As Emily had predicted, the school newspaper article didn't get much of a reaction. The reasons were simple. First, most Chinese students didn't watch football. They didn't even participate in many school-organized group activities, so they naturally weren't paying attention.
Second, Lu Ke was just a substitute. There were almost 30 players on the bench. People only paid attention to the starting lineup, the players who could bring them victory, not a Chinese-American player joining the substitute lineup. To be blunt, no one would care even if the substitute list was updated every week.
For Lu Ke's friends, this was a significant turning point in his life. But for everyone else, it was just an insignificant change on the team's bench. It wasn't just Lu Ke; even John, Derek, and the others didn't attract much discussion.
More importantly, on the third day after the school paper was published, the day before the new season officially started, a cataclysmic event occurred for the Bruins. Kevin Craft, the team's star quarterback, was under police investigation for domestic violence.
Even in the professional leagues, a player suspected of a crime would be the center of attention. If necessary, the league would add a suspension for punishment. This was especially true for the NCAA. At the end of the day, the NCAA wasn't a professional league. Their emphasis on academics was a testament to this, so they placed even more importance on a student's moral character. A school could suspend a player for an entire season for a civil case like theft or a DUI.
This time, Kevin Craft was suspected of repeatedly abusing his girlfriend, which was a criminal offense. After taking evidence and questioning him, the police officially opened a case.
After some discussion, UCLA announced a temporary suspension for Craft, requiring him to cooperate with the police investigation.
This was a bombshell!
For the past five years, the Bruins' competitiveness had been lackluster. The team had finally found its winning formula last year, with Kevin Craft as the core of the core. Now, before the new season even started, they had lost their star player. The entire team was in a state of disarray, and all the fans were dumbfounded.
Worse still, after losing their number two quarterback and now their number one quarterback, Coach Rick reluctantly announced that Kevin Prince would be the team's starting quarterback.
"In his fourth year of college, he has only thrown 17 passes and has zero touchdowns." This was the new Bruins quarterback's resume, which was so unbelievable and shocking that it felt unreal and made people laugh at the absurdity of it. It seemed they were already giving up before the season even began.
In this situation, all the fans were in despair. Who would pay attention to the school newspaper? A substitute player, even if he was Chinese-American, just didn't have much news value. Jay's article didn't even have a chance to take root before it was washed away by a bucket of cold water, leaving no spark behind.
This was the complete story of the first time Lu Ke's name appeared in a newspaper.
In fact, after Kevin Craft was suspended, Darius Bell became the number two quarterback, and Lu Ke was promoted to the number three quarterback. But this news was even less important to anyone. Without Craft, it felt like the end of the world. Prince or Bell, neither of them could be the Bruins' savior, let alone Lu Ke.
But for Lu Ke, the school newspaper article going unnoticed was a non-issue. It took him two years to go from an amateur enthusiast to a practice player for a college team. It took him one year to go from an unknown practice player to a substitute for the Bruins. It took him only three days to go from a small substitute to the number three quarterback.
This was already an incredible leap. He was ambitious but not greedy. He should be satisfied with the current situation. At the very least, he could finally begin systematic quarterback training and, with the guidance of the system, steadily and step-by-step create his own miracle.
Rapid ascents are great, but steadily honing one's skills gives you more confidence. Because Lu Ke knew how bad his skills were, he was even more eager to train. Otherwise, even if he got a chance to play, he wouldn't be able to win, let alone complete the system's missions.
The 2010 NCAA football season officially began. On Saturday, September 11, UCLA hosted Stanford, another prestigious Ivy League school. The two teams were fierce rivals, and their games were considered the "National Derby"!
Over the past two years, Stanford had been on a roll. Their quarterback, Andrew Luck, who was a junior, was a certified superstar. He had taken over as the starting quarterback in his freshman year and had been named the Pac-12's Offensive Player of the Year for two consecutive years. He was considered a favorite for the All-American first team this year and a top contender for the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious award a college football player can receive.
In contrast, UCLA's record in recent years had been disastrous. Nevertheless, the National Derby was always filled with tension. Bruins supporters were eager for the team to pull off a surprise and an upset.
But reality was harsh.
In his first career start, Kevin Prince played like he was sleepwalking. He not only failed to score any touchdowns, but his pass completion rate was also below 40%, and he threw two interceptions. The team suffered a humiliating 35-0 blowout and watched their rivals celebrate their victory.
The season had just begun, but the alarm bells were already ringing.
However, for Lu Ke, his first time sitting on the bench and watching a game in the stadium, feeling the cheers and the excitement, the surge of adrenaline, and the boiling blood, left a lasting impression on him. It became the motivation for him to train even harder. He longed for the day when he could stand on that field, with his arms wide open, and truly feel the heat and passion of the center of the world.
He was sure that day wouldn't be too far away.
In the following days, Lu Ke dedicated himself to training. Even Kevin Prince didn't bother him anymore because his problems were on the field. He had to deal with the pressure from his opponents, not the competition from Darius and Lu Ke. He had to give his all to keep his starting position and his career.
After returning from training camp, Lu Ke completed another daily training mission and earned one basic skill point. But then, Lu Ke noticed that the daily training mission had changed.
The number of training exercises increased from 20 to 25.
It included a lot of strength training, like bench presses and squats. It was clear that the system thought Lu Ke needed to increase his physical strength. He might not be a bulldozer like a defensive player, but he couldn't be so easily pushed over.
The new list also included a lot of technical training, like passing and footwork. Honing a quarterback's skills is a long and arduous process with no room for laziness. But the new list of missions also included technical training, such as 5-yard passes, 15-yard passes, or throwing to a specific spot. This meant Lu Ke was becoming more professional.
The number of consecutive days required to complete the mission also doubled to 14 days.
This meant the commitment period was longer, the difficulty increased, and the chances of getting a basic skill point decreased. Any oversight on any day of the 14 days, no matter how small, could result in the mission being reset to zero.
Now Lu Ke finally understood why some of the six people who had been given the system before him had failed. It required years of training with no room for error or laziness. One moment of rest could result in starting all over again. Even though Lu Ke was confident, as the system revealed more and more missions, he started to feel the pressure.
Because a mission reset was something Lu Ke couldn't afford right now.
He was a senior. The rookie training camp was in March 2011, and the draft was at the end of April. This was his last chance. If he missed it, he would have to become a free agent, and the difficulty of standing out and making it to the professional leagues would increase tenfold, even a hundredfold.
He had to prove himself on the field, but he also had to strengthen his skills. Every day was crucial!
From the second week of September to the first week of December, for a full 16 weeks, Lu Ke did not miss a single day of training. He strictly followed every requirement of every training exercise in the system. If he couldn't complete it during regular training, he would do extra training after until he was done.
William and Logan became Lu Ke's best training partners. In fact, not only them, but Derek and Wade also occasionally joined their training sessions, making the monotonous training fun. Because of Lu Ke's perseverance and hard work, they gave him the nickname "Bloody Bambi."
The nickname came from a training session where Lu Ke got hit in the nose and started bleeding. But he didn't realize it and kept training, getting blood everywhere—on his jersey, shorts, hands, face, and shoes. He looked like he had just returned from a slaughter.
So the name "Bloody Bambi" spread, and even the main players from the first-string team would jokingly call Lu Ke that.
The 16 weeks of hard training paid off immensely for Lu Ke. His fundamental skills were finally corrected, including his throwing motion, drop-back, and stance. If he kept it up, these techniques would become a part of him, lasting throughout his entire career—if he had one.
Additionally, in those 16 weeks, Lu Ke earned eight basic skill points. Combined with the one point he got during training camp, he now had nine basic skill points, which felt like a heavy weapon in his arsenal.
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