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“Will you?”
“All day, baby.”
I think I like his confidence.
True to his word, the rookie tight end is wide open seconds later on the first play. And then he’s open again on the very nextplay. The third play calls for a run, but I still see him knock a good-sized defensive end on their ass on his way to being wide open again in the middle of the field.
He’s quick, strong, and agile, with hands that don’t miss and a catch radius as big as I’ve ever seen. And it definitely helps that he stands six feet six inches tall and weighs an extremely athletic two hundred fifty-five pounds.
“Somebody better cover that rookie,” Coach Chubb calls in from the sidelines.
“Hey.” Cooper grabs hold of my helmet with both hands and looks through the face mask into my eyes. “I’ll be open.”
The next play calls for a short pass to the tight end across the middle of the field. The defense knows the play and sets a safety up on the same side of the field to help cover Cooper.
“Yeah, baby, bring ’em all.” He smiles ear to ear, as if he’s been waiting for this chance to shine.
I get it.And I definitely like his confidence.
The safety on his side keeps moving up and in from the edge, knowing the play calls for a short pass across the middle. But he’s moved up a little too close and left himself vulnerable for a long ball down along the sidelines. I glance over at Cooper and can tell by the look in his eyes that he sees it too.
I give him a slight nod right before the ball is snapped, and hope he understands. Dropping back, I watch as Cooper explodes off the line, makes a quick move to cut across the middle of the field, and jukes back to the outside. The safety turns his head, and his momentum carries him straight into the path of the inside defensive back. Both men watch as Cooper sprints down the field, uncovered.
I drop a forty-yard pass into his hands just as he crosses the goal line to raucous applause from the gathered crowd. Practice is open to the public today, and the fans at our end of the field jump to their feet, letting us know they like what they see.
“All day, baby.” Cooper butts his helmet into mine when I reach the end zone to celebrate.
“I’m pretty sure we’re about to get reamed.” I try to warn him about switching up the play without a coach’s approval.
“Fuck ’em.” He laughs. “I’m just getting started.”
I can’t help but feel the same way.
But surprisingly, no one says a word. A few of the coaches are watching but none of them seem angry.
“Let’s go. Huddle up and run the next play,” Coach Chubb shouts to us from midfield, ordering everyone to keep his practice moving.
By the time we get back to the line of scrimmage we have a noticeably bigger audience watching the second team reps. The majority of the fans have all gathered in the stands at our end of the practice field to see what’s happening.
Several local sports writers in attendance have made their way over to observe as well. Most of these same reporters have written me off over the last two seasons. All I’ve ever read or heard from any of them are things like “perennial backup” and constant questions about why the team is even wasting a roster spot on me. As much as I’ve tried to avoid reading and/or hearing their intentionally over-the-top, dramatic opinions, some things are hard to ignore.
This season will be different.
I lock back in and scan the defense for signs of a blitz. Everyone is sitting back in position and not edging forward. It looks like the coaches have decided to see what I can do, which is fine by me.
Over the next five-minute series of plays, I complete three more passes to Cooper, two of them for touchdowns. The big rookie doesn’t bother hiding his excitement and even performs a backflip to celebrate before the whistle sounds and the first team offense takes the field again.
“Get that rookie back on the field with the 1’s,” Coach Chubb shouts to the offensive coaching staff. “And run the same series again.”
“The same plays?” Brett sounds annoyed.
“I know you heard me.” Coach Chubb doesn’t like to be questioned, especially by players. “So do you have a problem with that, Barlow?”
“Not at all, Coach.” Brett straps up his helmet and huddles the first team offense. “Let’s go, rookie.”
“Hell yeah.” Cooper charges back out onto the field, excited for a chance at first team reps.
Brett leads the offense through the exact same series of plays but with different results. He never connects with Cooper, not even once. He gets flustered by some light pressure from the defense and quickly throws the ball out of bounds on three separate plays.
