Big Shot | ✓

15 | idle worship

"My neck is killing me," Mara groaned as she shifted the camera bag on her shoulder again.

"Get used to it," I chuckled and shook my head. "I had to do all of that my junior year too. You gotta earn the handheld iPhone rig."

Seniority and skill level dictated that Mara handled still photos with our DSLR while I handled videography mostly from the iPhone (also including but not limited to editing and posting on social media), much as it would be for the entirety of the season. She'd learn eventually, just like I had to.

During the school year, practices weren't held until the afternoon so players could go to classes in the morning, but preseason was a different animal. It was early enough in the morning where the air wasn't thick with heat, and a forgiving layer of cloud blanketed the sun. The Ides of August were upon us, meaning summer debts were about to be settled, and the sacred holiday that marked the beginning of the preseason - the day football in the south was officially back.

Mara and I spent all of last night sitting on my apartment floor stringing together friendship bracelets for all 85 guaranteed scholarship players on the roster with their initials and their number in the team's orange, purple, and white color scheme. A few NFL teams had done something similar last year, where we'd present each player with their friendship bracelet as they walked into the building for the start of their season.

In theory, it was cute and fun, but it still required us to haul ass to the football complex to make sure we got there and got set-up before players started to show. I felt like a combination of Regina George's mom during the talent show in Mean Girls and that Kris Jenner you're doing amazing sweetie meme. 

Pretty much all of the players understood that there was a level of pageantry to all of this - in fact, most of them enjoyed it. So when they all started strolling up to the football complex primed and ready for the first day of real practice, they were almost expecting us.

"Good morning," Mara and I greeted each of them as they walked up to the door.

I would hold my hand out to fist bump a player, and when we did, I'd open my hand to reveal their bracelet. Most of them were appreciative, and some of the younger guys just thanked us and went on their way, too apprehensive about the first day of practice to give an entertaining reaction. But then the seniors started showing up.

"Oh shit, this for me?" Clayton Davis said as he took the bracelet from me. He chuckled as he walked backwards into the building, slipping the bracelet on. "I love y'all!"

Some of them didn't realize we actually had a little gift for them and would walk by us before taking it.

"Wait, come back!" I called after our star running back Drake Brooks, my hand still outstretched with his bracelet.

He did a double take before walking through the doors and slowly turned around. Drake was shorter than most of the guys on the team - which was almost an advantage as a running back because he had a lower center of gravity for cutting and running - but his thighs were so big and muscular, he probably could have crushed a melon between them.

"Oh, thanks," he chuckled as he held it up. "Wow, it has my name on it."

"And your number!" Mara called after him as he walked into the building.

Then we got to Derek, who humored me to an almost obnoxious level.

He slipped the bracelet on and held it up to the camera. "I will never take this off. I will sleep with this. I will wear this until my last days on earth."

I wasn't blind to the prolonged gaze Mara pinned to him as he made his way into the complex, and I smirked to myself.

Unsurprisingly, Reid and JJ arrived together. It wasn't a secret that they were basically oil and water, but seeing them stroll in side-by-side only amplified that. Reid wore a simple Clemson hoodie and shorts, carrying a gym bag and his usual green smoothie, whereas JJ had on a colorful tie-dye Grateful Dead t-shirt and those Cartier sunglasses, opting for a Louis Vuitton duffle instead of the team-issued one Reid had.