Football Genius (2007) (18 page)

BACK BY THE TRUCK,
Troy could see his mom, shading her eyes from the sun, watching.

"Real nice," Coach Renfro said in disgust, "but we already made our decision. Come on, Jamie."

Jamie got up and followed his dad to the parking lot. The three assistant coaches looked at one another.

"You guys will have to help me a little," Seth said. He knelt down and dug Coach Renfro's whistle out of the grass, then dusted it off and made a little chirp. "But I kinda know what I'm doing and I know we got a good line--"

Seth winked at Nathan.

"--the best kicker in the league--"

He winked at Tate.

"--and one heck of a quarterback."

Seth angled his head toward Troy. The fathers grinned at Seth and, one after another, stepped forward to shake his hand.

"So," Seth said, giving the whistle a blast. "Let's line up and run some plays."

The Tigers jumped up, and Seth walked out onto the field to set a ball down on a line. He told the first-string offense to line up and asked one of the dads to put a defense across from them.

"The thing you want to do when you're sizing up an offense," Seth said, speaking in a voice that rang out across the grassy field, "is know how deep you can go with your passing game. Who's the fastest receiver we got?"

Rusty Howell raised his hand.

"So let's throw one deep," Seth said. "Rusty, you just go as fast and as far as you can. Troy, you let it fly. Now, I want the defense to put a rush on, 'cause I don't want Troy to be able to stand back there all day. Okay, on two, let me see it."

Troy shook the feeling into his arms and put his mouthpiece in. He slapped his own leg to make sure it was all real, then he stepped up to the center, glancing out at Rusty Howell, who gave him a thumbs-up and a grin. On the sideline behind Rusty, Troy's mom waved.

"Down!" Troy roared, beginning the snap count. "Set! Hut! Hut!"

The ball snapped up into his hands and he dropped back seven steps. Rusty took off in a blur. Ten yards.

The defense began to close in, pushing Troy's linemen back toward him.

Twenty.

Rusty looked back and held one hand up high. Troy had the ball up by his ear, cradled in both his hands like a pro.

Thirty.

He'd never thrown it farther than thirty-eight yards, and that was when he was raving mad.

Forty.

He cocked his arm. There was no rage fueling him now. It was something else, a blinding energy he never knew he had.

Forty-five.

He snapped his hips, rotating his entire body, funneling that energy up through his arm and out through the very tips of his fingers, rocketing the ball into the air.

The whole team turned their heads to watch. They saw it spin. They heard the laces whistling and the slap of the ball when it smacked down into Rusty's outstretched hands, and Troy heard them gasp.

Troy stood limp, empty now, as if it weren't really him who'd thrown such a pass.

The only thing left was his smile.

I AM GRATEFUL TO THE NFL
for the use of the Atlanta Falcons name. Because I played for the team, this means a lot to me. However,
FOOTBALL GENIUS
is a work of fiction and the events and characters in this book, other than those football players mentioned who are public figures, have come from my imagination.

I would like to thank my agent, friend, and adviser, Esther Newberg, for bringing me the idea to write this book. Also, I couldn't have done it without the fabulous editing and enthusiasm provided by Barbara Lalicki and her team, especially Laura Arnold. Nor could I have done this without the valuable input from my son, Troy, and my daughter, Tate, and her teacher, Mary Arnott, who allowed me to test market the book by reading it aloud to her class as I wrote. Young readers Colin Fitzsimmons, Sam Morkal-Williams, and Jake Feerick also provided helpful input.

I would also like to thank art director David Caplan and designer Joel Tippie for the touchdown they scored with the design of this book and its cover, as well as my old friend and photographer, Jimmy Cribb.

A special thanks to my good friend Arthur Blank, and his wife, Stephanie, who generously allowed me to use his team, the real Falcons, as the backdrop for this story and for welcoming me into the Falcons family as if I were a current player.