just in line with Howard Smith who got a lead on his man for a touchdown.

This week was kind of fun, our first practice was more of a scrimmage with a lot of stops and lessons, and our second practice had nothing to do with the quarterbacks so we wound up catching a huge break. Although right before the end of practice, they focused on us as a group. There were 5 of us, but it looked as though I'd be the only red shirt for this position on the team. After the break away passes and some other drills that they made us perform, we finally had a chance to go in for dinner. There was a riot happening as we got in, and we realized everybody wasn't arguing, they were laughing. The center of it all? (Excuse the pun.) Jake Faulk.

Week 4:

"Giddey up, cowboy!" I slowly opened my eyes, peeking to the inevitable light shining through the room. I sat up and realized three guys were on top of one of my roommates, one of them in which were actually trying to ride him like a bull. I quickly rolled back over and threw my pillow over my face. Suddenly, a cold chill ran down my leg and I sat up quickly to see one of the Junior linebackers pouring a bucket of freezing water into the bottom half of my bed. I jumped up quickly and preceeded to try to tackle him, the weight advantage not coming into mind until after I was already in mid-air. As I hit him, he quickly rolled through my dive and slammed me onto the ground. "Rise and shine, blue eyes." He said, then tipped my air mattress over on top of me. This was just one of the many interesting wake up calls that the Senior/Juniors put us through this week. Although this was the first one that involved me, and if I had anything to say about it... it'd be the last.

Throughout the week we stepped our game up to 3 a days, with the coach frowning at our current day standings. He said we had more to give then what we were already giving. I also had another run in with that girl, who I found out was "Jessica Portobello." Of course she would be the head coaches daughter. One whom payed no attention to me, and my second run in only resulted in me spilling her orange juice in the cafeteria, one of the few times she was spotted on the campus. Ironically though, instead of getting mad and snotty like I expected, she was nice and smiled and even laughed it off, picking up the orange juice and giving it to me, only to steal mine with a playful grin. But whenever I thought I was getting somewhere, I was quickly reminded by the rest of my teammates that it'll probably never happen. Afterall, she was a good Christian girl, close to her friends, closer to her family and I don't even think she had any enemies. Though she could've been such a brat, she chose to be nice which shocked me. But the Juniors and Seniors said "she's a splitting image of her Father... and we don't mean Coach P."

Moving right along however, the week was coming to a close after a couple more hard training sessions, and I also got to hear some stories Coach P. told us about his own past. He hyped us up, getting us ready for the next week of practice though for some reason, he never really revealed to us what next week would entail. If only I knew what was coming that next week, I'd have understood why the coach was so nice to us.

Week 5:

It was as if someone had just died, and the whole camp was in mourning mode this week. The buzz of an alarm was what woke us up each morning, no laughing, no joking around, not even a prank this week was shown! During the first day, it was almost creepy and I couldn’t understand why all the sophomores to seniors were silent. We walked into our first meeting during breakfast, and even then the talking and conversations were limited. Coach Portobello stood up with his two staff members on each side, his beautiful daughter looking on from the corner. I was staring at her until Coach started talking, and what he had to say… I kind of wish I kept looking at her. “Week 5 is going to be the most intense week we’re going to have” he said, “but as the encouraging man I am, next week our final week of training camp won’t include three a days, or even two a days! Actually, it’ll only include training 3 of the 6 days. That is, if everything goes well this week of course.” I only included the important parts here, he had a little bit more to say. Like… “if you can’t keep up, go ahead and walk away now.” Well, I suppose that’s important but I am not going to quit. Not now, not since I’ve gotten a chance to live my dream. So here goes nothing… week 5, here we go!

After the first workout of the morning, I was already ready to quit. It was horrible! Half of the guys threw up, the other half couldn’t stand much. But the Coach wasn’t done there, oh no. The second practice of the day, the night practice pushed us even a step further. He left us with Coach Morris, our offensive coordinator while he went with Mick Crouse to focus on our Defense. I think our defense has untouched potential right now, and that’s why he’s focusing a lot on them. Coach Porter, our Special Teams coach also joined Coach Morris though, and we for the first time as an offense, trained together the whole time in these intense drills. This was basically the layout for the rest of the week as well, as every day was intense, every day was quiet, and every day was wretched to my body. Although after the first two days, we went down to one practice a day. I’d have preferred three a day more than the 1 intense one we were doing. Don’t underestimate the power of one intense practice!

The last bit of Week 5 was also intense as we were required to max out 20 pounds more, at least then what we started with. I thought that’d be impossible, but after one day of rest all of us went in, sore but ready for more. And if I heard correctly from coach the last morning of Week 5, everyone had passed! Everyone! That’s great news too, because now we don’t have to run today! Anyways, for week 5, I’m done.

Week 6:

Week 6 was a very relaxed week. The 4 training practices we wound up scheduled with for the week, made it seem like we were back playing highschool ball. It was loose, relaxed, and even dare I say, fun! All in all though, after week 5 we really needed this week. I also got a chance to get to know some of the other players, and we had a scrimmage game in the middle of the week. I don’t know if we’ve always had such an amazing defense, but I’d be surprised if anyone could score on them! Our offense is actually quite good I’d think, but we couldn’t do anything against our defense! They even picked off 3 extremely hard balls to pick! It wasn’t the quarterbacks fault either, they were excellent catches and read the plays excellent.

As this week went on, everyone was getting more and more excited for the season. Our coach was reading fan mail to us, and some of the material in it shocked me! It was things that made us laugh, things that were serious, things that were funny but ironic, things that even made some of us cry! It looked like Tennessee was excited for our season too as we were invited to probably a party a night, and it was awesome going out to eat with the gang and watching everyone eying us with such respect, and even coming and asking for autographs! I got to sign a kids autograph near the end as well! It was awesome!

The week ended with everyone sitting in the briefing room, the excitement for the game next week tearing us up inside. Coach Portobello sat down on the table, eying each and every one of us before finally speaking what was on his mind. “Tennessee. 55-31 record the past years. 0 conference championships in the SEC, 0 National Championships, 38-18 conference record. 7 Post season appearances, with a 2-7 record in them. This was the old Tennessee ladies and gentlemen. This season, this changes. This is my first year with you guys, and this will be the last year that we stay trapped in the dust of those such as Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama. This is the season we make Tennessee go in the history books. I’ve seen you guys play and I know what you guys are capable of. If you’re with me on this, I believe it’s time for us to finally make a statement that screams victory this season.” The whole room lit up with cheers, as the assistant coaches sat next to Coach Portobello, clapping their hands with the rest of us. “They said a Top 10 finish would be great, they said a 2nd place finish in the race would be good… I say let’s do them one better. Let’s finish 1st. In the conference, and in the league!” Coach Portobello stands now to another clapping storm released from his team, and he smiled. “See you guys in the morning.”

End Training Camp

Neil_1113 · September 8, 2010

“The Beginning of a Legacy.”

It was loud on the bus, as the whole team was completely ecstatic for the first game. It was a long trip so far, but the energy is far from depleting even the least bit. The ride to California so far has been a smooth one, and it’s only a matter of minutes until we arrive to the stadium. A group of us will be sitting for the game and not suiting up, but that’s completely fine with most of us! We pulled into the big red and white place, and people were already packing the front gates. We pulled into the back area, where our driver flashed some type of ID to the security guards and we drove on through to the back locker rooms. We piled in and quickly filled the room. Coach briefed us on tonight’s game, letting us know that we were up against a tougher team. Our first game is against #20 Fresno State, and it seemed like a good chance for us to either be destroyed, or to shine. Coach obviously thought the latter. Jessica was also there, which made me nervous. I’m not sure why, I wasn’t playing. Within minutes, it seemed as though we had made our way through the hallway and onto the field to a slight chant of cheers. However, our ovation was quickly overruled when the stadium erupted for the opposing team, coming out behind us. Here goes our first game…

1st Half, 1st Quarter: (0-0)

Our first few drives looked promising, but we got stopped early on. We missed the 32 yard field goal, and gave them back the ball. The first play was a 15 yard cut, and our Free Safety was found out of position. Then after a 5 yard run, and a 42 yard streak in which our OLB Townsend allowed, they followed it up with a 18 yard run into the end zone while SS Johnson missed the perfect set up for a tackle. They convert the extra point, but there wasn’t any surprise there. Our next drive, we only had a 6 yard run. The rest, incomplete passes. Fresno State fires two passes, identical to each other which brought them 18 yards the first time, and 17 yards the second time. We stopped them the next three plays, but barely. They got the easy 3 points from a field goal which extended their lead to 10. Another four and out, and we give Fresno another chance to score. After forcing their hand with our defense actually playing defense this time, we pushed back with a couple nice runs, and then a whopping 70 yard gain off of a streak pattern to end the first quarter!

1st Half, 2nd Quarter: (10-0 – Fresno State)

Our coach briefed us a little bit on what we’re doing wrong on defense. He also started telling us a little bit of what to do on offense. Before we knew it, everybody is back on the field to start the 2nd quarter. A 2 yard run to start things off brings in 6 points for us, and the extra point following us tightens Fresno State’s lead to a measly 3. Fresno looks to push the ball up slowly with running, and does so until an Unnecessary Roughness call in comes in our favor, giving us another chance to stop their running game. We do just that and force them to punt. Short breaks free after getting the ball from a few defenders and looks to be sprinting towards the touchdown, but gets stopped from behind for a 24 yard gain. A nice run from our TE, Turner and Tobin completes the pass gaining 58 yards and another touchdown! Garrett gets back onto the field for another free kick and it goes in perfectly, bringing us in the lead for the first time this game by 4! Fresno pushes the ball forward again, and this time we help them with an Offsides call in their favor. Our defense looks to stop them again until we decide to hold them (literally) and get a Holding call once again in their favor. Our defense makes a couple more nice stops this time, forcing them to try a 52 yard field goal… which of course, goes in limiting our lead to 1 point. A 22 and a 11 yard pass back to back looks hopeful for the rest of the team as we press our way down field. But a dropped pass by WR. Smith stops our momentum in its tracks. WR Davis stays in the backfield and with a brief moment of time, turns on the jets after getting the ball for a 23 yard run! Smith gets another chance cutting to the outside, and grabs a hold of the ball to run it for 11 more yards and another touchdown! Garrett with the extra point, leads us to a 8 point lead with 2 minutes left in the half. Fresno now pushes down with passes instead of their running game, and with a minute left on the clock they’ve used one of their timeouts. 2 good passing plays and a couple of good defensive stops later, and it is 4th and 3 with 37 seconds left on the clock. They attempt the 48 yard field goal but it falls short! Tobin takes a knee after the hike, and ends the half with a nice lead.

2nd Half, 1st Quarter: (21-13 – Tennessee)

We kicked off to them and after two painful stops, it looked like a punt was in store with 3rd and long to go. However, after our CB Jansen decided to go get some tea during the play and forgot that he was in the middle of a game, a 51 yard pass pushes the ball right down our throats. We stop them again though and force them to go for a 44 yard punt, but it falls short! We’re forced to give it back to them after a quick 3 and out. The first play they have is a run, but SS Camella sniffs it out and takes a sprint inside, nailing their running back, the hit was so hard it forced the ball right out of his hands and right below our DE Johnson who recovers it and with nobody in front, takes off 52 yards to the endzone! Garrett with the extra point going in perfectly, brings our lead up from 8 to 15! 3 and out it seemed, but the holding penalty gave them another 3rd down chance but a long distance to go. 18 yard dish to the corner and the Fresno offense continues pushing down our defense. We force them back to a 3rd down, but a holding call on a 1 yard pass gives them 10 yards and an automatic 1st down. On our 34, it looks like another drive coming but our Defense stays strong and faithful even with some of the childish mistakes they’ve made, forcing them back 7 yards with a penalty and a hit in the backfield, forcing their hand to punt the ball again. We go three and out now, pushing a 53 yard punt into their hands. With a little over a minute left of the 3rd quarter, we force them to punt back to us after a 3 and out of their own. A couple nice plays later, the quarter ends with a 3rd and 2 on their 40.

2nd Half, Final Quarter: (28-13 – Tennessee)

The first play of the game is a punt to Fresno. Nice way to start a quarter right? But our Defense quickly recovers our reputation as we force them to a 3 and out. Forcing our way down the field, we find ourselves in a 4th and 2 situation on their 39 yard line. Feeling daring, or maybe just smart, Coach decides to go for it. A 10 yard pass, and a few more yards for a run result from it and we find ourselves 1st and 10 on the opponents 20. Good decision by our offensive line coach! 7 more yards later, and Tobin airmails a pass to TE Turner, only for it to get picked off by their Defensive Tackle! Coach wasn’t too happy with Tobin’s horrible throw. Tobin doesn’t get any consolation either as Fresno State makes a couple nice passes down the field, getting the crowd anxious to see this lead cut quick and with 7 minutes left on the clock, the possibility of a comeback would be very possible. Luckily for Tobin, our defense is able to stop them now and force them again to result in a long field goal. This time it’s a 52 yarder, in which it falls short again! The crowd now silenced as Tennessee gets the ball back with 5 and a half minutes left to play. The next play, a running play to RB Short, breaks free and looks like he could go all the way until he’s tracked down limiting his gain to only 23 yards. Garrett comes onto the field, this time for a long field goal attempt, the first field goal of the game! A 55 yarder looks very slim as far as him having a chance to make it, but he kicks it high and he kicks it hard, and as sure as your momma was a woman, he made it! 18 point lead now with a little over 3 minutes left to play, and our side is now starting to get anxious. The first win of the season looks to be sealed, but we still have a game to play. Fresno attempts a long toss but our CB Jensen reads it perfectly and picks it off, running it back 25 yards for a touchdown! Looks like that tea he got earlier on in the game paid off! With the extra point good, our lead extends even more to 25. A 62 yard dash after a inside slant route puts the crowd back into the game though, with only 13 yards to the end zone. However our defense isn’t out of this game, as they stopped them hard with a 3 and out. 4th and 6 on our own 9 yard line and they choose to go for it, but they overthrow it and the down ends! 0:44 left in the game. 2 running plays and 11 yards later, our QB takes a knee as Fresno is out of timeouts and the clock winds down ending the game!

Our whole team celebrated, as we came back to group up in the locker room. Coach P has a huge smile on his face and congrats some of his team while the rest of us are jumping around, tackling each other and laughing. It was such a great night tonight, winning our 1st game against a Top 20 team in their own house with 40,000 people watching in the stadium alone, made us feel real good. This was a great win for everyone, and now it’s time to go out and party!

OOC Time:

Coaching Info –

Final Score (because Alvin was so excited he forgot to mention it..): Tennessee 38 – Fresno State 13.

4 Penalties for 25 yards, we’re going to need to fix on NOT holding the other team. Thomas Tobin (our QB) threw 1 interception, but didn’t get sacked once. So credit to our offensive line!

T. Tobin went 16/30 with 245 yards and a touchdown. He had 1 great pass, and 2 bad passes.

Our main rusher, G. Short ran 24 times for 107 yards averaging 4 per carry and no touchdowns.

DE D. Johnson got 1 forced fumble.

H. Garrett went 1/2 with his field goals.

CB E. Fritzkee is injured with a Heel strain.

We still aren’t mentioned in the top 25 unfortunately but we are being thrown around votes wise. The top 5 right now are #1 Texas, who just came off of a win against an unranked Cincinnati (38-16) and are on their way to play against another unranked team, Illinois next week. Next we have #2 Purdue who have yet to play, but are going up against an unranked Memphis next week. #3 Southern Cal has the same story, being 0-0 and going up against unranked Cincinnati, who had just got beaten by Texas next week. #4 Oregon State again, a 0-0 team plays unranked Indiana next week. And #5 Penn State is coming off of a win against Central Florida, 37-3 to play #11 Virginia Tech who also is coming off of a win.

So in short (for you skimmers >_>):

Top 5 -

1. Texas (1-0)

2. Purdue (0-0)

3. Southern Cal (0-0)

4. Oregon State (0-0)

5. Penn State (1-0)

Also as another OOC note, sorry for the long response for the training camp post. I did a couple days per real day, that way I spread out the use of my imagination in order to get the maximum amount of quality in my post. I figured you guys would prefer quality over quantity, so that’s why I chose to give! And again, feel free to give feedback! It’d help me keep going if I knew people were not only reading, but even enjoying this! Also if you’d like to participate, here’s a slight “questionarre” to answer before the next game…

1. What do you think about Alvin Sloan’s personality (in which is expressed through the In Character writings) and are you getting a little bit of a clear picture about how this guy would be if you met him face to face?

2. Guessing game, do you think Alvin will ever wind up impressing or even getting the girl (Jessica Portobello) and why or why not?

3. Tennessee is facing an unranked Syracuse who is 0-1. Their offense is 54th ranked compared to ours which is 32nd, and their defense is 104th ranked, compared to ours which is 111st. Do you think we could pull off another win, bringing our record to 2-0?

olympia · September 12, 2010

should be an interesting ride with Alvin.

I think of course he ends up winning the girl in the end

and UT should be able to fend off Syracuse - although may be a stiffer test than Fresno State was.

Neil_1113 · September 15, 2010

<div style="text-align:center;">...The Next Step to Stardom... The Coach made an extra effort to make sure it was clear, that our reputation is not founded off of one game, but many just like it. So we positioned ourselves this whole week to make this game worth something. The polls didn't favor us so much per say, but there was a lot of talk on television that we'd be creeping in and possibly be a devastating force to all competitors against us. Big talk, I just am curious to see us back that up. We were leaving our locker room as the awaiting Syracuse were already on the field. Coach P and his daughter were both standing in the hallway that leads out into the stadium, with smiles on their faces. They started high fiving every player as we did our light jog past them and out towards the stadium. Coach P quickly joined them in the front before they actually hit the end, and his daughter stayed behind a little. She was actually right in front of me, and I was doing my best to stay in the "game mode" and not concentrate on how amazing she smelt right now. We walked out onto the field with the Tennessee crowd cheering us on, and the rush of the game ran through my bones, and I forgot everything in that moment but football. Tonight, we shine again. Tonight, is our night. It is indeed... the next step to stardom. 1st Quarter, 1st Half. (0-0) Our first cycle as we ran through, our third down conversion play failed horribly. Tobin puts too much air under one of this throws and it's immediately picked off by a defender. The very next play was a nice 34 yard pass, shoving the interception even more down the throat of poor Tobin. It's up to our defense to stop them, but unfortunately when they are already at the 4 yard line, it's a very hard thing to do. The next play later, they shove a pass into the endzone as our entire defense bit on the running fake, and put up 7 easy points on the board against us. The next chance we get, Tobin refuses to pass it because of his previous mess and instead forces Short to run which gets two impressive runs, but as the defense gets ahold of what's going on, they easily stop our running game and force us to punt. Not a good start to the first quarter at all. The kickoff puts them at the 5 yard line, which looks real good for us. But our defense was obviously left back at the locker room, as the 1st down run breaks through our defense, follows the hole to the sidelines, and takes off 95 yards where none of our defense could catch him for one more touchdown to add to our struggling defense. 14-0 with very Syracuse barely breaking a sweat. Tobin came out and looked to be on fire now, playing great ball and making good passes until a holding call from our center Jake, stops our momentum. A horrible run by Tobin, a horrible run by Short, and a false start later and it's 3rd and 25. Tobin looks to run it again but right before he passes the line of scrimmage, he sidesteps a defender and backs up launching a pass down the field to Davis, completing a 37 yard pass and Davis takes off down the field! This time, it's Syracus that can't catch him as he sprints all the way into the end zone for a touchdown! And just like that, the we, and the Tennessee fans are back in this game! The explosion from the crowd stunned me as I couldn't believe I was living in this magical moment. We've now limited the lead to only a touchdown, and our defense is ready to prove themselves again. Sure enough they do, stuffing a run play and forcing them to the air, only to show the young Sophmores inconsistency of his throwing ability as both passes were overthrown to the out of bounds. Tobin comes out onto the field and the crowd starts to cheer for him, and off of two running plays, he nails two nice tight spiral passes bringing them further down the field and onto the Syracuse side. Tobin looks right, and looks for his reciever but instead finds a defender there waiting for the pass as he picks it off, the second interception for poor Tobin today. It looks like our defense has the stop on their 3rd down attempt, only to have a face mask called on us to give them enough yards for the 1st down. We stop them but not far enough for them to attempt a 45 yard field goal, which goes directly between the posts to help extend the lead to 10 with 0:17 left in the 1st quarter. 2nd Quarter, 1st Half. (17-7 - Syracuse) Tobin just couldn't get anything off during this offense time, but it might be a bit to our horrible play calling. Our offensive coach for some strange reason told us to run the ball on 2nd and 13, only to get us 3 yards. Our defense holds the opposing offense though, and we get the ball back with a little over a minute gone from the clock. Tobin pushes the ball upfield as the crowd once again stats to get behind him, unfortuantely though he goes for a quick curl pattern but throws the ball right into the hands of a defender. The 3rd interception of the game, and Coach P looks mad. With Syracuse on our 7 yard line, our defense is still able to hold them to make them resort to an easy field goal, extending the lead even further to 13. A nice kick return gives us good position, but a holding call pushes us quickly out of that position. The kick return was the only nice thing, as a quick 3 and out was in store and we're back punting the ball away. This is just not Tobin's game. As Tobin is having a nice chat with Coach P, our defense is doing spectacular work stopping Syracuse from moving the ball much. The crowd explodes now, and I turn my attention back to the game to see what happened and realized our outside linebacker, Lewis Alexander has just picked off the throw! Tobin throws on his helmet and rushes back to join with his offense. The crowd behind our offense as two good runs give us position on the Syracuse side, but not much as Tobin just can't get any of his throws on. We are forced again to punt it, but this time it lands at the 3 yard line and looks like good coverage for our defense to step in. With 0:12 left in this half, we force them to punt at the 12 second mark, only to have Lewis Alexander return it 87 yards for a touchdown! What a way to end the 2nd quarter, but with 7 more points adding to our score. 3rd Quarter, 2nd Half. (20-14 0 Syracuse) The crowd now cheering on our defense as the kickoff goes to Syracuse. Our defense makes some nice stops, and our safety bats away a nice pass helping us force their hand to punt and give us the ball. Our offense now starts firing the ball up, pushing it up with runs and the crowd is right there with us, cheering us on every play we make. A nice crisp pass later, and we find ourselves in the end zone as the first score of this quarter! We now take the lead for the first time, with 1 point over Syracuse. The crowd feels the same electricity we do, as our defense comes onto the field now after the kickoff. Again our safety makes a nice play batting the ball away on a much needed 3rd down conversion, and we find ourselfs on the recieving end of another punt. Tobin for the first pass, looks deep and launches it. Perfect pass and it looks like a touchdown run except that our reciever was knocked off of his route and the ball fell incomplete. A couple more few yard runs, and we're now punting it back into the hands of the Syracuse offense. With a 1 point lead and 5 min left of the 3rd quarter, the Tennessee fans are now getting onto their feet in anticipation. Our defense is on top of things here, with two huge hits off of a pass and a run, and a 3rd and 16 is up. Our offense gets ready to come onto the field, that is until their running back runs 17 yards down our defensive throat, and shuts the crowd up for the moment. After an incomplete pass, the Syracuse QB throws a high ball to their WR running a streak pattern, only to have it intercepted but our Cornerback, Jon Blye! The very next play, Tobin bombs the pass to TE. Steve Turner and with nothing but open space this looks promosing, but Turner takes his eyes off the ball just long enough for the ball to rush through his hands and onto the ground for an incomplete pass. Tobin lowers his head at the incomplete, and calls out another play. This time Tobin targets for 14. A few more plays later, and we're in the endzone after a nice pass play! Our lead extends to 8 now and the Tennessee crowd is back in business as the 3rd quarter ends. 4th Quarter, 2nd Half. (28-20 - Tennessee) We start with a kickoff to Syracuse, which isn't returned for much. The crowd as ready to cheer as our defense is to play to start off this final quarter. We must hold them for at least a touchdown, and hopefully extend our lead a little more to clinch the win. And our defense sure did come out to play this quarter, making two pass deflections and a good cover to make the opposing offense go 3 and out, and have to punt the ball away. Tobin hands the ball off to Short several times, both for nice gains! A total of 34 yards in 2 plays from running plays, brings is up to the opponents 43. However this last play Tobin seems to have fallen onto the ground, and the crowd slowly quiets down as Coach P runs out to the field to see what's going on. It looks like Tobin has to be helped to walk off the field and he's holding his hip. This isn't good for the Tennessee offense. Dragos starts his first play, and his first throw he has a man wide open sprinting down the sidelines but throws it way over his head and out of bounds. Two running attempts later, and 3 yards more down the field, we decide to have to punt it. It lands at the Syracuse 3 with no return, and now it's our defense's turn to show off. It may be our defense that will have to save us here by scoring points, as our offensive main QB is down and out for the game it looks like. Our defense stays faithful forcing them to punt eventually, but it lands at our 3 now with no return. This doesn't look good as our starting QB can't really do much under pressure. 3 runs bring us up 11 yards though, giving QB Dragos time to breath now. Our running game is really taking off now, after another overthrown ball, we've pushed ourselves from our own 3 to our 41 but we still have a bit to go. Dragos goes to throw again, does a nice play fake and bombs it down the middle right into the hands of the defending Cornerback. Interception #4 of the game, and as of currently Dragos is 0/3 for 0 yards. Our defense comes back onto the field and the crowd gets behind them again. With 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, it's up to our defense again to stop them. We stop them enough to force them to result to a 39 yard field goal, which they kick right in between the posts to put up 3 points for them, and to limit our lead to 5. The 3 minute mark is here now, and our kick returning team comes onto the field. Lewis Alexander recieves the kickoff at the 1 yard line and dashes forward. The crowd stands on their feet in disbelief as Lewis cuts right through the middle, dodging several tackles and then pushes to the sidelines. He continues running down, juking several people out of their shoes and breaks free with no one in front! No one is able to catch him now as he sprints 99 yards into the end zone for a touchdown! The crowd is estatic and on their feet as our lead goes up to 12! 2 and a half minutes left, and our defense gets a standing ovation from the crowd as they come back onto the field after the kickoff. Stopping a reciever in their tracks, then two incompletes later and it brings up 4th and 8 with 1:42 left on the clock. Syracuse QB is daring and fires a long pass down the line for 21 yards and the 1st down. 0:55 seconds left after another 3 plays is completed and they only have 33 yards to go before the end zone. A fake handoff later, nobody is fooled and the pass sails incomplete. The second play with no huddle, they bomb a pass down the left side for 26 yards, with the clock showing 0:41 left. A pass down the middle now, is caught for the remaining 7 yards and a touchdown! With a point difference of only 5, our offense tries to hold onto the ball. With no timeouts on the Syracuse side left, two kneels later and this game is over! We win! Final Score: 35-30 Tennessee Wins. OOC Comment: Wow. That's really all I have to say about this game. 17-7 to end the 1st quarter wasn't too promising for my team. 4 Interceptions thrown, Dragos going 0 for 3, Tobin going 11 for 22.... this was a rough day for the Tennessee offense. Our defense however, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, 4 hurries, 5 pass deflections, and our Outside Linebacker Lewis Alexander had a punt and a kick return that he returned back for touchdowns. Our defense saved this game truly. Our RB Short was by far the player of the game with 33 rushes, for 164 yards and a touchdown. The only alarm I have is that our starting QB went down, our starting ILB went down and is out for good for a while, with a town stomach muscle needing at least 14-16 weeks to heal, and one of our starting CB's went down. I hope that this next week which we have a bye in, that they will be able to heal up in time for the game in two weeks. One can only hope... <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="28961" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> Guessing Game Time: 1. Do you think Tobin will be good to play (1-3 week pelvis/hip injury) 2. Do you think CB Wilson will be good to play? (0-2 week shoulder injury) 3. We're going up against a 2-0 Miss State who's 79th offense ranks to our 59th offense, and 75th defense ranks to our 90th defense. It looks like it's going to be a tough game for Tennessee, especially if they played the way they played this week. Do you think we can pull it off?</div></blockquote></div>

olympia · September 19, 2010

Solid win over Syracuse

1. Do you think Tobin will be good to play (1-3 week pelvis/hip injury)

no - I think he will need to rest this week. at least to start and then possibly making a heroic attempt if the Vols fall behind

2. Do you think CB Wilson will be good to play? (0-2 week shoulder injury)

don't think it will be enough to keep him off the field

3. We're going up against a 2-0 Miss State who's 79th offense ranks to our 59th offense, and 75th defense ranks to our 90th defense. It looks like it's going to be a tough game for Tennessee, especially if they played the way they played this week. Do you think we can pull it off?

Vols should be able to shut them down. Looking for a 3-0 start

Neil_1113 · September 21, 2010

...Coaches Decisions...

No, you listen to me Tom. I don't care how well you think you're feeling, the doctor said you need to sit out one more week!

I heard a slam on the table as I came to a stop outside of the coaches office. I peered through the large window next to the door but the blinds were closed. Because of the coaches little nephew though, there was just enough of a hole down in the bottom right corner for me to make out a little bit of what was going on. Our starting quarterback, Thomas Tobin just threw a clipboard up against the wall as Coach P immediately stood up. He came face to face with Tobin, and very seriously spoke in a light tone that I could barely make out what he was saying.

Listen to me. You calm down right now, or find yourself out of a position real quick. Life isn't about football Tom. It's about character, and building character is more important to me above anything else. If you can barely throw the ball, but you have the heart to keep pressing through, then you have gained more respect from me then any other quarterback I've coached. They say you're all the same, a bunch of stuck up lousy kids wanting to hit people legally and gained publicity. Prove them wrong Tom, show them that there is more. Kids at the high schools are looking up to you now! How do you think they'd feel if they saw you right now?

Coach, with all due respect... there isn't any kids here right now.

So?

So what does it matter?

Do you know what dignity is Tom? Integrity mean anything to you? Let me re-explain to you what character is. I don't want my little kid looking up to a story book character. Or some figure that can fly and is completely unrealistic. I want my kid looking up at a true hero, an every day one that has the right vision in their life. I believe that can be you Tom. I believe you can be a hero. But Tom, you need to refocus your life. Now quite frankly, I don't give a cent what the doctor said. I had no intention on playing you anyway. You need time to prioritize your life, and if you don't get what I mean by character, then don't come back. Are we clear?

Yes sir.

Thomas Tobin turned around from the coach, but the coach called his name out causing him to turn back. The coach extended his hand out, and a warm smile which seemed out of place in the moment. However Tobin took it, and thanked the coach. He then walked towards the door and I made a dive around the corner to stop from being caught. As I did, I nearly tackled Jessica. Why do I keep having these run ins with her? Her eyes grew wide as she felt herself falling back and quickly reached out to stop herself. As she did, her arms grabbed the back of my neck and she held herself there for a moment. Though, it was hardly a romantic moment. She pulled herself up and I helped her up the rest of the way as she picked up her briefcase that she had dropped. I took a step back and was about to apologize when I got a good look at her and it caused me to fumble over my words, excuse the pun. She was wearing a bright yellow Tennessee jersey with blue jean shorts that came to her knees. She smiled as she saw me.

We've really got to stop this, you know...

I still couldn't say anything. Finally as she stared at me waiting for me to speak, obviously amused at my fumbling, I finally splurted out,

Uh, yeah. Sorry.

She turned her head sideways towards her dads office, then looked back at me. She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder.

Look, I don't bite. I don't really know why you're so nervous but I have something I need to attend to. I'm sorry that I make you nervous though, I really hate that effect I have sometimes. I really am just a normal girl.

Oh yeah? Prove it. Except, to put it interesting I think it'd be best if you were outside of these walls, how about coffee?

Suddenly what I had just asked hit me, and the confidence that came up for a second vanished just as quickly. I was probably as stunned as she was that I had just asked that. Instead of a flat out denial though, she just smiled with a beautiful smile.

I don't drink coffee.

For some reason, that didn't seem like a rejection at all. With her warm smile, she just turned and walked around the corner. Oh man, I hope I can impress her enough. But wow, I just realized Tobin is out? What does that mean for our chances to win tonight? Oh dear, here goes nothing...

Tennessee Volunteers vs Mississippi State Bulldogs

1st Quarter: 0-0

The kickoff goes to Lewis Alexander for a 31 yard return to our 30. I turned and noticed Jessica was next to her dad this game, watching it intently. What was that discussion about that she had with her father? Dragos runs three pretty quick passing plays, the last one being a fake and two of the three plays had our recievers wide open for easy touchdowns, but Dragos couldn't make the throws accurately, all three going over or behind the targeted recievers. For the first punt of the game Garrett boots it 54 yards giving us good yardage to defend. Tobin sits down next to me, his eyes focused on Dragos across the way who is taking his helmet off. I could tell Thomas was furious with Dragos play. Our defense is up to bat now, and the first two downs equal two yards, but the third one is a break away to the area where our CB couldn't play this game would usually be. Playing out our weakness already, this team has a smart offensive coordinator.

The next three plays are three and out, forcing them to punt the ball and giving our defense the name back that it deserves. It looks like our defense may be our saving grace this game. But after a 9 yard gain by Short, our RB, our offense looks to push the ball down their defenses throats this time. Dragos looks for a pass this time, but our reciever gets knocked off his route despite the perfect pass. Tobin puts his head in his arms over that play. "The streaks man! The streaks! We practiced that for hours, and yet we can't do it on the field?" I turned to Thomas but his head was back buried down. Again we're forced to punt the ball, and for the second time already in this game we've not been able to gain more then 1 first down on our possesion.

Our defense comes onto the field and at 4th and 1 on our 42, they decide to go for it. Our defense wasn't ready and gave up the 1st down. Their running game now takes hold of our defense, getting two average yard runs in for another first down and positioning themselves on our 24. A pass play attempts to shake up our defense, which works and puts them on our 2. But we get a stop and bury them in the backfield bring up 3rd and goal with 4 yards to go. We stop them again with only 2 yards to go into our end zone, and it's up to our defense to salvage this game. They decide to go for a field goal, and from 20 yards, it goes in giving the first points of the game to a Miss State team.

Another 45 yard return shows why Alexander is our #1 punt and kick returner, and possibly the best in the league. The Junior Dragos makes two high throws again, but the third high one is actually somehow caught by our reciever giving us a 1st down, almost by luck. After another 3 horrible plays by Dragos, but a good run by Short, we find ourselves at a 51 yard field goal attempt. Garrett comes out, and silences the crowd with a good 51 yard field goal. The score is now tied, but Dragos is playing like a high schooler, and I can see it in Coach P's eyes that he's getting angry. This ends the 1st Quarter.

2nd Quarter: 3-3 Tied Game

We kick off to them now, but it goes out for a touchback. They start pushing forward with the ball, and is able to get 3 first downs in a row against our defense. They look to push up further as they get to our 47, but a sack brings things back into perspective for our defense, for the first time this drive stopping the momentum of Miss State. After an incomplete pass, they choose to punt it... right out of the end zone for a touchback. Tobin still looking on, his head on his hands as he watches Dragos gets his helmet back on and starts his slow jog out to the field.

The first play was another typical easy to read hand off to Short, but Short somehow manages to break free on the corner and takes off running! Our whole side of the field stands up in anticipation but a great tackle by their Safety is able to trip up Short just enough for him to fall. Dragos now looks around for an open route, but tucks the ball in and tries to break to the outside to pass again, but instead finds the opponents Defensive Tackle, who brings him down for a loss of 6 yards. A pass down the sidelines though looks like a sure touchdown but before WR Davis could bring it in, he drops the ball. Tobin gets up but refrains from yelling, showing his frustration very clearly. Somehow though, the third down and 16 play is converted by our streak pattern for 24 yards!

QB Bill Gaff comes in now to relieve the pressure off of Dragos, and on his first play gets a nice 11 yard pass off! However Dragos is back in and gets another nice pass off, but an Inelgible Receiver Downfield call pushes us back to the beginning and with 4th and 1 to go on our opponents 5, we decide to go the safe route and kick a field goal. Garrett comes out, and kicks the ball right inbetween the posts to put another 3 on the board. Our defense shows up this time as they had enough time to rest, forcing the offense to go 3 and out and giving us the ball back quick.

5 minutes left of the 2nd quarter, and Dragos comes out to play. He quickly nails a pass to WR Branch for 29 yards, shutting the fans chanting "Defense" up. Dragos tries to get another pass off to the sidelines but it falls short. After the 3rd down running play only getting 1 yard, we get lucky with a face mask call. 15 yards and a 1st down, it looks like our luck is changing! One false start later, forget I ever mentioned anything. FB Sprinkle, despite his girlish name, shows he has no girlish tendencies (at least, not on the field) as he drags the pile forward and bowls over three defenders in his process for 9 yards. Why go around when you can go through? Dragos, after a loss of a running play, has one final down to make it 8 yards into the end zone. Unfortunately, he can't as the defense plays good D, stopping the catch just short of the end zone.

Garret comes out, this time for a 26 yard field goal, but it goes wide right! Bound to happen with the amount of pressure we've put on him though, considering he's the only guy on our team that can score. They show us our lack at stopping their run game, and with 30 seconds on the clock they waste their first time out. A 2 yard gain off of a pass in the backfield, and another timeout from Miss State. A 32 yard pass later, and the crowd starts to get behind Miss State here. They settle for a field goal with 5 seconds left, and it's good tying the game. I still can't believe this we're facing is 3-0.

3rd Quarter: 6-6 Tie Game

A speech that would make Mr. T cry brings us out to begin our 3rd quarter, our defense getting the first chance to show why we're 2-0 so far. Stopping them at their own 19 after the kickoff is a good way to start too. 3 passes, 15 yards altogether, our defense isn't looking like what we anticipated. Two running plays, 2 yards going backwards and it's 4th and 12 on their own 30. I take back what I said about our defense. After a 25 yard punt return, Dragos comes back onto the field to throw an incomplete pass. How nice of him. A quick pass to the outside is overthrown... again, but somehow WR Davis jumps up and catches it while keeping one foot in before he falls out of bounds! Bill Graffs turn, as he comes in and dances around a defender before launching a pass to Short for a 12 yard gain.

Dragos now finds himself 1st and 10 on the opponents 15. This time, his intent is to score. First play, a 5 yard run by Short. Second play, Dragos is caught in the backfield for a loss of 8! "You're running the wrong way Sonny!" I heard Tobin yell out towards his teammate. Davis makes the play as the throw is overthrown by Dragos again, this time costing Davis. He has to be helped off the field with a groin injury. Short with a 3 yard run, puts us at 2nd and Goal on the opponents 1. If we don't score here, I'm going to die. Bill Graff comes in, a weird decision by coach. The play gets broken up though and the receivers can't run their routes! Graff turns and makes a quick decision! He runs slight left and dives over the two defenders wrestling to get to him, and lands in the end zone! The first touchdown of the game goes to... Graff? Our... 3rd string QB... oh goodness gracious. 13-6 gives us the lead.

Now it's our defenses turn to stop Miss State, which hasn't been to hard yet, though the ending of the 2nd quarter was too close for my liking. Another touchback forcing kick by Garret starts the opposing team off at the 20. An incomplete pass, then an 11 yarder confuses our defense. Are they good, or lucky? This time though, we rush them and sack their QB, forcing the ball out for a fumble! Luckilly, he landed on the ball and held it in. It looks like we're going to get a stop, until they shove a 48 yard pass down our throats and brings the ball to our 22 yard line. An 11 yard run now brings them up to our 11 yard line, with little hope for our defense to stop them. But I haven't given up yet. Two runs for 7 yards, brings up 3rd and 3 on our 4 yard line. They try for another run, but we stop them. They attempt a 22 yard field goal, and they get it, shortening our lead to 4.

A 28 yard return, and it's our ball back at the 39. Bill Graff comes out for the first play, and spots WR Branch down the field but before he could do anything, he's crushed with a hit and a sack as a result. Only 1 yard loss though. 4th and 3 forces us to punt the ball, giving them the ball after a 52 yard punt at the 2. Now our defense is back onto the field, and once again our hope is in them. Unfortunately, a 7 yard play and a roughing the passer call against us brings them all the way up to their own 24. We force them to go 3 and out their next drive, and punt the ball. It goes high to Alexander who explodes once he gets the ball! He sprints down field and cuts so sharp to the sidelines that the whole defensive unit has to turn to catch up with him. He breaks a few tackles up ahead and he's off! Nobody can catch him as he sprints right into the end zone! A 66 yard punt return puts us up by 11 with Garretts extra point kick. Garrett boots it down this time for another touchback. The first play we sprint in and bury the RB in the backfield as the quarter ends.

4th Quarter: 20 - 9 Tennessee

An out pattern finds our defense, as the ball is knocked down. The third down run is stopped in the backfield for a loss of two yards, and just like that our offense gets ready to come back onto the field. Suddenly our defense looks like it's here! A 27 yard return, and a 15 yard Face Mask penalty in our favor, brings us to the opposing 44 yard line. We continue to push it up on 3rd down, bringing us to the 28 with a first down worthy pass. Dragos seems to be on fire with another quick snap pass to the outside left corner for 5. Dragos looks for another pass, wait Short's running the ball! 4 yards on that play, they faked all of us on the sidelines! Even Tobin looks impressed right now. Graff comes in now, looking to make another name for himself but the pressure is on, forcing him to scramble out to the right corner. He tries for a quick pass on the run but the throw is too short. Garret comes out this time looking for a 37 yard field goal, which comes up good! 14 points up now, and our defense is ready to get back out there!

They look for a quick running play, but gets stuffed in the backfield for a loss of a yard. They can't run it, so they try for a pass but a hard hit causing the receiver to fumble the ball before his feet ever even touched the ground. The refs call it an incomplete pass, and our defense is on fire. Our coach is yelling orders from the side lines, and Tobin has a smile creeping up on his face. I looked over just in time to catch Jessica's eyes on me. The brief moment was enough to get me weak in the knees as I was standing next to Tobin. My knees gave out for a moment and I grabbed on Tobin's right shoulder pad to hold my balance. He playfully pushed me and let out a laugh, thinking I was playing around. Careful to secure my masculinity, I pushed him back and we both turned our focus back onto the game. Jessica had as well, but she was chuckling. Probably at me. The 3rd down conversion attempt is no good as our defense put a stop to them, and it's a punt coming our way.

We decided to go for a tricky play, having our WR Branch in a play action reverse. He comes from the left to the right and breaks free for 8 yards. Second play causes an illegal motion for 5 yards, and we're back to 2nd and 7. A 2 yard run follows, and we're on our own 35 with 5 yard to go for the first down. But Dragos shows no signs of slowing down just yet, playing to the ability of Tobin as he gets the ball out to our Tight End, Steve Turner for 10. However his run is cut short as Dragos makes a rookie mistake by following his intended receiver with his eyes, and because of that gave the hint away to the Safety where to intercept the ball at, and sure enough the Safety obliqued and cut the pass short to end our drive.

Our defense comes back onto the field as Tobin rushes over to Dragos to give him encouragement. Coach smiles at this, probably realizing that Tobin took the talk earlier to heart. And easy 3 and out follows, forcing a punt. Our first run gives us 10 yard by Short, putting us back onto the opposing sides 43 yard line. Short repeats the same action, this time for 7 yards. It looks like the defense just can't stop him! Dragos pass to Branch on the outside gets 21 before he's finally stopped. Dragos and Branch look to be monsters here! Dragos is on the run on this 1st down, but gets the pass off to TE Turner! Wait, NO! Turner can't hold onto the pass. Now our Offensive Guard Marvin Runyan is down grabbing his elbow. He is able to get up and walk off on the field, but the doctor is waving it off to the coach signaling Marvin is done. With 4 minutes left on the clock, that might not be that bad of a deal for us though.

Another trick reverse we try, but get stopped short of the line of scrimmage for a loss. Dragos drops back to pass but then Short takes off running, again getting everyone with that fake! 10 yards easily on that play. 4th and 2 on the opponents 7, and with the way we've been playing the first three quarters we decide to take the field goal. Garrett makes the vow not to miss again this game, and keeps it as the extra 3 points are on the board. Two and a half minutes left, and Miss State start on their 36 yard line. We push the opposing QB hard this time with two rushers, which force his hand to throw it quick right into double coverage! The Infamous Lewis Alexander winds up with it and sprints towards the end zone, and yet again he's so fast nobody could cover him! 44 yards he sprints and puts up along with Garret, 7 more points onto the score board. Our side lines are going crazy.

Two minutes left in the game, and Miss State finds themselves after an incomplete pass, 2nd and 10 on their own 15. They try a trick play, but don't fool our defense as we stop them for a measly gain of 3. We pressure Miss State's QB hard again, this time forcing him to run but he ran right into our Defensive Tackle Willie Papale for a 5 yard loss. 4th and 12 and the Miss State QB has his hand forced again, and again he tries to run. This time it's our Outside Linebacker who breaks through and nails the QB with a hard hit for a loss of two and a turnover on downs. On the opponents 11, with one minutes left to play we put in our secondary team to finish the game. QB Jason Lamb hands it off to RB Robert Mitchell who gains 6 on the Miss State defense, bringing us to 2nd and 4 on the 5 to score yard line. Another run by Mitchell for a yard brings the clock down to :47 as Jason Lamb is slow to get up. Final down we bring in Short to get the touchdown, but is stopped instead as Lamb hands it off to Short for no gain.

Garrett decides to finish the drive off with a field goal from the 22 yard line, which goes in with no problems. 0:19 left after the kickoff and they get the ball on the Miss State 43. A 41 yard pass later, and Miss State just looks to get one final touchdown on the board. 1st and 10 on our 16, and we stop the attempt at a quick touchdown by limiting the run for only 2 yards, officially running the clock to :00 and ending this game once and for all! Man, this has been one interesting game and now... I wonder what Coach P has to say about this!

Final Score: Tennessee - 36 ; Miss State - 9

OOC Notes:

Oh my gosh. The first half was heart breaking. We got into the endzone I believe about 3 times and didn't score once. Instead, made two and missed one field goal. Out of our only 3 touchdowns of the game, our offense only really scored one. Our special teams scored one, and our defense scored one. All the while our amazing OLB, standing 6'2, 240 came out faithfully with another two touchdowns this game. Last game he had a punt and a kick return, this time it was an interception and a punt return. Can Alexander be stopped? Good gosh. But the player of the game surprisingly wasn't him. It was our DE Darren Johnson, who had 2 sacks, 2 stuffs, 1 hurry and 7 tackles.

We went 8-17 for third down conversions and had 3 sacks against us causing a loss total of 15 yards. We threw one interception and had a combined total of 17-30 passing. Now our special teams, that was something special. 5 punt returns for 131 yards almost seems impossible, along side our 4 kickoff returns for 113 yards. Defensive wise, we got ourselves 3 penalties for 25 yards, not that bad while getting 1 touchdown. 5-6 for Field Goals, 3-3 for extra point conversions.

Dragos went 14/26 for 147 yards, with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Graff went 3/4 for 30 yards, with 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Short ran 22 times for 114 yards and 0 touchdowns.

Sprinkle ran twice for 10 yards, 5 yards each time but 0 touchdowns.

TE Turner was 5/7 with catches, for 59 yards and 1 dropped pass.

WR Branch was 3/4 with catches, for 55 yards and 0 dropped passes.

53,838 people came to Miss State to watch them lose to Tennessee.

Due to the lack of audience (unfortunately), I'll stop doing random questions to try and get the 1 person who is responding to talk. Instead I'll let you talk if you so desire to say something, lol. As for everyone else reading, SAY SOMETHING. Please? Haha anyways... well, that's it. I hope you like how I forwarded the story line a bit. I did it because we had an off week inbetween, so we're now going onto season week 5. We've got another 3-0 team next week as #15 Auburn comes to our home. Hopefully this will be the week that puts us into the top 25.

olympia · September 28, 2010

nice win by whatever means possible. some injuried players may have caused the offense to struggle some. maybe they'll heal up or be replaced by someone who give 110%.

looking for first loss against Auburn, sorry to say. No shame though if they play as well as they always do against me. War Eagles are tough.

as far as posting....you were the first to really post about my thread and I appreciate it. Doesn't seem to be a lot of action on this board of late (several readers and lurkers, so that's ok too)

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