The Guy Named Harrison: Book Two

23

Harrison stretched with the guys this morning. It was the second day of training camp and today they would start running plays.

Being only the second day, the team wasn't into wearing full pads yet, meaning Harrison could participate in a lot of the activities. But being the caliber player he was, they were certainly going to keep an eye on him and probably hold him out of some of the activities.

After stretching, the team jogged over to the sidelines for the scoop of what they would be doing for the day. Harrison ended up next to Todd.

"So this is what training camp is like?" He asked. "There's so many guys here."

Indeed there were. And that was typical of training camp. Through training camp and the preseason, the rosters were expanded to 90. Following the fourth preseason game, each team had a few days to trim the rosters down to 53. So many players would be without jobs.

Harrison could sense Todd's discomfort. There would be 37 less guys here in just over a month. He didn't want to be one of the guys cut.

He playfully leaned against Todd's shoulder. "Work your ass off over the next month and half. And go out there and show them you deserve to be here."

➄➈

Harrison desperately wished he could magically turn into Captain America. Then he could practice with the rest of his team without his shoulder being an issue.

The linebackers were working on the drill he often did with Carrie in the backyard. The get around an offensive lineman as fast as possible and sack the quarterback drill. Ryan held him out due to the possible impact between his shoulder and the pad.

They modified the drill so he could participate. Instead of running around to sack the quarterback, each linebacker pushed around the linebacker coach and the pad to catch a pass from Harrison.

He could feel the immobilizer working as he caught a pass back from Luke. Harrison honestly felt like he was drunk because his left arm was slower to react. In fact, it almost drilled him right in the face. Luke laughed as he jogged over to get back in line.

➄➈

Following a very long practice do to the fact that he had to stand off to the side and watch most of it, Harrison walked down the wall and signed autographs like he normally did.

Now after practice, he was required by Ryan to wear the sling for a little bit. It made it hard to sign autographs because the fans had to hold everything for him.

"How's your shoulder?" A guy asked while holding out a jersey for him to sign.

"It's doing pretty good. I just wish I could be out of these slings and braces."

"I bet. Well, rest up because I want to see you out there the first week."

He continued to walk down the wall behind Luke. As he signed autographs, he received plenty of well wishes to go along with it. To Harrison, that was the best part of being a professional athlete. He could do the littlest thing to make someone's day, but then they could turn it around and make his as well.

It was a few minutes before he was chased down by reporters now trying to interview him while he tried to sign autographs.

"Harrison! Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Harrison?"

Some woman squeezed between him and the football he was trying to sign. "With the season right around the corner, what do you think of the resurgence of the anthem protests? I wasn't able to sit down with your coach or team owners. I was hoping you'd be able to answer."

He bit the bottom of his lip and signed another jersey while she patiently waited for an answer she wasn't going to get. The topic of national anthem protests in the NFL had become a hot topic the past two seasons. After what happened last season with the presidents comments and the players responses to those comments, everyone was anxious to find out what would happen this season.

Harrison was going into his 8th season. And he'd learned through plenty of past experiences of his teammates, not to answer those kinds of questions. There were so many different views on this stuff. He was here to play football. Not to become wrapped up in politics.

"Harrison, could I hear your thoughts?"

He quietly answered, "no."

After a few more minutes, Carrie found him. She immediately noticed that he was annoyed. Although he did a pretty good job of hiding it while meeting fans, she could see right through him to his true emotions.

"What's up? You seem down," Carrie asked as he headed back to the locker room.

"The fact I could hardly do anything today, and I'll tell you later in private."

She nodded. "Okay."