Redline Chooses the Tide
"Hello, Jaehyuk! Our sincerest congratulations on winning the state championship!"
Jaehyuk gave a small, polite bow in response to Emily's greeting from the live broadcast feed.
"Thank you."
"Thanks to this win, you've claimed back-to-back titles in your career. It must be an especially meaningful championship for you, in more ways than one."
"Not particularly."
"I'm sorry?"
Jaehyuk said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, leaving Emily visibly flustered.
"It was a championship we were always going to win."
"Ah... w-well, I see. What confidence! Truly the self-assurance befitting your record."
The interview continued amid the churning excitement of the chat.
"Hello, Jaehyuk! I'm Elliot."
"Hello."
"You are the first and only pure East Asian player ever to appear on 248Sports' early signing broadcast. Even watching you on screen right now, I can hardly believe it. Did you have some special know-how, some secret to your success?"
The hosts waited a moment for his answer as the audience reactions scrolled past. Jaehyuk replied without a beat of hesitation.
"Talent and effort."
"Talent and effort?"
"Talent is ninety percent. The remaining ten percent is effort. If you're calling that ten percent 'know-how,' then fine — I woke up at five every morning, ran ten kilometers, and trained until dinner. I rested during the classes wedged in between."
Nobody heard the rest.
The people watching had latched onto the first part — ninety percent talent — and Jaehyuk's unfiltered honesty sent the chat into a full-blown debate.
The panelists were hanging on Jaehyuk's every word now. Beside them, Herden picked up the baton.
"It appears you were also a track athlete, Jaehyuk. Your track record is remarkable. And yet you ultimately chose football — was football your calling from the very beginning?"
"Football was something I stumbled into by chance."
"Oh my, by chance? How did that happen?"
Every panelist leaned in. Jaehyuk stole a careful glance at his parents, then spoke.
"This is something I haven't even told my own family, but last year, during a track team practice, a player from the football team — he's graduated now — came looking for me. Said they were short on bodies."
"Short... on players?"
"Their starting running back had just gotten injured, and it was one of those casual scrimmage games. They needed a backup running back. So I gave it a shot."
"Oh my..."
The astonishing secret behind how Jaehyuk first found football left everyone speechless.
Just as the disbelief was peaking, Jaehyuk's parents cautiously spoke up.
"Everyone in our family loves football. But there was exactly one member of the household who couldn't care less about it — and that was Jaehyuk."
"Thanks to that, we had no idea he was even playing. The first time we learned our son was playing football was at the season opener of last year's regular season."
The panelists scrambled to recover.
"Wait — so you're telling us he hid it this entire time?"
"Hold on! If that's the case, are you saying he knew absolutely nothing about football at all?!"
Under the barrage of urgent questions, Jaehyuk wore the placid expression of someone wondering what all the fuss was about.
"I didn't hide anything. I just hadn't made up my mind. It was back when I didn't even know if I'd take football seriously. And yes, I knew nothing about the sport. All I knew was that you carry the ball and get into the end zone without being tackled. That's what I started with."
Amid all the clamor, the moment of choice was drawing near.
The caps lined up on the table in front of him read like a murderer's row: the Michigan Spartans, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Oregon Ducks, the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Texas Longhorns, and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Every one of them was a heavyweight among the more than 170 D1 programs that had come calling. All across the country, viewers held their breath to see which team Jaehyuk would choose.
At last the interview wrapped up, and Emily raised her voice.
"And now, the moment has arrived! Let's find out the choice of Jaehyuk of Wichita North High School — the #2 running back in the nation, #1 in average rushing yards, #1 in touchdowns per game, and #1 in total rushing yards!!"
The panelists watched him with taut faces. For once, even the chat fell into a rhythm of team chants as everyone waited for him to pick up a cap.
"The university I will attend is..."
Jaehyuk's hand reached out. Then, without a single moment's hesitation, he selected one cap and set it on his head.
"The Alabama Crimson Tide."
"WHOA!! Congratulations!! Jaehyuk's choice is the University of Alabama!!"
The heat was just as fierce on-site, drenched in the flashbulbs of the press corps. With reporters straining to fire off questions at any moment, it was Emily of 248Sports who got there first.
"Jaehyuk! Our sincerest congratulations on choosing Alabama! Is there any special reason you picked the Crimson Tide?"
"They gave me the most support, and they showed me the greatest faith. So now, I intend to repay that faith — and prove it."
Jaehyuk flashed a slow smile straight into the camera lenses.
"College football — here I come. I'm going to tear it all apart and rebuild the dynasty."
The football operations headquarters of the University of Alabama — the War Room.
A suffocating tension hung over the conference room. On the giant screen, 248Sports' early signing broadcast played live, while David Johnson, chief scout of the Alabama Crimson Tide, gnawed anxiously at his fingernails.
Around him sat the entire chain of command: Athletic Director Arthur Harrison, Head Coach Kalen DeBoer, the offensive coordinator, the director of player development, and on down the line.
Everyone with a hand on the fate of Alabama football had gathered to await Jaehyuk's decision.
Two years of decline. The jeers about a fallen dynasty. The exodus of cornerstone players. The fury of the fanbase. Beneath all of that crushing weight, "Redline" had been their single shaft of light — their last, best hope.
"Come on..."
They had already heard through Sheryl, Jaehyuk's agency, how things stood. But right up until the very last second, a college signing was the one thing that could never be certain.
And then, at last —
On the screen, Jaehyuk's hand moved toward the caps laid out on the table.
Everyone watched through bloodshot eyes, forgetting even to breathe. Every sound in the room died.
"...The Alabama Crimson Tide."
And then —
The instant those words left Jaehyuk's mouth, the silence detonated into a roar.
"YESSSSSSSS!!"
"ROLL TIDE!! ROLL TIDE!! WE DID IT!!"
"He's here! He's actually here! Redline is coming!!"
David shot to his feet without meaning to, both fists thrust skyward. Tears of gratitude were even welling in his eyes.
This was a player the chief scout himself had personally cultivated for a full year — and who knew how many prospects had slipped through the cracks because of it. But David was certain of one thing: Jaehyuk was worth far more than a handful of those players combined. His choice had not been wrong. Not even close.
And yet a sliver of unease still refused to dissolve, because the reality he'd worked against had been anything but kind. Honestly, looking at the state Alabama was in, no one could have blamed Jaehyuk for choosing another program. That he had chosen them anyway was reason enough for everyone to celebrate.
"Aha ha! I knew you'd pull it off, Dave! Wonderful work! Truly wonderful work! Hahahaha!!"
Athletic Director Arthur Harrison slapped David's back and shoulders again and again, beaming. Beside them, Kalen DeBoer stood in a half-crouch, trying desperately to suppress his emotions as quiet cries of "Yes! Yes!" escaped him anyway.
"Contact Jaehyuk immediately! Tell him congratulations — tell him how happy we all are!"
"Understood, ahem!!"
Everyone was trying to calm themselves, and failing utterly. Strangers embraced; high-fives flew back and forth without end. The War Room was already a festival.
"They gave me the most support, and they showed me the greatest faith. So now, I intend to repay that faith — and prove it."
Jaehyuk's words kept playing over the broadcast. The cheering paused as everyone turned back to the screen.
Why was it, they wondered. Such small words, really — and yet the pain and the toil of the past two years suddenly felt, somehow, acknowledged.
And then came the line that followed.
"College football — here I come. I'm going to tear it all apart and rebuild the dynasty."
That was the moment the War Room's fervor boiled over.
"RAAAAAAAGH!!"
"That confidence! That swagger! THAT'S what we wanted — that's exactly what we needed!"
"Where did you even find this kid, and how did you sink your teeth in so fast?! Dave, your talent is genuinely terrifying!"
While the room erupted around him, DeBoer murmured quietly to himself.
"Rebuild the dynasty, he says..."
It was, perhaps, a phrase that fit their current situation with uncomfortable precision. Since Nick Saban's retirement, the newly appointed Kalen DeBoer had endured two of the worst seasons in program history, and the worry had dug deep into him.
Granted, any other program in the country would have counted results like theirs a gift.
But the Alabama Crimson Tide was no ordinary team.
It was more than a college football program — it was closer to a religion, a cultural phenomenon in its own right. Across the American South, and especially within the state of Alabama, it was a way of life and a towering source of pride.
Bzzz-bzzz—!
Phones began shrieking from every direction. Congratulations and messages of encouragement came flooding in from the university president, board members, and the most powerful boosters.
News of Jaehyuk's signing was, in an instant, shaking the entire University of Alabama — no, the entire state of Alabama — to its core.