Big Shot | ✓

10 | picture day

"Should I actually scream or no? Because I can do a pretty good silent scream."

JJ flashed a brilliant smile, his teeth all the more white against his dark skin. What was with these football players and having great teeth? Although, I guess spending their hard-earned NIL money on dental hygiene was never a bad thing. Me and my slightly crooked two front teeth were perhaps a little jealous.

I chuckled as I fiddled around with some of my camera settings. "We're in a fairly enclosed space, so if you can pull off the silent scream, I think we'd all appreciate it."

Mara and I had tapped a few of the other underclassmen from the media department to help set up the small studio down the hall so we could shoot a variety of fully-uniformed action and vanity shots for most of the anticipated starters, including players that were on the preseason top 100 list, or were on the preseason watchlist for the litany of awards that went out to various positions and players at the end of the season. Depending on the player, most of these photos would be used in promotional images, social media posts, and media that went on the newly minted, 7,052 square foot video board at Memorial Stadium. Mara and I had finalized the social media templates we'd be using throughout the season, and these photos were the last piece of content we needed before we ramped it up on social media.

Trying to take individualized pictures of all 85 scholarship players took way more time than we had, and nobody was really interested in seeing the third string running back. We'd made it through most of the players, and I did not have the energy left to keep up with JJ.

"I can dance too," JJ said as he wiggled his hips back and forth, waving around the football he had pinched between his fingers.

"According to who?" I chuckled and shook my head.

JJ pointed the football at me. "I think you're a hater."

"Probably," I shrugged. "Regardless, I need you to stand still for these. Save hitting the dougie or whatever for later."

JJ scoffed incredulously. "The dougie? More like the disrespect. My skills are far more refined than that."

I humored JJ with a smirk and shook my head. "Then since we're not hitting the dougie today, Mara can you go position him for his one-quarter shots please?"

Mara beamed as she scuttled over to JJ at the backdrop, instructing him to shift and turn slightly while I looked through my Nikon's viewfinder.

It was Mara's first time interacting with a lot of the players, and just as Kayla had instructed me when I was in Mara's position, it was now my responsibility to lead Mara along. One of the key things I kept from Kayla was to get to know players earlier so it didn't become awkward shoving cameras in their faces with no niceties, and now was the perfect time for Mara to do that on our own turf.

"Wait, wait, stay right there." I held my hand up. "Don't move."

JJ held his pose with his chin up and his arms crossed over his jersey. "Can I breathe?"

"No. Just slowly turn your head to the right until I say stop."

I knew JJ's diamond stud earrings were real, and I wanted them to catch the light from the corner.

"Brilliant," I muttered, more to myself than JJ, as I took a few shots. JJ was on one of those pre-season awards watchlists, so in a few weeks he'd get his own social media post with one of those pictures, with a graphic of Biletnikoff Award Watchlist written on it - for the best receiver in college football.

But to be the best receiver, you had to have a quarterback willing to get you the ball by any means necessary, and the person that would get him the ball was the next person walking into our little studio.