If at first you don't succeed, then level the playing field and take a second chance.
Two years ago, Ellie Harrison collapsed under the weight of her past and the fallout that caught up with her. Like a shell of her former self, she retreated away f...
Given my pent-up frustrations, I burned through my post-game workout with a vengeance. I pumped weights until my muscles burned and sweat dripped down from my forehead. The nearly fifty other guys from the offensive team who lifted blurred around me in a sea of dulled noises of weights dropped and racked, grunts, and showboating.
"You alright?" Greg the conditioning coach came into view over my chest press bench, gave me a furrowed look, and grabbed my bar.
"Yeah." I sat up slowly, panted through the post-lift burn, then took a few sips of water from my bottle under the bench.
"Keep that pace up and we'll have two injured quarterbacks," he quipped quietly.
My eyes widened at his words but before I asked for details, Coach Donovan the offensive coordinator stepped into the weights conditioning room dressed in all-black Husky warmup gear. With a few claps of his hands and a hearty, "Listen up!" he had the entire room's attention.
"Hit the showers, then every ass into the film room," he barked out loudly. His eyes skimmed across the room, which was full of the entire offensive team, then landed on mine.
"LT." He flicked his fingers upwards at me. "A word please."
My legs ached warmly as I walked towards where he stood in the entrance of the weight's room, then wiped my sweaty brow with the edge of my shirt.
"Yes Coach?" I asked him. He only cocked his head out of the door, so I followed him into the hallway, where he shut the glass doors behind him. Despite how I was drenched in sweat and probably smelled like my cleats after a game, he looked straight up into my eyes.
"Emmitt dislocated his ankle and has a compound fracture," his grim voice matched his somber expression.
"I'm... sorry." I stared at him because while that injury sounded bad, I actually had no idea what it meant for Emmitt's return.
"He's already had surgery but he's out for the season," Coach Donovan clarified.
At his words, my entire body froze. Even my mind froze for a moment before it became torn in two directions. First, this was horrible news for Emmitt and really unfortunately for the Huskies. But that almost meant -
"Your team now, Hightower," Coach's words carried not only the weight of the entire team and coaching staff, but all of the Huskies' fans. "Shower up, we're going to need you for film review shortly."
"Absolutely," I nodded firmly, then reached out and shook his hand. Even though mine was sweaty, he shot me a look that read I had a lot of work to do and squeezed my hand back.
Unbelievable.
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After two hours of film study, which involved an hour with the rest of the offensive team and an extra hour just for me and Jamal Seaton, a redshirt freshman and my new backup quarterback, I came home more tired than I'd thought I'd be. After I left the stadium, my mind fogged over with the idea that, just like that, I was now UW's starting quarterback.
