Chapter 60 War of words
Juju Smith-Schuster, wide receiver, junior, is currently the biggest star on the Trojans.
Last season, Trojans quarterback Cody Kessler (Cody Kessler) performed poorly, and the team that started with offense has always been difficult to open up. This is also the core reason for the team's poor performance. At that time, offensive coordinator Hayden passed the team interview to become the head coach.
Despite this, despite the weak quarterback, Shuster, nicknamed "Zhu Zhu", still performed well, turning the situation around on his own several times, receiving 1,400 yards and 10 catches in the season. Marking a touchdown, he became the only bright spot worth noting among the Trojans at their lowest point.
This year, Kessler has turned professional and was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 90th overall pick in the third round. The Trojans ushered in a brand new quarterback——
Sam Darnold, who enrolled last year but took a redshirt.
Redshirt player (Redshirt) is a special status in the NCAA.
Normally, college athletes are eligible to participate in four seasons of collegiate competition, however they can elect to redshirt for one year in school, thus extending their collegiate athletic career to five years.
During the redshirt year, players can attend college classes, participate in practices, and even sit on the sidelines during games, but they cannot represent the team.
Thanks to the existence of red shirts, a phenomenon of "fifth-year seniors" has emerged in American universities.
There are many reasons for choosing a red shirt. The most important one is to take a year off to focus on improving your strength and strive for the main position. This is especially common in rugby.
Because strength confrontation and body impact have obviously risen to a higher level, players can use the redshirt year to enhance their physique; at the same time, because the complexity of rugby tactics is much more complicated than in high school, players need time to adapt to different ways of playing. After all, there is no such thing in professional leagues. Redshirts are an exception.
It is worth mentioning that if a redshirt player appears in any game during the season, the redshirt qualification will automatically expire without exception.
The status of a redshirt player is assigned by the head coach, but will not be confirmed by the NCAA until the end of the season.
What's the meaning?
The head coach gives a player redshirt status based on his own judgment, but it does not mean that the player will not play during the season. If a player grows faster than expected in training, or the team suffers serious and extensive injuries. If the player is ill, the head coach can cancel the player's red shirt status and make him appear in the remaining games of the season.
Once the player appears in the game, he will automatically give up his red shirt qualification for this season, even for one second in one round, without exception.
Therefore, the redshirt eligibility will not be confirmed until the end of the season and the NCAA confirms that the player has not appeared in any games.
In addition, the most common injury redshirt is a special case:
If a player misses the entire season or most of the season due to serious injury, as long as his playing time is less than 30%, the head coach can still Applying for a redshirt guarantees that player will earn an extra year.
Usually, the so-called redshirt-freshmen refers to a sophomore who represents the school in his first year. He chooses to redshirt during his freshman season and trains with the team for a season, waiting for growth. It was only in his sophomore year that he officially represented the school in competitions.
Sam Darnold is the redshirt freshman.
Last year, the Trojans recruited Darnold as... linebacker, but discovered Darnold's potential in training camp, so he changed to quarterback and became a redshirt player, playing behind the two quarterbacks. The third quarterback, after studying for a whole year, finally took over the responsibility of the main quarterback this year.
Including Hayden, the Trojans are full of confidence from top to bottom. They believe that Darnold has the ability to be a first-round pick without a doubt, and it is not surprising to even become the No. 1 pick.
This is also the source of Zhu Zhu’s confidence.
Look, last season, with Kessler delivering cannonballs, Zhu Zhu completed a thousand-yard season entirely by relying on his personal ability; now that the quarterback has been upgraded, the cannonballs are more accurate and abundant, and as the Trojans' number one wide receiver, Zhu Zhu has the confidence to contribute. A better and more exciting season.
Maybe, the first 2,000-yard season for a wide receiver in NFL and NCAA history?
Zhu Zhu's self-confidence has been shattered. The result?
Not only are the news media buzzing around an unknown running back like flies, but even his own coach is so cautious?
Zhu Zhu really wants to shake Haydn hard: Coach, wake up, wake up! You have two universe-level superstars in Darnold and me. Please rise up, okay?
"We will win the game." Zhu Zhu's eyes were so confident that he almost swallowed Samantha alive. Samantha didn't buy it, "You're facing the defending champion."
Zhu Zhu laughed directly, "Without Derrick Henry, they are nothing."
Samantha winked, "But they have a great freshman running back now who can..."
Zhu Zhu immediately exploded impatiently, "Are you talking about that clown? Come on, this is a smoke bomb, isn't it obvious? It's just a warm-up match, just say something out of the blue, if it can happen like this If you are born, now the NCAA is full of superstars, are superstars still valuable?”
"Wake up, hey, wake up!"
"This is just hype, that clown is a puppet, Pinocchio, no one cares about him, he is just a means of diverting attention from the Crimson Tide Storm. A newcomer who just came into contact with football this year, a complete layman has become the savior, haha, 豼Do you think this is some kind of superhero movie?”
"That must be DC, not Marvel, hahaha."
Zhu Zhu is very arrogant and keeps outputting trash talk.
Samantha remained patient, "But the same goes for Sam Darnold. He's a redshirt freshman and has never practiced quarterback. What's the difference between him and Levi."
Zhu Zhu burst into tears: If you hit someone, don’t slap them in the face, okay?
His face instantly dropped, and he was no longer in the mood to joke, "Let me tell you, the game will prove everything. We will let that guy reveal his true colors. We will let that guy experience what real football is. We will win the game."
"Not only will they win, but they will crush them."
"Understand? Crush!"
Samantha had just hit a wall at the Crimson Tide Storm. Standing in front of Zhu Zhu, she finally regained her dignity as a journalist. "Are you talking about facing the Crimson Tide Storm defense team that ranked No. 1 in the country last year?"
The Trojans are good at offense, the Crimson Tide are good at defense——
Like that warm-up match, this was a contradictory matchup.
Zhu Zhu's face was the color of pig liver and he looked like he might explode at any time. After all, he was still young. No matter how arrogant he was, he was only eighteen years old. He was still a child. "Yes, yes, yes, yes. We will win."
"We will win."
"We will win! Ahhh!"
Then... there was no more. Zhu Zhu turned around and left with red eyes, swearing, cursing all the way to the court, and his beautiful dreadlocks seemed to be on fire.
Samantha smiled professionally and said to the camera, "The Trojans are determined to win."
Today’s third update. Dear book friends, there is less than a week left before the end of the new book period, and we continue to sprint in the final stage! The rules for listing updates are as follows: Alliance leader, 10,000 words; Helmsman, 1,000 words; Hall leader, 2,000 words. For every ten thousand reward, one thousand words will be updated, and so on. Monthly tickets, one thousand words each. Here, the boy sincerely thanks all the book friends for their support, thank you all!
(End of this chapter)