Stories of the Legend | Coach James Houston

[beast10]

Season One | Chapter Nine
Step into the Future

“Mistakes happen, I’m not going to penalize you guys and especially you, Kaleb, for missing that field go—“

“Yeah but I am,” James interjected. “We’re not going to win another ****ing game this season if we can’t perform under pressure. Offensive line, you guys are driving me insane. Protect the ****ing quarterback and open lanes for the backs! Letting Austin take six sacks tonight is unacceptable and making a 3rd and one situation seem like a 3rd and long is even worse. Kaleb, you made a 39 yarder in the second and then missed a 37? Welcome to college football man, you can’t fold when the team needs you the most.

“And then defense…” he shifted focus. “You let the guys drive the ball the length of the field just when we needed you guys the very most and allow them to beat us with a field goal? That’s bull****, absolute bull****. We keep this up and we’ll finish exactly how the critics predict; 1-12.”

“Coach is right,” Spencer Treadwell hobbled up due to his in-game injury. “Every last one of us worked way too hard throughout the last few months to be losing games like this. I think I can speak for all us seniors in saying we don’t want to leave this program with our biggest accomplishment this year being a win over an FCS squad. It’s time to step it up.”

“Hell yeah,” Bryson Albright said, the defensive captain.

“Take it away, Bryson,” Coach Martin said out from a distance.
The senior defensive end gathered the entire team in the center of the locker room with agony fulfilling his facial, “It’s time to start pushin’ forward around here. Treadwell is right, the last thing I want to do is leave this program without doing something big this year. Cincinnati is out there dancing with the Victory Bell – we haven’t been able to do that **** in like a decade. Use that as motivation, it’s time to turn things around and it starts today!”

“Who are we?” Treadwell exclaimed.

“The real Miami!” the team simultaneously chanted.

“What are we out here to do?” Bryson shouted.

“Win!”

James assertively nodded his head at the pumped team. He hoped next week they’d be able to cheer for the right reason when they took on Western Kentucky.

…

“Didn’t go as planned, huh?” James said as he walked with Skyler Hardy, his former fullback at St. Charles.

“I mean… it wasn’t bad, you guys would’ve won if it wasn’t for that ******** kicker. Outside of that, I just don’t really think the fans are too supportive around here, the atmosphere was dead in the stadium. Seemed like the game was being played on a neutral site.”

He nodded, “I’ll admit we’ve got one of the worst attendances in FBS.”

“Well I really can’t complain because Kent State does too… but then at the same time, I’d be their only fullback on the roster. The coaches said I’d have a good chance at playing and probably starting as a true freshman.”

“Fair enough. Look, Skyler, I’ve known you since your freshman year of high school. I know everything you can do and I know your potential – that is why I’ve made an effort to bring you here. But ultimately, the choice is yours.”

“It’s tough. My family is leaning on Kent, I don’t really know.”

“Just do what’s best for you. That’s all I can ask for.”

He nodded, “Alright coach, it was good seeing you again. I’m going to head back home and think things over with my family and see where we stand. I’ll have my decision out my either today or tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” James said before shaking hands with Skyler.

---

After deciding to drive back home to Dayton following the loss, James met up with his son for the first time since the season began about a month ago. They now sat across from each other at a restaurant as they awaited their morning breakfast to be served.

James tapped on the table and took a quick glance at the television played NFL Gameday Previews. He looked back at his son who was now on his phone.

“So how’s that new head coach doing so far?” he asked.

“Dude coached middle school ball before he came with us. He doesn’t do a real good job, definitely not the same when you were around.”

James laughed, “So is it pushing it to make that my excuse as to why I haven’t been able to come to your games?”

“Nah, it’s all good. I know you're real busy down there and you probably wouldn’t want to see us now anyways… Ever since Johnny and Anthony graduated we’ve had no offense but Skyler. We barely even beat St. Mary’s last Friday because of his dumb play calls, not to mention our quarterback is a sophomore.”

“Tough… a good coach always goes a long way. I always regret leaving before you graduated.”

“You’re good, dad! You love Miami so that’s where you belong but I’ve gotta say… let’s not ignore the fact that your kicker blew the game yesterday. I was watching the Ohio State game and Skyler texted me about it afterwards. Bet you ran that dude out the stadium, huh?”

James shook his head, “Nah, but I sure wanted too. If he wasn’t the only kicker on the squad I would’ve made sure he wouldn’t be kicking another field goal for us.”

James II laughed and took a sip from his juice.

“How’s your recruitment process going?”

“Difficult…” he admitted. “Every school is offering me something the other isn’t. I thought I wanted to go to OSU but now I’m getting scholarships left and right… Rivals has me as the best strong safety in the state right now. I honestly have no clue where I want to go.”

James nodded, taking it in, “Look, I try not to bring this up too much because I know you’re not too interested but every time I mention your name around the office the guys get hyped and ask me ‘you think you could get him here’? They really like—“

“So, what? You want me to go to Miami… Miami Ohio,” he mockingly asked.

James shrugged, “A scholarship is on the table.”

He chuckled, “Yeah? I’ll think about it."

[beast10]

[beast10]

Supposed to be week five... sorry

[beast10]

BY A RAZOR'S EDGE
Miami slips past Hilltoppers with huge 44 yard touchdown reception

Two explosive offenses showed up in Bowling Green, Kentucky this afternoon to combine for over 1,000 total yards as Miami defeated Western Kentucky 33-29, snapping a two game losing streak against the Hilltoppers who were expected to win after entering the game with a record of 3-1.

“The defense wasn’t playing up to par but our offense really ran that last drive to perfection,” offensive coordinator James Houston said. “They really wanted this win so I couldn’t be more proud of them for going out and getting it.”

After the Hilltoppers used the fourth quarter to amount a comeback, Miami took their last possession with just under three minutes remaining. A 10 yard run by Spencer McInnis followed by a 12 yard reception from Orlando David led to Houston making the call for his offense to go for it all. Austin Gearing, who threw a career high of 356 yards, dropped back and threw a lob to Rokeem Williams who caught it and ran in for the game-winning 44 yard reception.

“He beats his man easily on the fade route and really makes for a dependable receiver every time,” Gearing said in regards to Williams who finished the game with seven receptions and 141 receiving yards.

The Gearing-to-Williams long pass connection has been one of casualty early on in the season; they kicked things off with a 78 yarder in week one, 34 in week two, 48 in week three, and finally today’s 44.

For the fourth time in four games, Spencer Treadwell left the match with an injury, this time a confirmed hip pointer that’ll keep him sidelined for an indefinite amount of time. Spencer McInnis routed him with just 35 yards but scored a marquee touchdown late in the third which pushed the RedHawk’s lead up to 23-14.

Junior cornerback Heath Harding had his breakout game of the season with an interception in the first half to go along with six tackles. Special team’s redshirt freshman Kelvin Cook returned five punts on the night with one being taken all the way for a 63 yard touchdown for the first score of the afternoon.

For Western Kentucky, Brandon Doughty entered the game as the nation’s leading passing yards quarterback. Today he threw for 381 yards, going 33-57 for two touchdowns and an interception. He found as many as eight receivers on the night but favored Jared Dangerfield and Quin Jernigham who combined for 19 receptions. Dangerfield finished with 10 and 93 yards while Jernigham hailed in 9 for 127 yards.

The Hilltoppers took their first lead since the first half after scoring twice in the fourth quarter; first on a 33 yard run by Leon Allen and then a 29 yard pass from Doughty to Taywan Taylor – only to be handed the loss following Rokeem William’s touchdown.

“We executed well when needed, bigtime win for us to say the least,” Miami’s head coach, Chuck Martin said.

Just four games into the season, the RedHawks have already matched their two-game win total from a year ago. Fans can only hope that the team will continue to add on as the season progresses. Miami moves into their MAC opener next week where they’ll play against Central Michigan for a game slated to kick off at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 5.

---

GAME AND TEAM STATS

[beast10]

I've got a halfday tomorrow so there may be a few more updates but that'll probably do it for the week.

But anyways, I'm having a lot of fun with this dynasty. Getting through four games in one weekend was a really good sign that this might be my first football project that advances past year one. If there are any silent followers out there, thanks for reading & I hope you enjoy as I move forward in this.

* also would like some opinions when it comes to recruiting realism... If you've followed my storyline, you'd see we've got a five star recruit out of Ohio who's highly considering our program. In other instances like this, should I go through with their interest or hold off until we start seeing more success in the field? Right now I haven't set up any recruiting restrictions but I also don't do anything but check the recruiting board weekly.

[fresnostate]

I say go for it. You can make a story line out of it i.e. bad grades, wants to stay close to home, join hs teammates, etc.

I'm pretty terrible at this game so the only recruiting restriction I put on myself is no out of state recuits 3* and above. I say as long as the kid is from your home state, its fair game. We've had real life stuff like this happen before. I don't remember the recruit's name, but he was a 5-star recruit who committed to Southern Miss over SEC schools.

Good luck and you've got yourself a silent follower here beast!

[beast10]

Quote: Originally Posted by fresnostate

I say go for it. You can make a story line out of it i.e. bad grades, wants to stay close to home, join hs teammates, etc. I'm pretty terrible at this game so the only recruiting restriction I put on myself is no out of state recuits 3* and above. I say as long as the kid is from your home state, its fair game. We've had real life stuff like this happen before. I don't remember the recruit's name, but he was a 5-star recruit who committed to Southern Miss over SEC schools. Good luck and you've got yourself a silent follower here beast!

Yeah that was my initial thoughts to make a storyline out of it. I think I like your in-state only rule.

Thanks for the comment Fresno, really appreciate.

[shipfb21]

just started reading this dynasty story, its fantastic. I love the story u have developed, combined with the football write ups. this story has def caught my attention. only read through the first 2 pages so far, but will def catch up n continue following along. just wanted to check in n aay keep up the great work.