Page 65 of Perfect Storm
Still, despite Griff’s clear support, Levi found he was nervous as they got lined up for the first set of plays.
He could sense Aidan behind him, a distinct presence in the pocket. When he raised his gaze, he met the eyes of the defensive guys in front of the line. They weren’t playing first team on first team—which Levi was profoundly grateful for, at least for this first attempt—so the defensive players didn’t necessarily have starter skills, but they were hungrier to prove themselves.
Ned blew the whistle, Griff yelled out the snap count and Levi had a single breathless moment to brace himself before the defensive tackle was pushing into his space, pulling a tricky spin move that Levi knew he’d been working on in practice.
Levi knew how to deal with something like that, hedid. Had been dealing with it for years, because in the National Football League, you couldn’t just block and call it good.
But he’d been unprepared for it and his weight was shifted wrong. It took him a second to adjust, and that single second was all it took for the defensive end to get the upper hand, pushing him back with a sudden burst of strength and speed.
Levi retrenched, painfully aware that the pair of them had probably pushed deep into Aidan’s pocket of space. At any moment, he might collide with his quarterback before he could throw the ball, and that wasn’tworsethan a sack, but it sure wasn’t good either.
Breathing hard, Levi mustered a last burst of strength and tried to muscle the guy off to the side, more out of the way, but he was three-fifty if he was a pound, and had the upper hand.
Levi managed to get him only half as far as he’d hoped.
The whistle blew.
“Shit.” Levi exhaled sharply as he finally looked up from his play to downfield. The play had been a double tight end pattern, Trevor running short and Lane running deep.
The hope was that Aidan could hit Lane, but Trevor was there as a backup option—hopefully at least a first down, but probably not much more than a ten-yard gain.
Trevor was holding the ball as he jogged back to the huddle.
Levi looked over at Aidan, who just shrugged. “I had to get rid of it faster than I wanted,” he said.
He gave Aidan credit for honesty. They weren’t making this switch for shits and giggles. Everyone needed to be better, to give Aidan the time he needed.
Including Levi.
As they gathered together for feedback, Ross looked right over at him, his lip curled in a sneer beneath his helmet’s grill. “Harder than you thought, huh, Banks,” he muttered under his breath.
Levi didn’t smile as much as he bared his teeth. “No, just about as hard as I expected,” he retorted.
Ned shot him a look, obviously telling him to cool it. He was probably right; they didn’t need a brawl breaking out in practice. Levi was going to need all his energy and focus to deal with this positional change. He couldn’t—shouldn’t—waste it on Ross.
“Better—but we need to give Flynn another five seconds,” Ned said. “Let’s run it again.”
And then they did. Over and over. Until Levi’s legs and arms were burning with exhaustion, but he pushed himself hard and then harder.
By the time practice ended, he couldn’t say it had gonebad, but he also didn’t want to give himself a gold star he hadn’t earned.
Hewouldearn it, no question about it, but he hadn’t earned it today.
Ned patted him on the shoulder as they headed into the locker room. “Not good yet,” he said thoughtfully.
“No,” Levi agreed, even though he was afraid that would be the end of the experiment. The coaching staff knew what they had in Ross Acker. He was a proven entity at left tackle, which was one of the most important pieces on the field. Levi was still getting up to speed. It had been years since he’d played left. He’dneverplayed it consistently. It wasn’t that much different, but there were enough nuances that it took some getting used to.
“You’re gonna get there,” Ned said optimistically.
“You’re not pulling me?”
Ned shook his head. “There’s something there. You’ve got the chops, kid. Just need more reps. More experience.”
“Isn’t that what Acker’s gonna tell you?” Levi wondered.
“He already tried,” Ned said. “Argued with me for an hour when I told him we were gonna try this out. He’s not happy.”
“Yeah,” Levi said. That much had been obvious.
