The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

2

Harrison yawned while reaching out for his phone. He spewed out a few cuss words as he pushed his phone off his nightstand and onto the floor with a loud thump.

He laid there for another minute while deciding what to do. It was 6 am. In an hour he was supposed to be at the gym for workouts. Very reluctantly, he somewhat rolled off his bed and onto the floor where he picked up his phone.

It was only 6 am and Harrison wished he could start the day over again. It was media day which meant training camp started very early. He slipped his hand under his phone and immediately felt cracks in the screen. More cuss words spewed from his mouth when he flipped over his phone. The entire screen was shattered.

His gaze drifted to the corner of his nightstand where he guessed his phone must've hit. In addition to staying late for media day, he'd have to take a trip to Verizon to get a new phone. Today was off to a great start.

Harrison's German shepherd Wilson jumped off the bed and joined him on the floor. "Come on buddy, let's go get some breakfast."

He and Wilson made their way downstairs into the kitchen where he started on eggs and bacon before feeding Wilson. As the eggs and bacon cooked, he mixed up a protein shake for workouts later this morning. When he wasn't looking, Wilson jumped up and snagged a piece of fresh bacon.

"Wilson!" But he couldn't help but laugh.

As Harrison made a plate, Wilson patiently waited for another piece of bacon. "Oh all right."

After he'd eaten breakfast, with Wilson eating half the bacon, Harrison changed clothes, grabbed his protein shake, and left for workouts.

❺❾

Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at the Panthers training facility. A few of his teammates were already in the weight room once he walked in. Today was upper body day. Tomorrow would be legs day.

Harrison stretched with some of the guys. Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, and linebacker Luke Kuechly.

Once he was stretched out, he grabbed one of the strength and conditioning coaches. Harrison decided to go to the bench press first. It was his usual routine. He ran his hands through the box of chalk and laid down on the bench.

His max was five reps of 310 pounds. Today he was determined to beat it. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the bar and lifted it out of the holder. The strength and conditioning coach immediately held his hands under the bar to spot him.

He lowered the bar to touch his chest then pushed it back up until his arms were extended. Harrison did that a few more times until the coach, Mike, helped him place the bar into the holder.

Harrison sat up. "How many did I get?"

"Seven."

Mike gave him a high five. "You beat it."

"Not for long. Now I'll just have to increase the weight."

He moved to pull-ups. As Harrison chalked his hands again, Mike came back with a belt and a 50 pound weight.

Harrison strapped the belt around his waist and attached the weight to it. Then he jumped up onto the pull-up bar and began to do them until he hit 10. Mike brought him a new weight and he did 10 more at 60 pounds and kept adding weight until he couldn't do anymore.

❺❾

Early afternoon came practice. For the first hour of practice, the Panthers linebacker coaches had him and the other linebackers working on speed training. They were instructed to do the 40-yard dash pulling a sled of over 200 pounds and pulling parachutes as they ran.

They then tested their speed against the teams offensive lineman. Harrison went first against his teammate Michael Oher. There weren't many offensive lineman in the league that could stop a blitzing Harrison. But Michael was one of them.

He blitzed at the fake snap, making his way over to Michael and doing a little stutter step to fool him. Michael didn't fall for it, so he tried a spin move, but still ended up being blocked. Both of them pushed at each other as Harrison attempted to run around Michael and was pushed to the ground.

"Ford! That's got to be faster!" One of the coaches yelled.

Harrison set up again for another snap. This time he easily juked out Michael and dove at the tackle bag. "That's better."

❺❾

After practice, a very sweaty Harrison walked with Cam over to the sidelines where reporters and interviewers were already lined up for media day.

He took off his helmet as they walked by towards the locker room. Photographers began to take pictures of the two of them as all sorts of media personnel asked for interviews right away.

They kept walking, with Harrison scanning over the crowd of reporters, interviewers, and writers, trying to decide who he would want to talk to.

His eyes settled on a young woman with chestnut brown hair pulled back in a braid. She was wearing a black ESPN shirt and tan shorts and she was holding a notebook and recorder.

"Who's that?" Harrison asked after describing her to Cam.

He looked in the woman's direction. "I don't know. I think she's our new sportswriter from ESPN. Why?"

"She's beautiful," he stammered.

Cam smiled. "Somebody's got a crush."

"Damn right I do."

Just then, one of the Panthers media personnel came up to them. "You guys have anyone in mind?"

Harrison described the young woman. "I want to talk to her."

He nodded. "I'll let Carrie know you wish to talk to her."

Carrie.