I Hate Football Players 3 | 18+

Chapter 17: Logan

"That's enough!" Coach Peterson blew his shrill whistle and signaled the end of practice. A collective sigh of relief rang out from us on the offensive side, but I just grinned. While I wasn't happy about backing up Emmitt, I couldn't deny how much I loved the Huskies' offensive system.

I should know, I've been practicing a watered down version for two years.

Ellie possibly didn't know, but there was another fallout from our exchange with Ryder Stevens. He'd been expelled from UC-Davis and currently faced twenty years in prison not for his assault on Ellie but for what other girls who came forward accused him of doing. Ryder's parents were pretty slick lawyers and so far had delayed his trial for one bullshit reason after another. The potential outcome of him in jail was amazing for those girls, including Ellie, but not so great for UCD's football program.

After two months of internal investigations, the Athletic Department concluded that Ryder had acted alone as a sick fuck who raped two girls on UCD's campus but some of the other guys who knew him were aware of his actions. As fallout, the team, along with Ryder's fraternity Rho Delta, was gutted of its juniors and seniors.

So, by football standards, my freshman year's UCD team was in a tailspin. I competed against two other guys and took Ryder's starting quarterback position as a freshman. That scenario was virtually unheard of in big programs without injuries or starters transferred. But I strapped the entire team on my back, Coaches Hawk, Jackson, and Pierce built the offensive system around my strengths, and everyone else held on for the ride.

Coach Hawk and I had an emotional moment when I told him this spring how, after two years being Big Sky champs and three Football Championship Subdivision game wins, I'd accepted a transfer to the University of Washington. After the initial shock in his eyes was placed with disappointment, Coach only nodded, firmly shook my hand, and wished me good luck.

I felt selfish and guilty when I left my team, my guys, and the Aggies' faithful fans. Fortunately, all of the local sports coverage assumed I moved up to a bigger school program and, in particular, the one that was best known for developing NFL-level quarterbacks.

What Coach Hawk hadn't known was that the Huskies' Coach Peterson called me a few weeks prior to the start of my freshman year. He'd left me a voicemail message to contact him but our subsequent conversation grabbed my interest right away.

"LT Hightower," Coach Peterson's voice echoed in my ear when I called him a few days later. "Congratulations on UC-Davis, although rumors through the NCAA claim their program is rebuilding. Saw the girls on the news, terrible really."

"Thanks Coach Peterson," I replied tightly since I was closer to the situation than he could've imagined. "I took your advice on UCD. This is the best place for me now but I'd be lying if I said your voicemail didn't interest me."

"Glad to hear that, LT." Coach got right to business, which I appreciated. "The thing with college football is things always change, always another cohort coming through. Kids transfer, my assistant offensive coach Julian Pierce just gave me his resignation. What I'm hoping interests you further is how our former starter Jaden Hines was drafted in the second round of the NFL a few months ago."

"I saw that." I actually hadn't but Mason Stiles, my trainer, had followed the draft and told me. "Congratulations to him."

"Great player, well deserved but he definitely left a hole. Emmitt Verns will probably be our starter now but the backup Sawyer informed me he's going to transfer his junior year."

"You want me to... transfer to be Emmitt's backup?" Not that he saw me but one of my eyebrows raised because his earlier advice, which I'd followed, was 'don't ride the bench.'