The Boy That Should Have Been

“And now entering the locker room, the world’s greatest halfback, number five, the one and only Ramonjo Williams!” said Travon as I walked into the locker room.

“Come on man, tell me something I don’t already know,” I joked

“Hey man, we didn’t win states yet, so don’t get cocky,” said Tommy

“Yeah I know, I know, I was just messing around,” I said as coach Rob walked into the locker room.

“Sit down and shut up!” exclaimed Coach Rob as the entire locker room fell into a hush.”Now, sure we beat Lakeville 56-0, but we still have plenty of things to fix! It was only a scrimmage, and they’re only a AA team, so don’t let it get to your heads. Now do we have any injuries that I need to be aware of?”

Jrew stands up and says, “Uh coach I think I messed up my hand a little bit.”

“Anyone else?” asked Coach Rob. “No? Alright Jrew go up to the trainer and see what you did when the rest of the team goes out to practice.”

“Will do coach” said Jrew

We just won the first scrimmage of my senior season, and I’m on top of the world. If I rush for 367 more yards this season, I’ll pass Emmit Smith as the nations all time leading rusher for high school football.

“Ramonjo come here, there’s more news for you.” said mom as I walked through the door

“Alright I’ll be in there in a little” I said as I hung up the phone

“You have three letters from Southern California, Michigan State, and Utah.”

“Ok thanks mom, I’ll take a look at them.”

“Oh! Before I forget, Coach Saban called from Alabama again. He seems like he really wants you to go play for him next year.”

“Yeah mom I still have to think about it. If you need me I’ll be up in my room.”

I’m a senior this year at Raymond-James high school this year. We won states last year and we are expected to repeat that performance this year, for were returning all 22 starters. By the beginning of this season I have received 43 Division 1 scholarship offers to play football. I’m still deciding where I want to go to though. I’m leaning towards Alabama and Oregon, but we’ll see what happens.

“Wait honey, come back for a second,” called mom.

I walked back down the stairs and sat down in a chair in the kitchen, “What do you want mom?”

“If you want to play football next year in college, you better start cracking the books.”

“Yes mom, I know.”

“No you don’t, your grades are absolutely horrible! If you don’t bring them up I am going to tell your coach not to play you!”

“Alright mom I’ll bring them up.” I yelled as I walked up the stairs to my room.

I told my mom I was going to bring my grades up, but really I wasn’t going to try to at all. The teachers at Raymond-James High love me. All I really have to do is show up to class and they’ll make sure I’m eligible to play sports. I thought about actually doing homework for once, but I decided against it and called Coach Saban.

“Hey coach its Ramonjo Williams,” I said as Coach Saban answered the phone

“Oh hey kid how are you doing tonight,” Coach asked.

“Oh I’m doing alright coach, how are you doing,” I asked

Coach Saban responded,” I’m doing fine thank you.”

“My mom said you called, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“I think it would be great if you could come out to Alabama for an unofficial visit one of these weekends. I would like you to see the campus and how we run our offense out here. We definitely are a run first system,” Explained coach

I replied, “That sounds great coach. I would really like to come down when you guys play a big game against LSU or Florida.”

“We’ll see what we can work out; I’ll call you soon with more details. I have to go now, my wife is yelling at me to get off the phone.”

“Alright bye coach,” I said as I hung up the phone.

I checked my Facebook, then turned off my music and went to bed.

It is now Friday. We play St. Thomas Aquinas tonight. This is also another scrimmage, as were in Florida and there in Virginia, but this could be my most important game as it’s on ESPN. My mom says that if I play well, I could get even more scholarship offers, not that it matters though, all the good teams have already sent me offers.

I drove into the school parking lot and parked my car. This is the earliest I’ve ever been at school, as we need to leave at 5:00 a.m. to make it up there to the neutral field in Georgia. This was about an eight hour drive, but at least the school was nice enough to get us a charter bus for the ride up there. I really didn’t want to talk to anyone so I put my headphones in and turned the music up all the way and played Eminem.

“Hey man,” Travon welcomed me as I sat down next to him.

I ignored him and sat down. He knew not to bother me when I was like this. I was already focusing on the game, Running every play, route, hole, and defensive back technique over and over in my head. Coach called role to make sure everyone was on the bus, then we departed from the school.

After about an hour, I was wide awake and talking to everyone. “Hey Pretty Boy, called Adalius, come back here and sit with me for a second.”

My nickname was Pretty Boy for a reason. I had the nicest equipment out of anyone on the team. I was decked out from top to bottom; I had eye black, my dark visor, wrist bands, long sleeves, gloves, knee straps, high socks, and the newest and best cleats available.

“Hey man what’s up,” I asked Adalius as I sat down next to him.

“Just wanted to see how you’re doing today, you know they have the number two half back in the country, he’s only behind you in the ESPNU top 150 recruits rankings. Their linebacker is also pretty highly ranked, I think he is already committed to Florida,” Adalius ranted.

“Man those are all just numbers to me. The only thing that matters is the wins and losses at the end of the year,” I said as I got up and walked back to my seat. Adalius is probably the fourth best player on the team behind me, Travon, and Tommy. He is our middle linebacker and he calls all the shots on defense.

The bus was now quiet again, as everyone was now done with all their exciting weekend stories. So I looked over our playbook some, then decided to lay down and try to catch up on some sleep.

I fell asleep for the entire bus ride, I didn’t wake up until we arrived at the locker room in this school in Georgia. Everyone got their equipment off of the bus and walked into the locker room. It was one of the nicest locker rooms I had ever seen, it was carpeted, had training tables, and the lockers were lockers like the pros have. Our names were even above the locker already, I had the corner spot, the best spot to have, obviously because I am the best on the team. Everyone got their equipment on, the bus arrived late because we got lost, so we have to go straight into playing the game instead of having the two hour break we would normally have had.

“Alright everyone geared up?” asked Coach Rob,” alright it’s time boys. This game is just a scrimmage, but this is a great opportunity to prove yourself to college recruiters, and we would have bragging rights as the number one high school football team in the nation! So let’s get out there, have fun, play safe, and go win the game!” yelled coach as we got lined up to depart from the locker room. The stadium was like nothing I’ve seen before. First, there was press everywhere. Next, the stadium was absolutely enormous. It probably held as many people as a small college. We walked onto the field. We had about as many players as they did. Since we were the away team, we had the option of choosing heads or tails in the coin toss. We chose heads, and we won. We would be getting the ball first to start the game. I was back deep along with Travon to receive the kick. They kicked the ball to me. I was ready to make something happen, but as soon as I lifted my head it seemed as if their entire team was on top of me. I was stopped on the 11 yard line.

“C’mon guys you have to block for me!” I yelled.

We started the game running the wildcat. The first play was a counter to the left. I faked the handoff to Travon, and then ran the ball to the outside. The entire side of the field was filled with defenders, so I cut back to the right. Jrew couldn’t hold his block on the corner, so he came after me, but it was no use. I was past him before he could take a step. The only thing between me and the end zone was green grass. I ran the ball 89 yards for a touchdown on the first play of that game. We made the extra point and that put us up 7-0. That lead didn’t last long, the next time they had the ball on offense they drove down the field and pounded it in for 7.  The game went back and forth like that until the fourth quarter. We were tied with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Coach Rob had just called a timeout.

“Let’s go guys, if you stop them here on this third down, we could win the game! I want a 3-4 inside fire here. If they try to run stuff them up the middle, if they throw our corners need to shut them down,” said Coach Rob.

They had the ball on our 47 yard line. They needed eight yards for a first down, their kicker wasn’t very good, so we didn’t have to worry about a field goal right now. They faked a hand off to the running back up the middle. Our safeties and linebackers all bit on the fake, so that left me and Travon one on one with our receivers on the outside. I was faster than my guy, but he was 6’6 so I had no chance of being able to out jump him, or even jam him. I missed my jam and he smoked me off the line. He had me by at least five yards, but I used my speed to recover and catch him. The quarterback didn’t see me catch him, and thought the receiver was still open. He threw the ball up to him, a perfect throw, but somehow I jumped up and tipped it away. We had stopped them on defense, but now we had a minute and a half to drive the ball down the field to try to score. I fielded the ball at our three yard line. I caught the ball and immediately took off down the sideline. I made one guy miss. I had the kicker to beat, but somehow he forced me out of bounds. It was still a great return though; we had the ball on the 49 on their side of the field to start the drive. We had a minute twenty seconds left to try to score. The opposing coach called a timeout to try to regroup.

“Alright guys here’s what were going to do, Travon and Ramonjo, I want you guys lined up at receiver, we need as much speed as we can get. The first play is going to be a receiver screen to Ramonjo.” Explained Coach Rob.

We broke the huddle, and Tommy hit me with a laser, it was a perfect pass, Quann and Sean, the two receivers with me on the right side, made perfect blocks. I made one guy miss with a killer juke, then I spun and made another guy miss. I ran twenty five yards and was finally tackled on the twenty four yard line. Coach rob called one of his two remaining timeouts.

“Alright I think this play will work, I want to go quads right. Travon I want you and Quann on the outside, and Sean you’re going to be up on the line, Ramonjo you will be right behind Sean, so it’s going o look like a diamond. I want to hit Ramonjo with a swing pass going to the outside, so everyone else block; and this could be a huge play.” Said Coach Rob.

Tommy made another perfect throw, dropping it right over my shoulder. I caught it in stride, stiff armed my defender, and immediately cut it up the sideline. I thought I was gone, but their free safety was able to force me out of bounds at the eleven yard line. Coach Rob used his last timeout.

“Alright I know you guys have wanted to run this play since camp, were going to run the double reverse. Travon and Ramonjo you guys are on the outside. Travon you’re going to go in motion and get the handoff, then Ramonjo is going to run back to the ball and get the handoff from you,” Yelled Coach Rob.

Their were twelve seconds left, and Travon got the handoff from Tommy with no trouble. Travons’ corner fell for the play and followed Travon all the way across the field. Travon handed it off to me and I took off on a full sprint immediately. The entire left side of the field was wide open for me to run. I cut it up the left sideline, their Linebacker tried to shove me out, but I was too strong, and I stiffed armed him. The safety tried to come at me but he was too slow and I shattered his ankles with a juke. The only thing between me and the end zone was their all star middle linebacker. He was too high, so I got lower than him, lowered my shoulder, and ran him over and I was into the end zone for the touchdown. We had done it, we won the game 35-28, and I had put on a spectacular performance on national TV, the scouts will love that. As soon as the game ended, reporters and fans stormed the field. We finished interviews with various reporters and departed the field for the locker room. When we got back to the locker room, everyone was juiced with excitement.

Coach Rob walked in and said, “Alright everyone sit down, I have to award the game ball, even though we all know who is going to get it.”

“Psh coach you don’t even have to say it, I already know I won,” joked Travon

“Very funny Travon, all you did was make one hand off, anyways, Ramonjo come up here and get your game ball for the 60th straight game,” said Coach Rob jokingly

I took the ball and put it in my bag, the tiredness was setting in on everyone, so we packed up quickly and got back on the bus for the ride home. It was a Thursday night game, and we didn’t get back until 3:00, so everyone was excited because we didn’t have practice, and we didn’t have to go to school. As soon as I got home I went to bed. I was too tired to do anything else.

I didn’t wake up until 12:30 today, I was very thankful that I didn’t have to go to school. When I woke up, I got dressed then went and checked the mail. I got letters from Pitt and Utah, their was no point in even looking at these schools so I didn’t even open them. I had nothing better to do, so I drove down to Starbucks to get a late breakfast. I was surprised at how many people looked at me differently. I was used to getting a couple looks from people, but when I walked in the entire coffee shop turned and looked at me. I walked up to the counter and ordered the coffee. As I waited, a man I didn’t even know walked up to me and told me good game. It hasn’t even been 24 hours and I already can’t wait for our next game.

It has been three months since that ESPN game against St. Thomas Aquinas. We were 14-0 going into the Florida State Championship game. I rushed for 3,300 yards, had 74 total touchdowns, and had 13 interceptions on defense. Tonight were going to travel up state to get to Gainesville, the location of Florida University, and where the state championship was played every year.

“Good luck tomorrow honey, your Dad and I will be there cheering for you the whole way,” said mom

“Thanks mom, I know you’ll be there, I have to leave for the bus now. Ill call you when I get to the hotel tonight,” I said

I departed for the school. We would travel up to Florida University tonight, stay in a hotel, then play the game tomorrow. I was unbelievably excited. I could not wait to play tomorrow. I got on the bus like I usually did, not wanting to talk to anyone. In fact, I was silent for the entire five hour bus ride. I was staying with Travon in the hotel room. When we got there, we put our things in our rooms, than reported down to the meeting room. Coach wanted us down there to go over plays and talk about the game plan. Coach Rob went over everything.

“Alright now go up to your rooms and go to bed. Everyone stay in your rooms, and no goofing off tonight!” exclaimed Coach Rob

We walked up to our room and went straight to bed. I wanted as much rest for tomorrow as possible.

When I woke up today it was already 12:00. We were leaving for the game at 2:30, so that left me two and half hours to eat and get ready. The hotel had a late breakfast for us, since we were staying in the hotel. I ate as much as possible, I wanted to load up on the carbs for the game. After breakfast, I went back up to the room and listened to music until we were ready to depart for the game. When we got on the bus, coach told everyone to be silent for the short ride. Five minutes after we left, we arrived at Ben Hill-Griffin Stadium, where the University of Florida played. We got off the bus and walked into the locker room. It was giant. We got changed and coach went through his normal pre game pep talk. We departed the locker room and walked onto the field. We were declared the home team since we had a better point differential. Our captains went out for the coin toss. We won the toss and elected to receive. I was back deep to receive the kick with Travon. They kicked the ball off and it came straight to me. That is when tragedy struck. I caught the ball and ran up the sideline. When I was running the sideline I got clipped from the side. I got my leg caught in between the defender and the ground. I fell backwards and it couldn’t withstand the pressure. It snapped like a twig. I immediately went down in pain. It was the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life. At least a million thoughts went through my head; what just happened, how did this happen, why to me, what about college, my future? I was on the ground writhing in pain when our trainer came over to check me out and see what was wrong.

I was in my hospital bed the next day when the doctor told me the news.

“You probably know by now, but it’s a clean break. Its straight across the femur. You had to be hit pretty hard to break that bone. It’s one of the strongest bones in your body. Unfortunately, you will not be able to have any physical activity for eight months. This means missing all of football camp for college,” said the doctor

“Wow I can’t believe this! How could it happen to me!” I exclaimed

The doctor got up and left the room as my mom walked in. She had mail in her hand and did not look happy.

“Son, I went home last night. When I woke up this morning, their was at least a hundred letters in a box next to our mail box. They’re all from colleges,” said mom

“What are you trying to get at?’ I asked mom

“Well honey, I opened most of them, and they’re all from the D-1 colleges, they’re revoking the scholarship offers. They say they can’t take the risk of signing an injury prone player.”

“What! How am I injury prone! That’s nonsense; I’ve never been hurt in my entire life!”

“I know, but I’m sure there are still some smaller schools willing to sign you. When we get home, we’ll just have to apply to some D-2 schools, than you can work your way up, and maybe transfer schools.”

It has now been 15 years since I suffered that injury. I applied to a D-2 school named Arkansas-Pine Bluff. It was located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I led them to the D-2 championship all four of my years there. I broke the rushing yards and touchdown records for a D-2 school. Even though I played so well, I was not drafted into the NFL. I struggled through college the whole way. I graduated with a 2.1. When I graduated from college, I was too lazy to apply for a job. I had been used to getting everything handed to me in my life. I stayed with my mom for a year and then she finally kicked me out. I rented an apartment and got a job as a manager at McDonalds. I am still working there until this day. A lot of people would say that I should have turned into an NFL all star. But that’s what happens when you struggle through school. You never know what’s going to happen to you.