Dusk settled in a good two hours before he could even consider taking off. He’d just lost one of his defensive ends to a season-ending injury, and their spring draft selections weren’t coming together the way he’d hoped. With two in the third round and one in the fifth, the Tide could pick up some quality players, but given the paucity of depth at the key positions they needed to fill and build for, he alongside the team’s coaches needed to be prepared to implement some well-executed backup plans. The team was straddling the last remaining wild card playoff position, the owners were disappointed in what appeared to be declining revenues, and his star quarterback couldn’t pull his head out of his ass long enough to secure a first down during the last few games, prompting the head coach to consider benching him, which presented a whole host of other problems, on and off the field. Despite all these problems, a buoyant sense of optimism surrounded him these days.
