The Preparation Is Coming Together
#. December 26, 2021
#-1. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
#-2. University of Cincinnati
#-3. Indoor Practice Facility & Performance Center
Football at the University of Cincinnati dates back to 1885, but the Bearcats' glory days were painfully brief. There was the era of Sid Gillman, who across six seasons carried the team to three conference titles and two bowl games. Then came the era of Homer Rice, alongside quarterback Greg Cook.
Even so, attention toward the Cincinnati Bearcats never amounted to much, and in 1983 the program was actually demoted after failing to meet the NCAA's required average attendance of 20,000.
Several more years passed before Cincinnati clawed its way back to NCAA Division I, and from there, a string of good head coaches laid the program's foundation anew.
Rick Minter. Mark Dantonio. Brian Kelly. Butch Jones. Tommy Tuberville.
The school's modest standing kept it from landing the very biggest names, but among programs operating at Cincinnati's level, it was widely considered to have hired the finest coaching staffs in the country.
And here, the man now trying to surpass even Sid Gillman was leading Cincinnati.
Luke Fickell.
A coach who had spent more than a decade on the staff of Ohio State — a storied powerhouse of midwestern college football — Luke Fickell stood this season as the leading candidate for every national Coach of the Year award handed out.
…
…
After the morning practice had wrapped up, Luke Fickell gathered his players and spoke about the bowl game that remained. Just from the fire in the eyes of the Cincinnati players as they looked at their head coach, you could feel how deeply Fickell was respected within the team. Before men who looked ready to leap into a pit of flames at his command, Fickell preached a passionate sermon: only by casting out fear could they hope to play their best football against Georgia.
Before long — Luke Fickell's office. He sat with his assistants.
"Honestly, I'd have rather drawn Alabama."
"Tell me about it."
"Georgia this year is a damn monster of a team."
Hearing his coaches react to the honest words that had slipped out of his mouth, Fickell steadied himself. He had no intention of showing weakness. They were underdogs as it was.
"We have to show our absolute best that day."
To the coaches, those words landed as a simple directive: keep grinding through whatever time remained. The outside world expected Georgia to demolish Cincinnati by something like 42-17, but Fickell believed his team had every right to laugh such predictions off. Among the thirteen wins Cincinnati had piled up this season was the Notre Dame game — a 24-13 statement — and the feeling of that victory over the Fighting Irish was exactly what this team needed now.
Hoping his players, back from a loosened-up Christmas week, kept preparing the way they had been, Fickell resolved to give everything he had until the very end.
Cincinnati, unbeaten this year. And Georgia, unbeaten since last year. The Cotton Bowl Classic — where one of the two perfect records was destined to die — was set to be played on December 31, the final day of 2021.
#. December 27, 2021
#-1. Athens, Georgia, USA
#-2. University of Georgia
#-3. Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall
#-4. House of Payne
Personally, I'd say the most underrated position group on our team this year is the offensive line. The defense has been soaking up all the attention, and on offense the spotlight keeps swinging between me and the three-man freshman receiver class, so the O-line's evaluations have been unfairly stingy.
But I'll guarantee you this much: our O-line is, at worst, a national Top 3. Call it favoritism if you like, but I think they're No. 1. The five starters haven't missed a single game all season, and individually, every one of them ranks inside the top five in the country on their metrics — if not outright first. Even the rotation unit of Kingsley Suamataia, Warren Ericson, Broderick Jones, Owen Condon, and Amarius Mims could crack a national Top 20 without breaking a sweat.
Thanks to those boys' protection, I get to sit comfortably in the pocket and distribute the football wherever I please.
"Hut, Hut, Hike!!"
Clap!!
Play-calling drills designed to bait Cincinnati's defensive line rolled on, and the mistakes that had plagued us last week had all but vanished. Even when I deliberately switched the call with an audible mid-sequence, the guys moved on the proper timing, every time.
"I don't think we need to keep checking anymore."
"Let's just run one last check at the end."
"Yes, sir."
Cincinnati's key vulnerabilities were simple: fooling a defensive line that moved too much, and attacking the middle of the field. And to get there, we first had to rock them left and right.
"If Cincinnati sets up in zone, space opens up here and here."
…
…
"We're going to run a lot of bunch, building our formations mostly off jet sweep motion. When Brock or JB goes in jet sweep, everyone else has to read the defense. You know what to look for, right? If they look like they're playing zone, you two take off deep — post, go, doesn't matter, just run. That drags the safeties back, and the middle opens up."
Rocking them side to side meant sending the receivers on that side into their routes, but it also meant sowing confusion with jet sweep motion. Cincinnati's 3-3-5 defense played zone on eight or nine of every ten snaps, and that was usually when the middle of the field opened up. The jet sweep was our instrument for finding out whether they'd chosen zone or man — if a receiver sprinted across the formation and no defender reacted, that meant zone.
"And if they're in man?"
"Then watch my hands. See it? This one's peekaboo, this one's zebra. You remember them. Just run your assigned routes, and run them clean. I'll put the ball right in your breadbasket."
I could feel the preparation coming together, solid and sure. The unbeaten run we'd carried over from last year had built real momentum inside this team, and on top of it, we were bound together by absolute trust in the way we played.
Nobody gets left out of this system.
Everyone is in it — and everyone enjoys it.
In the NFL, the entire team bends to the quarterback's personality and character. In the NCAA, it's shaped by the program the head coach and his staff build. So for now, I follow it. I've willingly accepted being one part of the machine. Right now, this is what's right.
"Ahh — now that's the stuff."
With both the dawn session and the morning practice behind us, we started the recovery routine — the Hot Tub–Cold Tub ritual. The guys who shivered and gritted their teeth going into the cold water melted into puddles the moment they slipped into the hot one, like none of it had ever happened.
"By the way, cold water doesn't bother you at all?"
"Guess not?"
"Damn! Your standards are messed up, for real."
"I think it's from all the surfing."
"Oh, right. Dude seriously rips on a board."
The guys who'd surfed with me in Hawaii last year kicked off the story, and I let them chatter away while I slid into the cold tub right beside the hot one. The water was cold enough to freeze me to the marrow — but it had been far colder this morning, crawling out of bed.
And now that surfing had come up, I wanted to surf. How had I never made it to Savannah? Tybee Island, east of Savannah, was a place I'd visited fairly often in my past life — great atmosphere. The sunsets and the seafood were unreal.
"YO! Guys!"
"?"
"What?"
"What do you say we head out to Savannah this spring?"
"Savanna? That sweltering little town?"
"Yup. Go for a drive, take in some nature, hit the beach and surf a little — that kind of thing."
"You gonna bring the ladies along too?"
"Hey, that's on your game, not mine."
Last year, COVID had made travel unthinkable even after the football season ended, but this year I figured I'd stack up a few more memories with the guys. The expenses? I'd cover those, of course.
"I'm in."
"Me too."
"Unbelievable. How do you two answer with zero hesitation the second I say I'm paying?"
"Why even ask something that obvious?!"
"What he said."
"Idiots."
This year's Christmas party had been big and loud, as if determined to spit out every ounce of last year's suffocation. Returning to normal life had felt like a gift at first, then grown familiar, then simply ordinary — but whenever a big event rolled around, I'd remember just how grim last year had been. COVID still lingered at our side, of course, but humanity had fought with real tenacity and clawed its daily life back. Which was exactly why we could plan a trip at all.
Never mind that we had, in fact, gone to Florida last year.
"KYYYAHOOO—!"
SPLASH!!
"FUCK!! Jordan!!"
"Hehehehe."
As Jordan surfaced from his cannonball into the hot pool, I flicked cold water back at him and climbed out of the tub, heading for the sauna, steam billowing off my skin.
"This is Jordan's fault, right?"
"Yup. That cursed bastard."
"Heh heh heh."
I claimed the widest spot, leaned my back against the wooden wall, closed my eyes, and focused on nothing but my breathing.
"Inhale… and out…"
#. December 29, 2021
#-1. Houston, Texas, USA
#-2. NRG Stadium
#-3. Houston Texans Front Office
#-4. General Manager's Office
Where the quarterback stands in the game of football — and the answer to the question "How much of this franchise's assets are you willing to sacrifice for a rookie quarterback?" — could be found in the recent history of the Texans.
Even with a generational defensive end in J.J. Watt, Houston was walking a road that was bleakness incarnate. In the 2013 season, when they'd been rated legitimate Super Bowl contenders, they dropped ten straight games and became the first team in the league to ten losses; the record improved somewhat in the years after, but the Super Bowl remained a world away.
People had been telling them since the early days that they needed an elite quarterback, but the man with final authority over the organization kept turning a deaf ear.
Janice MacNair, one of the ten women who owned NFL franchises, handed control of the team to her son Cal after her husband's passing — Cal, who had already been exerting a heavy influence on operations for years.
Fortunately, Cal McNair belatedly learned something from the string of failures, and in 2017 he made a certain rookie quarterback the target of the draft.
Deshaun Watson.
The man regarded — in the era before Trevor Lawrence — as the finest quarterback in Clemson's history was considered the top quarterback in the 2017 draft class. To get him, the Texans sent their 2017 and 2018 first-round picks to the Cleveland Browns and embraced their long-coveted prize.
And Deshaun Watson certainly showed his quality. But a franchise run into the ground couldn't so much as reach the playoffs.
After last season even J.J. Watt told Deshaun Watson, "I'm sorry we wasted a year of your career like fools."
A hopeless head coach in Bill O'Brien and his incompetent assistants. And on top of all that, a suspension over banned substances.
Last year's Houston Texans were, quite literally, a nightmare, finishing 4-12 — a record far worse than the roster's actual talent warranted.
Finally, Cal McNair exploded. He made his will unmistakably clear: he would reform the team, leaving only Deshaun Watson standing.
And so began the purge(?). First, Bill O'Brien flew out the door. Next, they traded away J.J. Watt — a franchise icon whose fan support and voice were so enormous they had begun interfering with the operation of the team. It was a move born of a single conviction: with a capable quarterback like Deshaun Watson in place, they could reach the playoffs within three years at the latest.
But then, a catastrophic problem erupted.
The so-called Massage Man scandal.
Since turning pro, Watson had never made so much as a whisper of noise about his private life — until reports surfaced that he had demanded inappropriate acts from women at the sports massage clinics he frequented.
At first, fans believed the women were simply trying to cash in on Watson's fame. But the victims kept coming forward. Four women in total — including one who revealed her own identity — filed twenty-two lawsuits, and Watson's position, already shaky after he had demanded his own trade out of anger at a front office that had just dealt away J.J. Watt, wobbled badly.
In the end, the NFL opened an investigation and Watson's playing status was suspended; the investigation and the lawsuits continue to this day.
"I'm afraid that's not the answer I was hoping for."
"I know. But…"
"Come on. Let's be honest with each other. Deshaun wants out of Houston, and we want to trade him. But to make that happen, the groundwork has to be laid first. So tell me — out of the twenty-two lawsuits, how many have you settled?"
"…"
Nick Caserio, general manager of the Houston Texans, had made up his mind to move Deshaun Watson the moment the scandal shifted from suspicion to near certainty. But he couldn't hand over a first-round quarterback they'd paid a fortune in draft capital to select without conditions, so he'd picked up the phone to check on the state of the legal battle.
After a long sigh, and an even longer silence, Deshaun Watson's agent finally came clean.
"Twelve. Ten to go."
"When do you expect it to be wrapped up?"
"Hard to say. The only thing I know for certain is that it'll be after February."
The reason a ruling of no wrongdoing for Deshaun Watson mattered so much was simple: Houston's future assets had been annihilated. The more that surfaced about Bill O'Brien, the uglier the stories got, and his roster management had hit rock bottom — his abysmal trading acumen had squandered multiple high picks, leaving no way to replenish the talent pool.
So they had no choice but to start collecting rookies now. Considering that more than half the league had come sprinting when Watson demanded a trade last year, a clean legal ruling could secure them a substantial haul of draft picks.
Click.
"Hoo—"
With the call ended, Nick Caserio buried himself once more in a real-world problem with no visible solution.
'Goddamn it.'
Like the infamously mismanaged New York Giants and a handful of other teams, the Houston Texans could not stop sprinting headlong into their own pit of despair. Family-run ownership. People whose football knowledge and experience barely rose to the level of the average fan were leading the charge in ruining their teams for no reason other than being the owner — or the owner's family. And throughout this long history, the sacrifice always landed on the general manager, the head coach, and the franchise star. J.J. Watt had left the team for exactly that reason.
…
After pausing to catch his breath, Caserio was about to ask his secretary to connect the call, then decided he would make it himself and hung up the speakerphone. He pulled out his cell phone. The recipient sat far away, up in the northeast.
"Nick. What is it?"
"Thought you should know Deshaun is working through his problems."
"And when it's resolved, what will your asking price be?"
"Let's start with two first-round picks."
The team that had been most aggressive in pursuing a Deshaun Watson trade was, surprisingly, the Cleveland Browns — Baker Mayfield's team. People said the Browns hit rock bottom not through family nepotism but through pure, uncut incompetence, but it was still a jolt. A sluggish second year notwithstanding, Baker Mayfield was a quarterback talented enough to build a franchise around, and there was no compelling reason to disturb a starting QB's standing in that situation.
But before long, Caserio learned that this was the will of the man attempting to buy the Cleveland Browns.
Isaac L. Allison.
Head of the Allison Group. And, at the same time, the richest man in Ohio.
"Once the purchase of the team is complete, then we'll talk."
"Understood. But don't forget that I came to you first."
"Of course. Goodbye."
Click.
Caserio had no idea what the Cleveland Browns that would take on Deshaun Watson might look like, but he believed this trade could become the pivotal event that rewrote his franchise's history. The Browns were a team that, despite assembling a respectable roster and sitting over the cap, could tumble to the bottom of the league at any moment. The Houston Texans were one of those teams, and the New York Giants had spent the last several years burning through their entire cap while posting miserable records and breaking their fans' hearts.
And if the Cleveland Browns happened to finish dead last in the 2022 season? The Texans would then be free, in exchange for trading away their scandal-stained quarterback, to select Dwayne Moi Stone.
What was truly astonishing was that the Cleveland Browns had no intention of bidding in the Dwayne Moi Stone sweepstakes at all. With a brand-new owner coming in, they had every reason in the world to covet the man rated the greatest college quarterback of all time — and yet Isaac L. Allison, for reasons known only to himself, was utterly infatuated with Deshaun Watson.
But then.
'So what?'
To Nick Caserio — a man who had to claw his way out of the darkness by any means necessary — an Isaac L. Allison like this was nothing less than a rope leading up to heaven.
A Deshaun Watson trade with the power to shake the entire 2023 NFL Draft to its core. It all came down to how skillfully his lawyers and his agency handled the women who had filed suit.