"Huff Huff" was the sound in the gym area of the Clemson University sports center in which someone was doing sets of bench press in total concentration sweating buckets.
"9 … 10" said the voice raising and lowering the bar with slow and controlled movements focusing entirely on technique.
"Come on boy give me 5 more," Chad Morris said to the youth who had his face furrowed in total concentration while he raised the bar again with all his might but maintaining the correct posture.
"14 and 15!!" Wyatt roared raising the bar for the last time being immediately helped by Chad to place the bar back in its place and sitting on the bench press seat catching his breath.
"Take this," handing him a bottle of Gatorade, Chad gave him a smile while watching how Wyatt unscrewed it quickly and gave a deep drink to the bottle finishing more than half of the content in a single gulp.
With a sigh Wyatt stood up to be able to continue with the routine to which he had been subjected since the first week he had arrived at the university.
6 months away from the new season and with the previous one having finished the technical staff of the university had decided first of all that Wyatt focus on the conditioning of his physique so that he is 100% ready for when spring practices begin along with the rest of the team.
The first weeks Wyatt could easily describe as a hell training from 6 to 9 in the morning to then start with classes and return for the afternoon session; he practically ended up arriving at his room completely dead.
Of course the results did not take long to be noticed; now Wyatt's physique had become more defined and gained more kilograms of muscle mass making his biceps and chest become firmer and more noticeable.
Passing by one of the mirrors that the facilities had, Wyatt could not help but admire the results of the training from the last 2 months while flexing the muscles of his arms winning a laugh from Chad who was accustomed to seeing those reactions from players.
"I must admit I admire your work ethic; most new players cannot maintain this rhythm for long before having to lower the number of repetitions and weight for them to avoid possible injuries," Chad said praising Wyatt's diligence and discipline in the last months.
Now Chad could understand why he is the number 1 prospect of his generation even above defensive players who usually obtain those spots; his talent of course is a factor, not just anyone can have that vision of the game or react in fractions of seconds before the pocket collapses.
But his talent also went accompanied by a strong work ethic in which Wyatt focused and concentrated as much as possible seeking to arrive as well as possible for the spring training that will start in the coming days.
"What follows now?" Wyatt asked feeling that he had rested enough and was ready for the next exercise before his body cooled down completely.
"Let's finish with 4 sets of 15 of Russian twists," Chad said while picking up a 16 kg dumbbell and passing it to Wyatt who had picked up one of the mats and had spread it out before getting into position and taking the dumbbell that Chad extended to him.
Tensing the abdomen and with Chad holding his legs, Wyatt began to rotate his waist along with the dumbbell from one side to the other concentrating on performing the movement correctly under the attentive supervision of the person who was in front of him.
"And ready, we are done for today," Chad said with a smile finishing counting the repetitions and seeing how Wyatt simply stayed lying on the mat giving him time to be able to react.
Meanwhile both people heard the gym door open and saw a person with the team gear on and some headphones over his head entering the gym noticing that he was not alone.
"Chad," the subject in question said taking the headphones off his ears while he headed to shake the coach's hand "Tajh, I see you came early," he said shaking hands with the person in question.
Tajh Boyd, starting quarterback from Clemson's previous season and an all-american member from last year, a player in his 3rd year and Wyatt's rival for the starting position of the team in this upcoming season.
Finishing greeting Chad, Tajh's attention centered on the person behind him who had stood up and now looked at him fixedly as well; once he saw his face, Tajh did not need to be told who he was to know who it was about.
Wyatt Sterling, the number 1 prospect of the 2012 class; he had heard that he had come to Clemson but had thought that he would not come until June when summer camp would begin and most rookies presented themselves.
"Tajh Boyd," he said in direction to Wyatt extending his hand for a handshake being received immediately by Wyatt's hand "Wyatt Sterling," he told him with a kind and cordial smile on his face while feeling how Tajh squeezed his hand with more force in an attempt to demonstrate his dominance, but Wyatt instead of shrinking before that applied more force to his grip with neither of the 2 giving in.
Seeing the reaction and expressions of each one Chad cleared his throat slightly causing both to release the other's hand at the same time ending their first competition.
"What brings you here Tajh, spring training is in a few more days," Chad said trying to divert the topic of the conversation elsewhere to avoid the friction there was between the two boys.
"I thought about training before the rest of the team arrived, you know, I heard the number 1 prospect would come to the team and I don't want to lose my spot so soon," Tajh said with a slight smile while still evaluating Wyatt with his gaze noticing clearly his state of form.
Wyatt did the same with Tajh, first comparing that in comparison to him Tajh was a bit shorter, maybe about 2 or 3 in, and also that in comparison with him his body seemed to have more muscle explaining why just like him he was a dual-threat Quarterback.
But despite both belonging to the same category, a great difference lay in the playing style of each one; while Wyatt could throw deep passes of more than 20 yards in high-pressure games like the All-American Bowl.
Tajh on the other hand, although he could throw the ball, his accuracy percentage in long distance is very irregular; therefore in situations like that he usually seeks to run the maximum amount of yards possible to manage to advance and avoid the sack or the collapse of the pocket.
"Well then we won't bother you anymore," Chad said while making a discreet signal to Wyatt so that both left the gym room and left Tajh alone to start his training routine.
"Let's go to the video room," Chad told Wyatt while both moved through the corridors of the facilities reaching a large cinema room where normally the team saw replays of training sessions or analyzed the next rival in the season.
Taking a seat in the front row Wyatt saw how Chad took the tablet that was connected to the projector while searching for a video file of past games "I want you to pay attention to this," Chad said while on the screen a play of the Tigers in one of their games last season was shown.
At that moment Tajh had received the ball while the line of scrimmage held firm and the Wide receivers and the tight end deployed giving him options for a pass of minimum 7 yards with which to advance since they were in 2nd and 8 yards remaining to play.
Wyatt thought that Tajh would do the most obvious thing and would throw a deep pass toward the receiver who was at the 20-yard line of the rival field to be able to secure at least a field goal, but against all logic Tajh decided to run with the ball firmly held in his arms crossing the line of scrimmage and getting 5 yards before being brought down, needing only 3 remaining yards for a new offensive series.
"What was it that you saw there," a voice said before Chad could even make the same question, seeing how coach Dabo at some point had entered the video room and leaned against the door watching the two men who were sitting down.
"Coach, since when have you been there?" Wyatt asked having been more concentrated on seeing and analyzing the play than on paying attention to what was occurring around him.
"I told you to call me Dabo boy," he said with a resigned smile "And don't evade the question," he finished saying while looking fixedly at Wyatt expecting him to give his opinion about the play he had just seen.
Keeping silence for a few seconds Wyatt weighed his thoughts while ordering his ideas "Well first of all I think he risked too much when he had pass options available," he began to explain while taking the tablet that Chad extended to him and rewound the play while circling the two receivers who had deployed while tracing two possible pass routes.
"If not you also had the option of the tight end," while pointing to the tight end who was close and had shaken off the cornerback who was in front of him and had a free path for a journey of at least 5 extra yards before being brought down and securing the restart of the offensive series for his team.
"So you are saying that Tajh took the wrong decision?" Dabo interrogated him following with the series of questions in his direction "I'm not saying it's wrong, I simply think that had it been me, running would have been my last resort, opting better for a pass seeing that the line of scrimmage was not collapsing," Wyatt finished explaining in the most diplomatic tone possible.
He emphasized that this is his analysis based on his abilities without denying or saying that the option Tajh took was bad; besides, although Wyatt could say that seeing the replay, that could not be compared to being in the situation in real time in which you have to take decisions in fractions of seconds and you don't have a complete view of the situation on the field.
"Good, then …" and so Dabo began to show him different scenarios of plays from the Clemson playbook while explaining each one to Wyatt breaking it down part by part to then listen to the questions and the analysis that Wyatt gave him based on his own understanding of each play.
"I think that's enough for today," Dabo said turning off the projector and leaving it in its place while accompanying Wyatt and Chad to the exit, waving goodbye with his hand while watching how he moved away in the direction toward the university dormitories.
"Don't you think we are pressuring him too much?" Chad asked Dabo once Wyatt disappeared from sight and remembering Wyatt's last months "I wouldn't do it if I didn't see that he can handle it," was Dabo's simple response to his friend's concern.
Of course he was watchful of Wyatt's process, always being alert for any sign that indicated he could not endure the demands to which he had been subjected in these months but instead what he saw was a youth who took every exercise seriously doing every repetition with the greatest seriousness and calmly analyzed every play in the video room.
"Believe me the boy will be something to talk about once the season starts," Dabo said drawing Chad's attention "You mean that he.." but before he could finish saying it Dabo gave him a look so that he wouldn't finish the phrase.
"Not yet, we will see how he does in the spring exhibition game," he finished saying to return inside heading to his office followed by Chad.
What neither of the two noticed was the person who had heard their entire discussion who was found clenching his fists in a clear sign of frustration.
Authors thought's
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