The day's training is over, but the coaches' work is still not over. They need to study tactics, they need to study their opponents, and they also need to study their own substitute camp.
After returning to the office, Rick Neuhesse sat down behind his desk and motioned for his colleagues to sit down as well. The first thing he said was, "What do you think of Lu?"
After the practice match, they will inevitably need to analyze their gains, losses, and performance. In just fifteen minutes of the game, Lu Ke was a player who couldn't be ignored. Naturally, Rick mentioned him.
"I think his performance is very good." Anthony took the initiative to answer, "Most of the credit for the victory of the training team must be attributed to him, accurate judgment, correct choice, accurate long pass, and most importantly, His big heart at critical moments is really eye-catching. Not only that, we all see Lu Ke’s dedication and focus. In fact, outside of daily training, he has been insisting on practicing quarterback skills. I think he He’s a player with tons of possibilities.”
"But the short passing skills are really terrible." Noam Zhou, as the offensive coach, has the most say. "Accuracy, strength, judgment, these skills are all indescribable. As an Asian, His physical disadvantages were exposed in today’s practice match.”
Norm is a Korean-American, but unlike Lu Ke, he was born in the United States and has lived in the United States for more than forty years. He is an American through and through. The sense of belonging to Asia is not strong. Of course, he would also like to see an Asian face appear on the court occasionally, but as a coach at this time, his judgment must be objective.
"In addition to failing to pass the basic skills of passing, he also performed poorly in physical confrontation." Norm said matter-of-factly, "The steps in the pocket, the pass on the move, the ability to dodge tackles... Phew, be honest. He has countless shortcomings."
"But his tactical awareness is so outstanding." Anthony's inner balance shifted involuntarily. "In the fifteen minutes of the game just now, he judged the entire battle situation, interpreted the opponent, and understood his own advantages. The analysis of weaknesses and shortcomings is all presented on the field. This is the most valuable part of a quarterback. His brain, he has a smart brain!"
"I'm not denying this." Nom nodded in approval, "but the fact is that except for the long pass in the opening, his other abilities are really not enough." Seeing Anthony getting excited again, Nom raised his hand to stop He, "I know he trains very hard. In the past year, I have also seen his growth. He is more focused and attentive than anyone in the entire team. If our main players can have him If we work hard enough, we will already dominate the NCAA competition."
Such words are often followed by a twist.
"But!" Sure enough, "rugby is not a sport that can be changed by hard work. Sweat is very important, ninety-nine percent of sweat is an important condition for success; but one percent of inspiration, this is the root, Without this one percent of inspiration, there would be no other ninety-nine percent. Do you remember? Why was Lu a sparring partner instead of a substitute? And he only became a sparring partner in his junior year?"
Norm's words silenced Anthony.
"Norm, what do you mean? He is still unqualified?" Rick did not join the argument, but cut through the mess and went directly to the conclusion.
Norm paused for a moment, "Enter the substitute?" Rick nodded. Norm did not answer immediately, but pondered for a moment, "Let's see in the next two days." Deep in his heart, he felt close to Asian ancestry. Still slightly gaining the upper hand, "During training, we can let him conduct quarterback training and make a decision based on his performance."
"Okay, then it's settled." Rick said bluntly. It was just a "trial training" with a partner. There was no need to discuss it for too long. They were not discussing the choice of the main quarterback.
The UCLA Bruins are indeed facing an important juncture now: the new season has not yet started, and the team is suffering from injuries, one of which is the team's second quarterback.
Generally speaking, college teams, like league teams, have a limited number of players on the roster, so they will be equipped with three quarterbacks to cope with the entire long season and avoid injuries. Only a few teams will prepare four quarterbacks, and they may throw the fourth quarterback to the special teams to be a kicker or something in case of emergency.
The Bruins have a total of four quarterbacks. After the No. 2 quarterback is injured, there are still three quarterbacks who can invest in the following season.
However, among these three quarterbacks, Darius Bell is a freshman. He has not shown any shocking talent, allowing him to directly become the main force in his freshman year; tactical learning and team coordination also require time. It was too short and he has not yet fully adapted. If a situation arises, it is still unknown whether Darius can play; after playing, whether he can adapt to the rhythm of the college game is another unknown.
Kevin Price can now be regarded as the team's second quarterback. However, Kevin is already a senior this year, but he has never started a game. To be more precise, he has only played once. Seventeen pass attempts, that sums up his entire college football career.
In other words, three quarterbacks, the number sounds like a lot, but in fact all hopes are pinned on another Kevin - the main quarterback Kevin-Craft (Kevin-Craft). Last year, under the leadership of Clift, the team achieved its best record in five years, and this year it is also very promising.
If Kraft is injured, if Kraft needs to be rotated, if Kraft is slightly injured and needs to be taken off the field temporarily, what should the team do? Darius Bell and Kevin Price, this is their choice. This forces the coaching staff to consider more possibilities.
Judging from the fifteen-minute practice match just now, Kevin was not the perfect choice. Not only did he lose the game, but more importantly, the ability he showed was not fully ahead of Lu Ke. Therefore, trial training with Lu Ke is a choice, a helpless choice, but also an inevitable choice.
On the second day of training, Lu Ke worked with the team's quarterbacks. It was no longer a sparring session, but formal quarterback training. This is the first time Lu Ke has trained under the leadership of a coach in three years after high school. But for Lu Ke, it is also as exciting as he imagined - because of this kind of training, he has been persisting in it during the past period. Working relentlessly, the system in his head is his coach.
Whether it is to complete the daily training tasks of the system or to complete the tasks assigned by the actual coach, Lu Ke is meticulous. The biggest benefit is that without additional training, Lu Ke can now conduct quarterback training openly. Therefore, in addition to daily training tasks, Lu Ke still has time to ask the coach some practical questions and sort out the training in the past period. Experience.
This is very important to Lu Ke.
The training camp ended soon. Every day was full of training tasks, and time flew by. At the end of the second day's training, the first and second echelons had a fifteen-minute training match. The first echelon's main players defeated their opponents with "21:0"; at the end of the third day's training, the first echelon's The echelon and the sparring team were combined, and the second and third echelons were combined to play a training match again. In the end, the former narrowly won with a score of "17:14".
At this point, the training camp is over.
Before returning to Los Angeles, the coaching staff once again called all the players together and announced some personnel changes: players who had become substitutes in the freshman team and the training team.
"John Ward." The person who announced the list was still Anthony. When he said the first name, no one was surprised. John's performance in the past period was obvious to all, and everyone celebrated John, "Derry K. Bryant, Wilder Yandle..."
Speaking of this, Anthony paused and put away the list in his hand. It seemed that this was all. Everyone showed a look of astonishment. They looked at Anthony in disbelief and then at Lu Ke. The regret and surprise in his heart could hardly be concealed.
Lu Ke also realized that he had become the center of attention. disappointment? Of course, Lu Ke would not deny it, nor could he deny it. He was even a little annoyed and angry. But deep down, he also understands that if he wants to become a qualified quarterback, he still needs to continue to work hard - the system's scores have cruelly and coldly reminded him of this fact.
"Lu Ke." It seemed like a century had passed before Anthony's voice suddenly came over. This made Lu Ke reflexively raise his head and look over. His eyes were full of doubts. Anthony couldn't help but chuckle, "Yes. Yes, you should come over and report as well.”
"Bambi!" John was the first one to rush over and hugged Lu Ke forcefully. "You're in! You're in!" John began to shout and scream, as if he was even more excited than he was to be selected. Much happier. Because John clearly knew that without Lu Ke, he would not have been able to make such progress.
Lu Ke was ecstatic, and he could feel the endless joy beginning to pour out, but before he could celebrate, John's madness made Lu Ke burst into laughter. It was more funny than ecstatic, and he choked. laughed.
Then Derek, then Wilder, then Tevin, and then the other partners in the sparring team all rushed up and congratulated Lu Ke.
As a substitute, he finally entered the official roster. Three years after entering college, at the beginning of his senior year, he finally entered the official roster and became a member of the team! Now, he only has the last year left to see if he has the opportunity to apply for the draft and aim at the NFL professional league!
No, strictly speaking, NFL rookie training camp is only six months away. Tick tock, tick tock, time is running out.
