A Longshot: The Donovan Pines Legacy

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Hello, my name is Jake. This is my Football Dynasty. I will be running it as though I am the main character. It is the chronicling of his football career, from playing, to whatever else may happen. I'm just going to use default sliders to start his playing career (high school) and then adjust the difficulty and sliders accordingly for each year of college (harder freshman year, and 'easier' every year after).

Donovan Pines
School: Weston High School, Weston, MD
Team: Weston Wolves
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 160 (Senior HS)
Jersey Number: 13

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

Weston Reporter: 2021 Weston High Football Player Profile: Donovan Pines
6/31/21 - Thomas Burnsworth

Donovan Pines
Weston High School
Class of 2022
WR/RB
Jersey #13
6'0" 160 lbs.
3.4 GPA
2020 Statistics of Note
232 Rushing Yards, 3 Rushing TDs, 471 Receiving Yards, 4 Receiving TDs, 3 Kick/Punt Return TDs

For today's profile of an upcoming senior on the Weston Wolves Football Team we have RB/WR Donovan Pines. Donovan Pines is an interesting utility player to watch on Weston. He's listed as the backup QB, third-string RB, and third-string WR. Despite this low place on the depth chart he is on the field for a majority of the snaps, rotating between running back and wide receiver, occasionally even getting a direct snap in the wildcat formation. Pines is a player who becomes exciting when the ball is in his hands, but suffers from a lack excellence in any one position. He's getting some looks from colleges due to his speed and big play ability, but there is some hesitancy due to his lack of defined position, consistency, and ball security problems. Below is my interview with this one of a kind player:


Why do you play football?
I've always loved the game, and nothing compares to stepping out onto that field on Friday nights.


What is your favorite Pro team, any sport?
It's got to be the Baltimore Ravens. Especially right now with Lamar Jackson they're just such a fun team to watch.


What game of yours was your favorite game and why?
My freshman year, I didn't actually play, but we were able to beat our main rival, Cheltenham, for the first time in ten years. It was a big win, and one that we're going to try and repeat this year, even though they've beat us the past two years.


What is your favorite play to run?
I love the ability to run deep. I think that when it comes to pure speed I can go toe-to-toe with the other teams' fastest defenders.


What restaurant is your go to when you need a big meal?
I've always loved Popeyes. When I played Pop Warner my Dad would always take me there after a win.


When you aren't playing, practicing, or training for sports, what is your go to activity and why?
I like to hang out with some of the guys on the team, and if I'm alone I like to watch TV or movies. Those both help me relax and take my mind off of sports for a moment.


Who is your favorite sports star and why?
Alvin Kamara. The way that he runs just looks so smooth and effortless. He brings a 'swagger' to the game that other running back's just don't have.


What are your goals for this upcoming season?
The team's goal is to win states. My individual goal would be to play good enough to get a college offer.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

High school party, senior year

"Sh*t, this is just what I needed." Mikey said as he grabbed another Budweiser from the refrigerator.

Michael "Mikey" Duncan was Weston's starting Tight End and he played occasionally as a Middle Linebacker. He was the team's top receiving option and was a lock to go to get a full scholarship from a big school. He wore #87 to honor his favorite player Rob Gronkowski, however he only wore this number because the school banned him from wearing #67 due to "crude jokes" that he was making.

I looked up at him and smiled as I quickly finished the rest of my beer. I grabbed another and looked across the living room to see Kelly. We briefly make eye contact, and for a second I swear she smiled at me. Mikey sees me with a huge smile on my face and can guess what is going on.

"Are you ever going to actually make a move on Ms. Howard, or are you content with just eye-f*cking her from across Ty's house?"

"Shut the f*ck up Mikey. It's complicated, you know that. Her and Dean have been on-and-off since like middle school."

"Sh*t dude. Soccer has a goalie, that doesn't mean you can't score."

I laughed and shot him a look. It's stuff like that that made Mikey one of my best friends. He was such a lovable goofball, but you could also tell that he wanted the best for everyone around him.

"What about you Mikey, you ever gonna settle down?"

"Settle down? Sh*t, what are we 30? I'll tell you what though, there is this cheerleader I've been talking to. Her name is Cassie, and she's - she seems great."

I know that I just told you how great Mikey was, but he was also a little bit of a womanizer. For him to say that a girl seemed great was a pretty high compliment, normally he resorted to words such as "hot", "sexy", and "banging". It was rare to see him speak so candid about a girl, and not just focus on their appearance.

"Mikey. Are you talking about Cassie Fairbanks?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what she said her last name was. It's just been a real fun time with her I guess I've been a bit of a dick when it comes to remembering her last name."

I smiled and couldn't hold back laughter. Mikey shot me a look of confusion and waved his hand indicating that he wanted me to tell him what I thought was so funny. At that moment Ty came over to grab another beer for himself.

"Hey Ty, you gotta hear this. You're never gonna guess who Mikey's been talking to. Cassie Fairbanks."

Ty started to smile and Mikey continued to be lost at what was so funny. Ty cracked open another beer and took a long sip, staring at Mikey to see if he was going to connect the dots.

"Can someone please explain to me what is so f*cking funny?" Mikey nearly yelled. He was clearly not liking the fact that me and Ty were laughing at his expense.

"Cassie Fairbanks is the daughter of Mr. Fairbanks, the 12th grade Lit teacher. The one that we all have to take this year."

The look of realization that dawned on Mikey's face was priceless. It was at this moment that Ty spoke up.

"You could talk about your little woman with Mr. Fairbanks."

I laughed but it was a bit of a stretch by Ty. He was making a joke about how for 12th grade Lit we have to read Little Women, but I doubt that was a connection that Mikey made. And judging by his face, I'd assume that I made the correct assumption.

"I made a big f*cking mistake, didn't I? It's a good thing she's not here tonight, or I might have made a real move."

And in classic Mikey fashion what would happen at that exact moment? Cassie Fairbanks, walked through the front door accompanied by a couple of her friends. Mikey cursed himself and excused himself, it was the least he could do to go and greet her. Ty and I exchanged a smile as we watched Mikey go awkwardly greet her. That was the telltale sign for Mikey. Normally he was so confident and smooth, if he was acting weird it was because something was truly important for him. Ty took a big sip of his beer before looking back at me.

"Hey Donovan. Can we talk somewhere else for a second?"

I was unsure of what the reasoning for this was, it kind of spooked me if I'm being honest.

"Sure, what's up?"

Ty led me out to his back porch and took a seat in one of the rocking chairs, and nodded his head towards an adjacent one that he wanted me to sit down in.

"Donovan. I know that we're friends now, but things were tense when I moved here and became the starter over you."

I guess I should explain who Ty is at this point. Tyler "Ty" Lowe is the starting QB for Weston, and he has been since he moved to Weston freshman year. We had a pretty intense position battle that year, but he won it and the team hasn't looked back since. Ty had dreamed of going to Wisconsin for the sole purpose of being able to go to a Green Bay Packers game. He even wore the #12 to honor his favorite player of all-time.

I don't know where this is going, but I'm not sure I like it. Ty beat me fair and square for the starting QB position our freshman year. Sure, at the time I was pretty pissed about it, and pissed at him. But that was three years ago.

"Sh*t dude, you beat me fair and square. What's this really about?"

"I'm almost 100% positive I'm gonna get an offer. Wisconsion, my dream school. They're sending a scout to our first game, I wanna force the ball to you. Give you a chance to really breakout. I know the last thing you wanna do is just follow me to Wisconsin, but it would get different scout's talking."

"Yeah, I really appreciate that Ty, but you don't have to-"

"Donovan, you became one of my best friends, and I want to repay you for being a great teammate all these years. When I threw a pick you could've tried to get in the game, but instead you helped me on the sideline understand what I did wrong. It's only right that I repay the favor."

"Ty, I'd appreciate the F*ck out of that. As long as you don't do anything to jeopardize your own chances. It means a lot that you'd even think of it."

"It's my pleasure dude. If I can put the ball in your hands, we both know what you're capable of."

We exchanged a meaningful glance, but there wasn't time for me to say anything else before a couple of our offensive lineman burst out onto the back porch. It was Alex and Olly, two brothers, who also just happened to be the two starting guards for Weston. Alex reached into his cargo shorts pocket and pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Olly reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled-up joint. They looked at each other and then at the two of us sitting in our rocking chairs.

"You want in the rotation or what?"

Ty snatched the joint and lighter and started the rotation. I took one of the marlboros and waited until Ty was done with the lighter.

"What are the odds we Cheltenham this year?" Alex asked through a puff of smoke, before passing the joint to Olly.

Ty with a huge smile on his face pointed towards me to answer that question. This was probably in reference to the newspaper interview that I had done a couple days ago. I was the first senior to do it, for some reason. In it I had mentioned Cheltenham at least one or two times, and it had made a bit of a stir among both teams. Weston was pumped up by it, but Cheltenham obviously thought it was rich that a back-up was talking Sh*t on them.

"We got this." I responded in between inhales of a cigarette.

[TheOnlyIThinkJake]

About half an hour later the four of us returned to the party, reeking of cigarettes and weed. We all knew that by the end of the night we'd probably be back on his back porch doing the same thing, but there'd be more people out there with us.

Ty looked at me as if he was sizing me up.

"How you feeling Pines? Ready for beer pong?"

I scoffed and gave him my typical response when he asked a dumb question such as this one.

"I'm always f*cking ready."

Ty smiled at my response, and instantly I could see the gears working in his head. It took me one second to figure out what his plan was once I saw him glance towards Kelly in his living room.

My "crush" on Kelly, if that's what you wanna call it, even thought it sounds so childish. Regardless, my feelings for Kelly were not a well kept secret among the football team. Honestly, every day I was surprised that Dean never said anything about it.

Dean Freeman was one of Weston's starting wide receivers. That was when he was eligible, whether it was for academic reasons or something else, he was only available for about half of the games in any given season. He wasn't even necessarily a bad guy, he just had some things he struggled with.

"Hey!" Ty yelled over every other noise at his party. This was typical for a night at Ty's. At some point he was going to get loud and make a request of everybody. Typically it was for something along the lines of a drinking game, beer pong/flip cup/etc.

"We're going to get a beer pong tournament up and running soon. Five minutes and you better have a partner." After he stopped talking Ty immediately made a beeline for Kelly. I have no idea what he said, but about thirty seconds after they stopped talking she came up to me and asked if I had a partner yet.

"I do not." I managed to squeak out, feeling a mix of nervousness talking to Kelly and a little bit of anger at Ty for putting me in an uncomfortable situation. This frustration was eased when I saw that Ty was partners with sister, Alivia. Alivia was a nice enough girl, but she was an absolute liability at beer pong. I knew that he must have been serious about setting me up with Kelly if he was willing to take his sister as a partner, as stupid as that may sound. The other pairing that eased my frustration was Mikey and Cassie. It was funny seeing the two of them together, or rather it was weird seeing Mikey be so nervous. So much for him not wanting to talk to her after figuring out who her dad was.

"Well then, I guess we're partners. I've gotta be honest though. I have a soccer scrimmage tomorrow so I can't drink that much -."

"I guess I'm drinking for you then." I said as I laughed a little. I figured I had to be a little more outgoing than normal to make up for the various smokes that I smelled like.

Kelly said thank you as she finished up her current drink. It was in a red solo cup and appeared to be vodka mixed with a generic store-brand fruit punch. She refilled her cup and at my gaze explained that she was fined drinking her drink, but she was a no go for doing the shots at the end of the game for the losing team.

"You have such little faith in me that you think we're going to lose?"

She laughed and patted me on my shoulder.

"I have complete faith in the backup QB of Weston to win something."

I mouthed "ouch" but didn't have time to say anything else as Ty was launching into explaining the various house rules and who would go first. To my surprise he said that it would be me and Kelly facing off against him and Alivia.

Kelly and me managed to win the first game and as I sank the last shot I swear that both Ty and Alivia winked at me, but that might have been the alcohol, and the weed, and the nicotine for that matter.

After I sank the last shot me and Kelly both yelled in excitement and embraced in a hug. It only lasted for a second before she quickly released from the hug and started acting weird. I knew that it was because her and Dean were giving it another go so I was really at a loss as to how to proceed. Ty came over and got me another shot, saying that I had to do it because it was for senior year, a couple people around us even got in on it, hell even Kelly did the shot for "senior year".

***************
I woke up the next morning with a minor headache to the sound of Mikey snoring. After a quick glance I realized that me and Mikey were sleeping on the floor of Ty's room, and Ty was asleep in his bed. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and saw that I had missed a notification, it was a text from Kelly.

Quote:

Hey Donovan, I had a really good time last night. Even though you couldn't win the beer pong tournament for us. I think we should hang out again some time soon, call me tomorrow?

I'm going to be honest, I almost squealed like a pig at this text. It seemed like everything was going alright for me in life at this specific moment in time. I must have made some sort of noise because Ty was staring at me from his bed. He mouthed the word "so" and I knew that it was a question. We got out of bed and made our way to his back porch. He lit a cigarette and joint and handed me the joint and as he asked me to explain what had me riled up this early in the morning.

I told him about the text, but I also told him that after he demanded we do shots for senior year I sort of lost track of the night, funnily enough so did he. We faced two options for finding out how it ended: waking up Mikey, which would be a tall task, or waking up Alivia, which he was fine with as long as we waited another hour or so. We passed the joint and cigarette back a few times as we speculated on the events that could have taken place the previous night.

***************

Ty had originally said that we should wait an hour before waking up Alivia, but the suspense was killing the both of us so we went into her room to wake her up. Surprisingly, she was not there. I could see the gears working in Ty's head, but the only thought I could come up with was that I would hate to be the dude who had taken his sister home.

[johnstone1987]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheOnlyIThinkJake

"Sh*t dude. Soccer has a goalie, that doesn't mean you can't score." .

This man is speaking truth