Persistence - 4th String Freshmen Quarterback

From Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees

When I was a freshman in high school, I changed school districts.  I remember the first set of two-a-days as a freshman.  This was Texas 5A football.  It was Friday Night Lights.  There was a sea of guys, probably 150 to 200 kids, all ready to play.  The coach said, “Okay, who thinks they can be quarterback?”

I raised my hand and looked around to see forty other hands in the air.  I thought, I am never going to see the field.  I was the new guy.  All these guys had been part of the same program at the two middle schools in the district.  They’d had real game preparation and full-contact experience.  I’d been playing flag football the past three years because our small Christian school didn’t have enough players to field a tackle football team.  The season hadn’t even started yet, and I was already at a disadvantage.

I ended up as the fourth quarterback of six my freshmen year.  The first three went to the freshmen A team, and the next three went to the freshmen B team.  In effect, I was the starter on the freshmen B team.  I felt lost in a swarm of players.

During my sophomore year, when I was in the middle of two-a-days, my mom picked me up from practice.  She could tell something was up because I was unusually quiet.  After she pulled into the garage, she turned off the car and we sat there for a minute.

I looked at her and used a word that normally didn’t come out of my mouth.  “Mom, I think I might want to quit football.”

She didn’t freak out.  She just squinted her eyes with concern and said, “Why?”


“Because I don’t feel like I’m ever going to get an opportunity to play”

Jay Rodgers was the quarterback for the varsity team, and his younger brother Johnny was the quarterback on junior varsity.  This was a football family.  Their middle brother was the starting center on varsity, and their dad, Randy Rodgers, was the recruiting coordinator at the University of Texas.  Johnny Rodgers was destined to be the next starting quarterback for Westlake High School, and I was sure I’d get lost in the shuffle.

“You know, my real sport is baseball,” I told my mom.  “I want to get a baseball scholarship.  I play football because I like it, but I don’t want to sit on the bench.  I don’t feel like I’m going to get an opportunity, and maybe I’d be better off playing fall baseball and trying to get a baseball scholarship.”

My mom took a deep breath.  “That’s a valid point.  I wouldn’t want to sit the bench any more than you do.  So if you don’t want to play, you don’t have to play.  But remember this: when you least expect it, that opportunity will present itself.  You never know when it’s going to come, but all it takes is one play.”