Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

[djp73]

April 28th, 2018

"Maybe this was all a big ****ing mistake." He thought to himself as he clicked off the television and tossed the remote.

"You know this isn't the end right babe?" She asked as she put her arm around his shoulders.

"Maybe it is..." He trailed off.

"A whole bunch..." He cut her off.

"I know, but there's like two hundred and fifty ****ing dudes that got picked and they thought they're all better than me?" He stood up to punctuate the sentence.

"You keep working and you'll get your chance."

He thought about how hard he had worked to get to this point, all the stops along the way, all the hours in the gym and playbooks, all the doubters, his dad.

"You know," he paused. "You're right, I can't give up now. This is just another twist in the plot. Let's get in a run."

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

January 3rd, 2018

“Now, I haven't read it, haven't even opened it. But I want you to know that you're under no obligation to do what it says. The plan can stay the same regardless. It's just information, remember that.”

“Yeah,” Dice replied as he reached for the letter. “I've got a pretty good idea what it's going to say.”

He peeled open the envelope, trembling slightly as he did.

He cleared his throat as he unfolded the sheet of paper and began scanning the text.

"At this time we have your projected draft position anywhere from mid to late sixth round to undrafted."

He exhaled, almost a sigh.

"Due to this projection the draft advisory board's reccomendation is for you to stay in school for another year and work on gaining more experience, graduating and improving your draft position for the 2019 draft."

"Well..." He trailed off.

"A sixth or seventh round pick still gets you in the door, that's all we need."

"I don't know man, it seems risky. Maybe they're right?"

"Well, we have some time. We can take some time and think it through, talk it through and then decide. I think it's a strong crop next year and there's that risk of injury hanging out there. It's never a sure thing."

"True." He replied, feeling more than a little pressure. "**** it, lets do it."

"I'll make the call." The older man said as he stood, straightened his tie and reached over his desk to initiate and handshake.

"Time to get back to work." Dyson said to himself as he walked out of the office trying to supress the butterflies in his stomach.

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

August 31st, 2014

It was a dream come true. Doug Nussmeier in his living room selling me on the school I'd always dreamt of playing at.

"Now, I'm sure you saw how fun this offense can be yesterday." The coach said with a smile as Dyson smiled and nodded.

"It looked like a whole lot of fun." He replied.

"You saw how wild and energetic it gets in there yesterday."

Dyson had attended Michigan's 52-14 win over Appalacian State the day before, over 100,000 fans in the Big House was unlike anything he had ever seen. He knew he was going to commit before the player introductions were over.

"Yes sir, it was incredible!"

"Picture yourself making plays with those 109,000 plus fans rooting for you in a win over Ohio in November."

"Yes sir, I've been dreaming of that since I was a kid."

"So, can we get you to sign a letter of intent today?"

"Absolutely. I can't wait to get up there!"

For Dyson signing that letter of intent was the culmination of years of dreaming and hard work. When he was putting in extra work in the gym or digging to finish that last sprint he pictured himself at Michigan. He and his dad always talked about it and they were always Michigan in every back yard game or whenever they played NCAA video games.

Once he was done signing and put down the pen he grabbed his mother in a tight embrace and broke down along with her.

"Congratulations baby, I knew you could do this!" His mother exclaimed between tears.

"Welcome to Michigan Dyson, we're very excited to have you on board!" Nussmeier said with a big grin as he extended his hand.

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

December 2nd, 2014

Dyson pulled his Accord to the shoulder and reached into the back seat to grab his cell phone out of his gym bag.

"Three missed calls?" He said to himself and he noticed the message.

He dialed the number.

"Hello, Jim Hackett speaking."

"Uh, hi. This is Dyson Davis, I had some missed calls?"

"Oh Dyson! I'm glad you called back. I'm the AD at Michigan, we spoke last month when I was hired."

"Oh yeah." Dyson replied, remembering the breif interaction.

"How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing well sir, and you?"

"I'm good. Thanks. Listen Dyson, I'm calling you about coach Hoke. You may or may not already have heard that we've let him go."

"****.." Dyson replied before he could filter his reaction. "Sorry sir, just a bit surprised."

"That's certainly understandable, natural reaction. I wanted to call all of Coach Hoke's recruits personally. We want you all to know that we're still very much committed to you all and we hope you'll stick it out."

"That's good to hear sir."

"I can tell you that we're very committed to not only finding the best coaching candidate available but the one that is best for this program, we want to get this one right."

"Well, I can tell you that I intend to be there in the spring and I'm excited to get started no matter who the coach is. Really looking forward to it sir."

"That's great news Dyson, I'm very excited to hear that. We'll see you here soon."

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

i love comments, bring 'em on.

[young22]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

Interesting so far, I like that you showed present day and now we see what leads to it

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

Interesting so far, I like that you showed present day and now we see what leads to it

thanks, we'll be bouncing around the timeline throughout

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

May 2nd, 2016

"So, Dyson, what would you say are some of your goals that you'd like to accomplish if you enroll here?"

"Well, first and foremost I want to get my education back on track. I'm sure you noticed that things took a bit of a nosedive at Michigan in that regard. That's important to me, I want a degree."

"That's great to hear Dyson. I hope that truly is your top priority. If you're dedicated we have the staff and the support system to get you back on track and onto what's next for you."

"Yes sir, you all came very highly recommended."

"That's great to hear. Let's talk about why things went poorly at Michigan."

"Well, I think the coaching change had a lot to do with it. I knew I would redshirt either way but I never felt like part of the team or part of the future of the team. I've never not played and that was really hard to cope with. Being so far away from my family and just not having that suppor system. I just kind of felt lost I guess. That sounds like a lot of excuses I'm sure..."

"It's all understandable Dyson, that's a lot all at once for anyone."

"Yes sir."

"Well I see no reason to drag this process out any further, welcome to Blinn College Dyson."

Dyson and the man stood simultaneously and shook hands.

As he left the office Dyson noticed that a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, his goals seemed attainable once again and he was looking forward to the next step with a level of optimism he hadn't felt in some time. He skipped down the stairs and made his way back to his car, reaching for his cell phone as he settled into the driver's seat.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

I'm liking that he left Michigan, should have gone to State!

I won't lie, when I read the first few posts I didn't notice the date at first. I thought he went undrafted and THEN went back to college...I was thinking "you can't do that," then I noticed we went back in time a bit lol.

I like this so far, I'm excited to see how the story goes

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

I'm liking that he left Michigan, should have gone to State!

I won't lie, when I read the first few posts I didn't notice the date at first. I thought he went undrafted and THEN went back to college...I was thinking "you can't do that," then I noticed we went back in time a bit lol.

I like this so far, I'm excited to see how the story goes

thanks man, i appreciate the red and the post

we will be bouncing around the timeline quite a bit in this on, hopefully it doesnt become too confusing

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

April 28th, 2018

It was a good run, just over four miles. The intention was to clear his head and focus on something else for a while. It had certainly worked.

They kicked off their shoes and Dyson headed for the shower while she made her way to the kitchen.

"Babe!" She exclaimed as she noticed his cell phone flashing. "You got a message."

He sprinted toward his phone and scooped it up. The beat up Motorola Razr indicated he had missed quite a bit, displaying missed calls, text messages and even a couple voice mails.

"I still can't believe you use that old thing." She said as she pointed to the now vintage phone.

Dyson cracked a smile in response. He didn't believe in smart phone, all he wanted his phone to do was make and receive calls, he didn't even like to text and rarely did it. He liked being able to disconnect. That's why he shared an opinion on technology not with his peers but with most people born several decades before him.

He looked at the list of missed calls, six of them, all from the same number. He called the number.


“So here's the deal!” The voice on the other end of the phone all but shouted, not wasting time with a greeting.

“We've got about eight or nine teams interested.” He continued, not waiting for Dyson to respond.

“The deals are all about the same so it's all about getting the best situation for you between them all.”

“What...” Dyson started to ask before he was abruptly cut off.”

“New England, New York...”

“Giants?”

“Jets.”

The conversation continued for about an hour as they discussed each of the interested team's situations including roster, coaching staff and depth at his position. Some teams were eliminated almost immediately while several required lengthy debate.

“Thanks man!” Dyson exclaimed when they had come to the same conclusion. “I'm stoked on this. I can't wait to get in there and get going.”

“I'm excited for you. This is a great situation and opportunity. I'll make the call and text you the details.

“Cool.” Dyson hung up the phone and was immediately jumped on by Janelle.

“I know you're gonna make it baby!” She shouted. “Let's do this!”

Dyson and Janelle spent the rest of the evening packing up their few belongings they were taking and talking about the future. Before they knew it the Uber was outside the next morning and they were headed for the airport.

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

May 12th, 2018

Dyson squinted against the sun as the ball dropped from the sky toward him. He quickly checked the blocking and coverage before waving his hand to indicate a fair catch.

“Good call Davis!” One of the coaches shouted. “Smart play, no need to be a hero with the coverage so close and that field position. That's a smart play.”

Dyson nodded and jogged to the huddle.

“Good thinking.” Another coach said as he tapped Dyson's helmet.

They ran through a number of special teams drills with Dyson getting a number of opportunities to return kicks and punts as well as covering them.

At the end of the session he was feeling pretty good. It was a no contact practice with just helmets but it allowed him to show off his skill set. He had made a couple good plays and was praised for his decision making on a few occasions.

“Good **** man.” A player he didn't recognize commented as they were heading toward the lockers.

“Thanks man, you too.” Dyson replied with a nod.

They continued their day with film study and chalk talk, Dyson noticed that a number of the concepts were familiar, just with different terminology. There were also a lot of new concepts as well. It was a lot to digest but he did his best to take notes.

“They're throwing it all at us.” He said to himself. “Probably trying to see who gets overwhelmed and who doesn't.”

The three days went by pretty quickly and before he knew it the coaching staff was making their final address to the players at the camp.

“For those of you that stick on it's as much because of your hard work and effort as it is physical skills.” One coach explained to the group.

“If you do stick around there's still a lot of work left so maintain that level of effort going forward. If you don't make it remember, it's not personal. Keep working. Each of you will be contacted by someone in the organization in the next few days to let you know what's next. Thank you all.”

Dyson left the facility feeling unsure about his future with the team but he knew he'd done all he could. It would be terrible to not make the next stage and know you left something on the table. He didn't feel like that was the case so whatever was next he was good with it.

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

GAME UPDATE
August 11, 2018
Preseason Week One

Broncos 24 - 13 Vikings


BRONCOS UDFA DYSON DAVIS SPINS PAST A VIKINGS DEFENDER ON THE WAY TO A BIG GAIN

Dyson Davis Stats
11 Car 57 Yds, 5 Rec 82 Yds, 1 PR 2 Yds

[SilverBullet19]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

Thats a big game for an UDFA, should go a long way toward making the cut.

[djp73]

Re: Roll the Dice - Dyson "Dice" Davis

Thats a big game for an UDFA, should go a long way toward making the cut.

yup, had a couple big splash plays that really helped the stat line