American Football: King of the Bay Area

Chapter 385: Chapter 382: Taking Over the Team

Sprinting, then sprinting again, he truly pushed himself to the limit, as if there was an invisible film ahead that could only be broken by reaching peak speed. In that instantaneous burst of energy, he could feel the exhilarating burn in his muscles, the wind roaring past his ears.

Although Lu Ke’s speed stat was only a seventy, making absolute speed not his strong suit, his ability to change pace and accelerate during long-distance runs was gradually improving his physical fitness. In tough matchups, Lu Ke’s stamina was slowly but surely building up.

Sprinting as if soaring freely across an imaginary finish line, he completed his first warm-up drill of the day. Lu Ke gradually slowed to a jog, then began a cool-down walk around the edge of the field.

“Bambi,” Ted Ginn Jr. called out from nearby, where he was stretching. “Is it just me, or did they add more to the warm-up routine today?”

Lu Ke was completely drenched, looking like he’d just been fished out of a lake. Wiping at the rivers of sweat with a towel, he chuckled and nodded in confirmation. “Not too much. They just added some footwork drills.”

After the bye week, the daily training regimen had changed again. One of the additions was footwork training integrated into the variable-pace long-distance runs. After his sprints, Lu Ke started practicing lateral movement and cutting drills, mainly to train the stability of his footwork under pressure and in extreme situations.

For example, when the pocket is collapsing quickly, or on the verge of breaking down completely, a rookie quarterback can easily panic. Not only do they lose the chance to scan the field, but they might also get their feet tangled in a flurry of panicked steps, trip over themselves, and go down, resulting in a dead ball.

Lu Ke’s mental game wasn’t the issue when facing a crisis, but his feet and body couldn’t always keep pace. He had two uses of the “Absolute Step” Special Skill left, but it wasn’t a cure-all that could be deployed at any moment. That’s why training for footwork stability was so important.

Seeing Lu Ke’s nonchalant, “it’s no big deal” attitude, Ginn was taken aback for a moment. He shook his head with a helpless laugh, just sighing, “Good God,” and was left speechless.

Just then, his eyes landed on Logan Newman, who was just arriving at the practice field. Ginn quickly called out, “Hey, didn’t you start training with Bambi? Why are you only just getting here now? I feel like you’ve got to be way behind.”

Logan waved his hands dismissively and pointed at Lu Ke with a look of mock disgust. “This guy’s workload… I don’t think anyone besides Watt from the Texans can even compare. I only do strength training with him. I stick to my own pace for the rest, otherwise I’m not sure I’d have any energy left for our other drills.”

“So you’re saying you can’t keep up with Bambi?” Marcus Lynch and Aldon Smith walked onto the practice field right behind him. Marcus couldn’t wait to start ribbing him, his simple words laced with a suggestive undertone, hinting at something more.

Logan just shot Marcus a look and instantly got it. “Get lost! My *abilities* are ten times better than Bambi’s—no, a hundred times, alright? You want to experience them for yourself? I don’t mind giving you a demonstration!”

“Eww. Are you two really going to do this… in broad daylight?” Aldon put on a look of mock horror, hastily backing away from Marcus. His eyes darted dramatically between Marcus and Logan, and in an instant, the whole field erupted in laughter.

As Aldon got closer, Lu Ke chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. “How about it? Wanna train with me? Last week, Patrick was saying your positioning on defense was atrocious. Said it was unwatchable.”

As a first-round rookie, expectations for Aldon were high. But since the season started, playing as a rotational player, his performance had consistently failed to keep up with the pace of the pro game. You could say he was just barely adequate—not so bad as to be called a bust, but he hadn’t lived up to the hype, either.

The team was constantly pushing Aldon to keep up with the training regimen. But while Aldon seemed cheerful and approachable, he was also stubborn and never seemed to listen—just like most black players, his professional attitude was something that really needed work.

Aldon’s brow furrowed immediately, as if he’d just seen the school principal. He pinched his nose and jogged away. Even without a word, his vivid pantomime made everyone roar with laughter again.

“Bambi, you need a shower! You look like you just crawled out of a sewer!” yelled Colin Jones, a rookie from the Defense Team. In response, Lu Ke shot him the middle finger.

“Attention! Everyone, listen up!” Amid the roaring laughter, the coach’s voice was completely drowned out. Bobby Engram had to blow his whistle. The sharp TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! cut through the boisterous noise on the practice field. Everyone turned toward the sound and saw the team’s bigwigs all gathered together—

Jim Hubble, Patrick Willis, David Akens, and Jonathan Goodwin. The four of them filed in one after another, looking like a boy band making a dramatic entrance. The head coach and the three team captains, all appearing at once. A sense of confusion rippled through the players, and the atmosphere grew tense.

The other coaches on the sidelines also walked over, giving the four of them questioning looks, clearly confused about what was happening.

This didn’t seem to be the time for discussion, however. The three captains and the other coaches hung back a step, gathering together and exchanging glances, while Hubble alone took a large stride forward, drawing every eye in the place.

“Is the whole team here?” Hubble called out, his eyes scanning the field. He muttered, “Still missing a few guys, but that’s fine.”

Wednesday practices weren’t usually that strict, so it wasn’t a big deal for players to trickle in. Besides, there was still a good fifteen minutes before training was officially set to begin, so it was normal that not everyone had arrived yet.

“We’ve just come off our bye week, and now we’re heading right back into a busy stretch of games. I need every single player to focus and not let their guard down. We’re in a good spot right now, but it’s not a secure one. I want to make the playoffs, and not just to make a token appearance. I want us to go further. That means for the second half of the season, I need everyone to give it everything they’ve got.”

This was the first time since joining the San Francisco 49ers that Hubble had formally laid out his goals and vision for the season. The playoffs, and not just an appearance. If he had said this before the regular season started, everyone probably would have thought he was aiming too high. But now, the situation was completely different. Instead of scoffing, a surge of ambition began to swell within the players.

“So, we need to come together as one.” Hubble paused for a moment, then continued without much hesitation. “A little while ago, I met with the three team captains, and we reached a unanimous decision. Starting this week, Week 8 of the regular season, the offensive captain will be Lu Ke.”

Standing where he was, Lu Ke was wiping away the sweat trickling down his face when Hubble casually dropped the bombshell. In an instant, every player’s gaze shot toward Lu Ke, the weight of their attention landing squarely on his shoulders, catching him completely off guard.

But before Lu Ke or any of the other players could react, Hubble continued on matter-of-factly, as if he hadn’t just announced a major team shake-up but was merely assigning a routine drill.

“The captain’s patch for the jersey… I’m not sure when we can get that made, I’ll talk to the equipment guys. But I’ll be reporting it to the League officially before this week’s game. So, for this game, Lu Ke, don’t forget—the official League photos, and going out for the coin toss at the beginning, that’s all your job now…”

Hubble’s voice began to fade into background noise, the words seeming to dissipate into thin air. Lu Ke looked over at Goodwin, his eyes pleading for confirmation, completely lost as to what was happening.

Goodwin, however, broke into a relieved smile. He gave a firm nod, then clenched his fist in a gesture of encouragement. Akens, standing next to him, gave a thumbs-up and mouthed the word, “Captain.”

Willis stood there, expressionless and imposing as King Kong. He gave a slight dip of his chin, and his intense gaze seemed to say, ‘Work your ass off. Don’t you dare slack. Otherwise, I’ll personally knock some sense into you and teach you what it means to be a captain.’

Only then did the reality of the situation begin to sink in for Lu Ke. ‘But what does it actually mean to be a captain? What responsibilities am I supposed to shoulder?’ He was completely clueless, as if he had just stepped into a whole new realm.

Logan and Marcus, who were standing nearby, walked over and clapped Lu Ke on the shoulder, greeting him with a grin. “Yo, Captain.” Then, the other teammates started coming over one by one to congratulate him, and a happy, harmonious vibe filled the air.

When Parris Harrisson arrived at the training facility, this was the scene that greeted him: all the players were celebrating with Lu Ke, giving him high-fives one after another. The atmosphere was buzzing. Confused, he grabbed a player from the Defense Team and jerked his chin in Lu Ke’s direction. “What’s going on over there?”

“Coach just announced that Bambi’s the new offensive captain.”

“What?” Parris felt like he’d been struck by lightning, freezing on the spot. “How is that possible? Then… what about Jonathan?” Even though the team was on a winning streak and everything seemed to be heading in the right direction, as if all their problems had vanished into thin air, Parris still disliked Lu Ke. In fact, he couldn’t stand him.

“He agreed to it. All three captains did.”

Parris’s brain simply short-circuited. He stood there, completely dumbfounded, looking utterly lost and dejected.

Colin Kaepernick, arriving right behind him, happened to overhear the entire conversation. His eyes went vacant, and he didn’t even notice when his gym bag slid off his shoulder and thudded to the ground.