American Football: King of the Bay Area

With just a single sentence, sparks flew between Kevin and John. Kevin spun around and shot John a nasty glare. John, refusing to back down, glared right back. But before their standoff could escalate, Anthony’s furious, impatient voice boomed out again, ”You lot, fall in! You hear me? Fall in!”

The shout broke up their confrontation. Kevin turned away resentfully and jogged toward the assembly point. Because of their conflict during the last practice, he’d been demoted to the fourth-string spot. While he was nominally the fourth-string quarterback, the position was virtually guaranteed to see no game time—no different from being on the practice squad. He couldn’t afford another mistake.

Seeing the fuming John, Lu Ke actually started to laugh. ”His vision is limited to college football, but we’re aiming for the Professional Alliance. Why bother with a small-timer like him?” The comment left John dumbfounded. He could hardly believe Lu Ke’s dream was so ambitious. From the practice squad to the pros? Not even a Hollywood fairytale would be written that way.

But on second thought, he couldn’t find a way to argue. In the end, John just shook his head and laughed. He started jogging alongside Lu Ke, falling in with the rest of the team.

The coaching staff stood not far behind them. Rick Neuheisel looked thoroughly displeased, muttering to two other coaches. Anthony glanced back, and Rick gave a dismissive wave. Anthony then turned to the assembled players and announced, ”That’s it for today’s drills. Next up, we’re running an intra-squad scrimmage. Third-string versus the practice squad.”

Scrimmages during training camp were perfectly normal. They happened every few days, whether as full scrimmages or smaller squad-on-squad drills, to test training progress, rehearse their own plays, or simulate an opponent’s strategies. But third-string versus the practice squad? That was exceedingly rare.

Since the practice squad players didn’t have strict on-field position assignments, their main purpose was to run squad-on-squad drills, sometimes acting as the offense, sometimes the defense, and occasionally even the special teams. Outside of that, they were mostly used for position-specific training. The practice squad almost never got to play in a formal scrimmage.

The showdown between Lu Ke and Kevin ten days ago was exactly that—a squad-on-squad drill, a training method designed specifically to rehearse offensive plays.

And now the practice squad was going to play in a formal scrimmage? This meant they would have to split into an offensive unit and a defensive unit—as for special teams, players could just fill in as needed. What’s more, they had to pick a quarterback. The practice squad didn’t have its own quarterback; whenever one was needed for drills, the team’s third or fourth-string QB would temporarily step in to help run the plays.

Anthony seemed to know exactly what kind of bombshell he’d just dropped. He continued, ”The scrimmage will run for fifteen minutes. We want to see how well you’ve all drilled the plays. It’s no secret that our first and second strings are plagued by injuries. By the end of this training camp, we need to select suitable players from the third-string, the incoming freshmen, and the practice squad to fill out our backup roster. Today is the start of that process.”

A look of sudden understanding dawned on everyone’s faces, and a buzz went through the assembled players.

UCLA once had an incredibly glorious history, winning the Rose Bowl championship thirteen times, including a run of eight consecutive titles. This is an NCAA record that remains unbroken to this day. But since the turn of the twenty-first century, the team had fallen into a long slump, failing to recapture the glory days of the 1950s and 1980s.

Last year, the team had made significant progress, finishing the season seven-and-five. It was the team’s first winning season in five years, filling people with high hopes for the Brown Bear Team’s performance this year. But before the season even began, they were already plagued by injuries. The first-string lineup, in particular, had been decimated, casting a shadow over the team’s prospects.

The coaches, of course, couldn’t just sit idly by. They had to prepare on two fronts: on one hand, hope for their starters to recover and return; on the other, they needed to build up their bench depth. Training camp was their last chance, as the season was set to officially begin next week.

A fifteen-minute scrimmage was, in essence, just an extended version of a squad-on-squad drill, only with more clearly defined roles. In other words, it also meant the coaches’ evaluation targets were more clearly defined.

After Anthony finished his announcement, the first and second-string players exchanged glances, their faces showing they were ready for a good show. Meanwhile, the third-stringers, incoming freshmen, and practice squad players all looked thrilled. This was, without a doubt, their golden opportunity. Every one of them clenched their fists, eager to prove themselves.

John looked at Lu Ke in astonishment, unable to hide his excitement. He bumped Lu Ke with his shoulder. ”Did you hear that? Did you hear that?” He couldn’t contain his emotions, starting to jump on the spot while pumping his fist.

Lu Ke couldn’t help but clench his own fists, his fighting spirit ignited. ’Perfect timing. I just earned a base stat point. I can add another edge... but where should I put it?’

Over the murmurs of the players, Anthony bellowed, ”Alright, I’m assigning the teams.” For now, the new freshmen were playing in their familiar positions while the coaches continued to evaluate their abilities, planning to reassign them later based on team needs and individual skill sets. The same applied to the practice squad, where players usually rotated through various roles rather than holding a single, fixed position.

”Before we divide the teams, who will play quarterback for them?” Anthony called out. The surrounding noise instantly died, and all eyes fell upon Kevin, John, and Darius Bell. Darius was the quarterback among this year’s incoming freshmen.

At present, the team’s third-string quarterback was Darius, and the fourth-string was Kevin. As for John on the practice squad, his past achievements made him the obvious choice for quarterback among that group.

However, Darius was the third-string substitute in name only. He had only been on the team for two weeks and had not yet adapted to the team’s playbook, let alone the intensity of college football.

So, Anthony made the call. ”Kevin, you’ll quarterback the third-string team.” No one was surprised, Darius included. The other third-string players could be seen congratulating Kevin. He gave a humble wave, but the arrogant delight on his face was impossible to conceal. ”Now, for the practice squad?”

Darius? Or John?

”I’ll do it!” Someone stepped forward, volunteering. All eyes snapped in that direction, only to land on the familiar, yet suddenly alien, figure of Lu Ke. For a moment, no one knew how to react. A stunned silence fell over the group, the shock so potent it was as if everyone’s brain had just crashed.

But Lu Ke wasn’t the least bit flustered. Head high and chest out, radiating confidence, he calmly met Anthony’s questioning gaze. ’This is my chance,’ he thought. ’I’m not going to let it slip away.’

Anthony paused, slightly taken aback. He couldn’t help but recall that stunning Rainbow Pass from the three-on-three drill. Just then, John stepped forward. Right as everyone assumed he was also about to volunteer, he spoke up. ”I recommend Lu Ke. He’s an excellent quarterback.”

Everyone was floored, their minds struggling to catch up. But an even bigger surprise was still to come—Anthony nodded his approval. ”Alright, Lu Ke. You’ll be the quarterback for the practice squad. You remember the offensive plays?”

”Of course!” Lu Ke replied confidently.

An uproar broke out. The players looked as if they’d been struck by lightning, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure of how they were supposed to react. Only Kevin was heard muttering under his breath, ”Clown.” A mocking sneer spread across his face, an expression of pure disdain.

Anthony paid no mind to their astonishment and proceeded to announce the rosters, formally dividing the players between the third-string team and the practice squad. ”We’re skipping the kickoff,” he then declared. ”Third-string starts on offense, practice squad on defense. The scrimmage officially begins in five minutes. Get ready.”

With that, Anthony turned and walked toward the sidelines, leaving the field to the players.

In an instant, Lu Ke was surrounded by his practice squad teammates. They all sized him up, their expressions a mix of doubt and curiosity. ”Are you sure about this? You really think you can handle it?”

There wasn’t any real conflict of interest among the practice squad members. On the contrary, being ostracized and neglected by the starters had made the practice squad players a tight-knit group. On this team, no one considered them true members except for themselves. While they sometimes got annoyed with Lu Ke’s ”perfect” performances, which only added to their own burdens and pressure, their relationship with him was actually decent—far better than their relationship with the other backups, like Kevin.

Lu Ke broke into a smile. ”Whether I can do it or not... we’ll find out once I’m on the field, won’t we? Don’t worry, if my very first pass gets intercepted, the coaches won’t have the stomach to watch any longer anyway.” This self-deprecating joke made everyone burst into laughter, breaking the tense atmosphere.

An interception is when a player on the opposing team catches the football before it hits the ground. When that happens, regardless of whether it’s first or fourth down for the offense, possession of the ball is immediately turned over, and the opposing team gets to start their own offensive drive.

The members of the practice squad’s offense cleared off the field, making way for their defensive unit to take their positions first. They all started cheering for their daily training partners. ’From the practice squad to a backup spot? Maybe even make the gameday roster?’ This was the dream of every single player on the practice squad—a dream that felt impossibly distant, yet tangibly real.

Only then did Lu Ke finally have a moment to summon the system again and think about how to assign the base stat point he’d just earned. But to his surprise, he saw the mission icon was blinking. ’I already read the notification for completing the daily training mission,’ he thought. ’Why is there still an unread message?’

Curious, Lu Ke opened his inbox and saw a brand-new mission waiting for him: Game Mission!