Chapter 6
From the first time that Coach Story had shown her films of Sean O'Halloran, Liz Moreno could not help but feel a strong measure of curiosity about him.
A tall, slender redhead blessed with a shotgun right arm, Sean O'Halloran was perhaps the most heavily recruited high school quarterback in the nation. He had visited the State University campus several months earlier, and had been provided with the royal treatment by both Duke Story and Chuck Graham. At the time he left after a very cordial weekend spent on campus, Duke Story was very optimistic about landing the young man.
Now things had changed, at least to some extent. Although the brilliant young quarterback, who was averaging four touchdown passes a game in his senior year of high school, still thought highly of State University, he had come under such strong pressure from colleges throughout the nation that the prospect of landing him at State, which at one time appeared very strong, appeared to diminish almost by the day as swarms of coaches and recruiters from leading schools across the country kept steadily descending on the small Midwestern town of Sentryville, where he lived, the otherwise obscure town he had put on the map with his gridiron exploits.
The last time that the drooling Coach Story had shown Liz Moreno game film on O'Halloran, he had shut off the projector and had begun pacing the floor, the expression on his face turning suddenly somber.
"That has to be the best looking young quarterback I've ever seen," the coach unequivocally exclaimed. "His arm is incredible. You recall that sixty yard touchdown bomb you just saw, the one I commented about."
"Yes, that was beautiful," Liz nodded.
"The thing that got me about that pass, I mean even beyond the fact that he threw the damned thing so many yards, was the trajectory of the throw. He had that mother humming on a line. A lot of guys, and hell, I mean even top quarterbacks, pros even, if they managed to throw a ball that far they'd have to loft it. But he hummed that damned thing on a line."
"He looks as great as they say he is."
"There's another thing I like about him, too. The way that he gets out of the way of onrushing linemen and blitzing linebackers . He's got such damned quick feet. Hell, I think this young Irishman is a talented enough athlete to make it as a wide receiver, a defensive back, or even a running back, but who in hell would be crazy enough to even try him at any of those positions when he's got that kind of an arm? And on top of that he's got great leadership abilities.", After pacing back and forth for several minutes, the coach finally sprawled out into a wooden folding chair. His face continued to reflect sober concern as he stared directly at Liz.
"I don't mind telling you, and I'll level straight from the shoulder, Liz honey, that I'm worried as hell right now," the coach said.
"You mean about Sean O'Halloran?"
"You're damned right I am. For two reasons."
"One of them has got to be that you're afraid he might go to school somewhere else next year."
"Absolutely right," the coach quickly nodded. "Naturally any girl as bright as you could pick that one -up without any problem. But there's something else that's really bugging me, and this bothers the hell out of me. Really shakes me up."
"What's that?"
"Naturally I've been watching this situation pretty damned close. A guy like this is gonna be dynamite for any offense. Any program that gets him is gonna get a guy who's good enough to walk in and play first team quarterback his freshman year and do an Ail-American caliber job, just like Herschel Walker did at Georgia as a running back. He's that good. But what really bugs me as much as the fact that we're not the front runner anymore is the question of who is the front runner, and my sources are pretty damned good ones.
Have you heard who that is?"
"I've just read a few articles in the paper," Liz replied. "I really don't know that much about it."
"Well, the school he's leaning to right now is none other than Todd University. You know how that hit me.
Like a damned ton of bricks. Not only does it look like we've lost our bold on Sean, but on top of that he's ready to enroll at our leading competitor, our bitterest rival. The school that challenges us for the championship every season."
"Yes, and you'd have to play against him."
"That's the part I was just getting to. Here I'm gonna have to play this guy four times. And can a guy like that, a team leader, great passer, a natural game breaker can make one hell of a difference. It would be enough to tilt the balance of power in the league away from us and in the direction of Todd."
"I see what you mean. That would be terrible."
"Liz, I'll tell you what. I'll level with you as I have few people. Hell, I haven't even told this to my old buddy Terry Reilly, and I confide just about everything about our football program to him, but I figure we're on the verge of the biggest bumper crop we've ever had at State as far as next season's freshman class is concerned. Mind you I didn't say the best class since I've been here as coach. I'm talking about the most talented incoming group that we've ever had at this school."
"That's great."
"Chuck has helped me out tremendously in recruiting, particularly during the season when I'm so tied up. Nancy has done one hell of a job helping out, too. It has been a great effort all the way around. A tremendous effort. It looks like we're practically assured of getting Lester Norman. Nancy did one hell of a job there. We're also getting a bumper crop of top offensive and defensive linemen to plug the gaps we needed filledƒ_"to move in for guys who have graduated. We've got talented experienced people left in the other areas. But then there's quarterback.
That'll make the difference. Our top two men, Stacy and Bragg, are both graduating and we've got absolutely no back-up strength behind them. So if Sean winds up going to Todd you know what I'm fearing?"
"Losing to them, I imagine."
"Yeah, but it's more than that. I was gonna break the whole thing down so you know right where we stand. Liz honey, from the time I got into coaching I've dreamed about something like this, a chance to win a national championship. I haven't told this to anybody but my coaching colleagues, but I figure that if we get the right group next year among the incoming kids, the freshmen, that we're in a great position to win the national championship either next year or the year after, and we'll be in a contending position both years."
"That sounds fabulous."
"You don't know how long I've been working and dreaming about something like this. Hell, you know that football is just about my whole life, and I've always dreamed about coaching a super team full of talented blue chip athletes, but guys who have raw dedication to match their talent, guys who blend together as a team."
"And you really think you're on the verge of something like that?"
"I sure as hell do. I've just drooled when I've seen certain great teams in action. I drool the same way a wine master does when you talk about a vintage year. 1966 was a vintage year. That year you had Ara Parseghian's Notre Dame team with Hanratty, Seymour, Rocky Bleier and all those guys. And you had Duffy Daugherty's Michigan State team with Bubba Smith, George Webster. You're too damned young to remember all this, honey, but what a hell of a game they played before a national television audience. It ended in a 10-10 tie. Two of the best damned teams ever seen on an American gridiron."
"I might not remember it, but I've heard my father talk about that game to friends. He's always been a big Notre Dame fan."
"Well, he was talking about one of the greatest games ever played matching two of the greatest teams. Then a few years later, in 1972, John McKay had that bumper crop of fantastic athletes at USC and did such a great job of blending them. Damned, what talent!
You had Lynn Swann, Anthony Davis, John Grant, Pete Adams, Richard Wood. That team wound up averaging around forty points a game, and that was with McKay benching the big guns after the games were out of reach, and most of them were put away by the third quarter. Then he had a defensive unit that was so stingy you could hardly ever squeeze a point out of them. Well, that's the kind of team I'd like to develop here at State, and until just a few weeks ago I figured I had itƒ_"until I heard about Sean leaning toward Todd."
"But if you're getting that many great players couldn't you beat Todd even if they did get Sean O'Halloran?"
"Quite frankly I doubt it," he frowned.
"You do?"
"That's right. Let me explain. I figured that with Lester Norman we'd have as good a running back as there is around. But if we don't have a quarterback the opposition fears, especially a defensive powerhouse like Todd always is, then we've got big problems.
They'll be able to bunch up the middle, send linebackers in to fill in gaps, stunt and blitz the hell out of us. And unless we've got a quarterback they fear who can dump the ball off fast in blitzes and get the ball off fast, like Sean can, then they could bottle up Lester and our whole offense in the process. But with a guy like Sean at quarterback they can't gamble on stopping Lester or Sean will destroy them."
"Or vice versa."
"Absolutely. So it all hinges on us getting that red-haired Irishman. That's what it all comes down to."
"I sure hope that we could get him somehow. After all, he hasn't signed with Todd yet."
"Precisely. You've probably been wondering why I've been unloading all this on you.
Right?"
"Yes. I have wondered."
"Well, I've been building up to this point, and now I'm gonna tell you. Ever since you've been on this campus I've told myself that you're a girl who can get things done. Well, I'm gonna be asking you to undertake your biggest assignment ever. I want you to help us land Sean O'Halloran. I think you might make the difference."
"What can I do?"
"Come on, honey," the coach chuckled. "Have you taken the trouble to look at yourself in the mirror lately."
"Oh, no," she shook her head. "You're not really thinking of something that bold?"
"I'm thinking about doing what needs to be done, and I have a very strong hunch that this young man would find talking to you one hell of a lot more interesting than having either Chuck or myself grab a plane for Sentryville. That's what I'm thinking."
Butterflies immediately surfaced in the pit of the young woman's stomach. Duke was asking a great deal of her. Not only that, but she naturally wondered just how far she would be expected to go in trying to entice the brilliant quarterback to attend State. She wanted to tell Coach Story that there were no circumstances under which she could take such an assignment. But before the words could topple from her lips she engaged in some quick analysis. Practically everything she had, as well as her promising prospects for the future, she owed to State University in general and, at least in very strong measure, to Duke Story in particular. Now she was being asked to tackle an assignment that involved helping the coach to achieve a life long objective, that of putting together a national championship football team.
In the final analysis, there was no conceivable way that she could say no to such a request.