"So, George, how did the first day back feel?"
During dinner at the Cooper house, Meemaw, who was in high spirits, took a break from eyeing the table full of delicious food to chat with her son-in-law.
Things were different now. Thanks to George's substantial raise, the quality of the groceries in the Cooper household had gone up several notches.
"It was great," George replied with a smile.
Although he had a mountain of work waiting for him upon returning to the team, for a football fanatic like George, being busy just made him feel fulfilled. Being able to shine in a career you actually love was a blessing in itself.
"You guys should have seen it. Mike was a total beast out there today..." Georgie, savoring the food, couldn't help but jump into the conversation.
With a look of reflected glory, he started bragging about Mike's combine stats from earlier that day as if they were his own.
"I knew it! Mike is the best," Missy chirped. She didn't really understand what the stats meant, but that didn't stop her from worshipping the ground he walked on.
Between Missy's admiration and Georgie's excited chatter, the dinner table was filled with a cheerful buzz.
Watching his family get along so well, George felt an immense sense of satisfaction. As a middle-aged man, he even had the fleeting illusion that his life was finally complete.
However, that beautiful state of mind was shattered the second he looked across the table at his eldest son's sloppy eating habits.
"Georgie, swallow your food before you speak. You're practically spraying spit in my face," George scolded.
It just went to show that Sheldon wasn't entirely wrong when he theorized that Georgie was a missing link in human evolution.
---
Tuesday Afternoon.
On the field, the football players were waiting for the coaching staff to assign the squads. Most of them looked pretty nervous.
"Based on your individual evaluations, I've set the rosters..." Standing at the front of the group, Coach George read from his clipboard. "Offensive Squad: Quarterback Aaron, Running Back Mike... Wide Receiver Georgie Jr..."
For high school players at this stage, the offensive team—where you could score points and look cool doing it—was naturally the more coveted spot.
So, when George finished reading the offensive roster, most of the players named couldn't hide their excitement.
"Now, for those who didn't make the offense, don't lose heart. You need to understand that on a mature football team, the defensive squad is just as critical..."
George, having observed their reactions, tried to soothe the egos of those who missed the cut before continuing. "Next up, the Defensive Squad: Defensive Tackle Sam... Linebacker Crow..."
Functionally speaking, a competent defense really was vital. After all, logically speaking, preventing the opponent from scoring was just as good as scoring points yourself.
However, it was hard to sell that philosophy to a bunch of teenage boys going through puberty who just wanted to show off. So, as George finished the list, quite a few faces clearly showed their disappointment.
"Alright, that's the breakdown. If anyone has an issue with this arrangement, speak up now." As he asked for opinions, George's eyes naturally drifted toward Sam.
Since the defense was being built from scratch, Sam, with his outstanding physical ability, was naturally going to be the absolute anchor of the defensive line.
For the sake of team harmony, Coach George needed to make sure Sam was on board.
Sam, for his part, had already seen this coming. Plus, after losing to Mike in the scrimmages yesterday, he knew he couldn't match Mike on the offensive end. He looked surprisingly calm about the decision.
Since the "star" player didn't complain, the others assigned to the defense didn't feel like they had the standing to ask for a trade.
"If there are no objections, then it's settled." George waited a beat, and seeing no one speak up, he closed the subject.
He then laid out the plan for the day. "Coach Wayne, take the offensive guys to the field and run through the passing and running plays. Once I'm done briefing the defense on their tactics, we'll run a full scrimmage."
After Wayne led the offense away, Coach George gathered the remaining defensive players to explain the strategy.
1. The "Bird Cage" (Man-to-Man Containment): similar to the standard passing game on offense, this was a relatively mediocre but versatile "Jack-of-all-trades" defensive scheme. Its biggest advantage was the ability to control the overall flow of the field.
2. Localized Lockdown (Double Coverage): This was a tactic specifically designed to neutralize powerful opponents, often involving two or more players blitzing or sandwiching a specific target.
The advantage was obvious: it could completely shut down the opposing star player. The downside was just as glaring—committing that many bodies to one guy meant leaving other players wide open.
Both tactics had their pros and cons, but they were more than enough for the current Medford High defense.
After explaining the schemes in detail, Coach George quickly set up the defensive formation based on the players' strengths. Then, armed with his two defensive strategies, he led his squad over to meet Coach Wayne.
The Offense and Defense began a long session of attack and defense drills.
Pass/Run Offense vs. Man-to-Man Containment.
"Watch your spacing... stick to the man in front of you..."
As the drill began, Coach George constantly adjusted the defensive players' positioning based on the real-time action. The defensive squad quickly realized that the key to the "Bird Cage" tactic was strict man-to-man coverage.
On the offensive side, Coach Wayne didn't give many specific instructions, seemingly wanting the players to improvise.
Because of this freedom, the offense's strategy unintentionally evolved into a dual-core system. Relying on the chemistry between Mike and Aaron, the offense scored several touchdowns in a row.
CRACK!
Following a violent collision, Mike once again sent Sam—who was supposed to be marking him—flying backward, and breezed into the end zone. Coach George frowned.
At this rate, the scrimmage had turned into "The Mike Show." It wasn't serving the purpose of tactical training at all.
To try and contain Mike, Coach George started rotating his defensive players constantly, switching the tactic from Man-to-Man to the Localized Lockdown (Double Coverage).
BAM! THUD!
When Mike proceeded to knock aside three players who tried to sandwich him in a row, George helplessly blew the whistle.
"Mike, take a breather on the bench."
Coach George realized that with Mike on the field, tactical drills were pointless. The kid was a cheat code. But you couldn't exactly blame him for being good enough to score.
Since he couldn't solve the problem, he had to remove the person causing the problem.
To ensure the tactics could actually be practiced, George benched his star running back.
"Coach Wayne, I want you to rotate all your guys in. Let everyone get a feel for the game..." During the timeout, George explained his requirements to Wayne.
The advantage of splitting into squads was that it allowed players to focus on a single position, which usually led to rapid improvement in a short amount of time.
George wanted to use this trial-and-error phase to quickly find the optimal configuration for the team and lock down the starters for every position.
Having made promises to the Principal, George clearly had big ambitions for this season.