Kip Kleist and Adam Klein have a relationship that dates back twenty-five years to when Kip was a college student and Adam was already a well-known scout in the industry. The first meeting between the two was related to the draft.

At the time, Kip was a graduate at Princeton University and juggled both football and baseball — a common practice even now in 2011, where he played as a lineback in the defensive team, but not a top player.

In Adam's scouting report, he said sharply and directly, "Kleist is more suitable for baseball than football, and of course, he doesn't look like a good baseball player", this scouting report directly led to Kip's loss in the draft, and the young and vigorous Kip directly found Adam, and confronted him, and the two broke up unhappily.

But as time passed, Kip came to understand that Adam was right: he wasn't a good football player, and he wasn't a good baseball player.

After ending his professional career in the nick of time, Kip tried to become a coach and successfully tapped into his talent: attacking coaching. He is often able to play as a defensive player, giving a quarterback or a close end more different perspectives and tactical set-ups.

At the same time, Kip took the initiative to turn the conflict with Adam, and the two sides became good friends. Three years later, under Adam's thread, Kip became the Chicago Bears' offensive assistant coach, officially entering the league and starting his career as a professional coach.

Over the past two decades, Kip has coached a number of teams, up and down, but has never lost his job. Last season, he worked as a close end coach for the Carolina Panthers, but unfortunately, the team's record fell to the bottom, and Kip was cut as a result of the "winning" No. 1 pick.

After that, Kip moved to the San Francisco 49ers, who were also trying to make a comeback, and became a quarterback coach.

Last season, the San Francisco 49ers finished with a poor 6-10 record and failed to make the playoffs for eight consecutive years.

Kip is Jim's handpicked quarterback coach.

The San Francisco 49ers, who are in ruins, are now in danger and the whole team is reorganizing. The quarterback position is no exception.

The team currently has three quarterbacks, Alex Smith, David Carr and Troy-Smith. Alex is the main quarterback, and his strength is above average; But the quality of the two backup quarterbacks is unsatisfactory, and Trent and Jim are indeed interested in selecting rookie quarterbacks in the draft as substitutes to supplement the team's roster.

But after the rookie training camp assessment, Trent and Jim both believe that Lu Ke is not suitable for the 49ers, they have locked in the other four quarterbacks, and on top of the draft, as long as one of them is selected, it is enough to make up for the team's quarterback bench depth. Therefore, they did not even send an invitation to Lu Ke for an interview.

Over the past six weeks, Adam has made more than a dozen phone calls, "You have to come and see this young lad." Again and again, tirelessly, in the end, Kip nodded and agreed, not for the sake of inspecting Lu Ke, but for the friendship of old friends. Twenty-five years of friendship, that's the least he can do.

As soon as he stepped into the stands, Kip was already gasping for air, "I don't like the stands in college arenas, I never will, it's so unfriendly to fat people." Before he could get to Adam's side, Kip was already complaining, and with the smile of Maitreya Buddha, it could be seen that he was joking.

"Sometimes, some people, it's worth it." Adam, however, turned back with the bull's head on the horse's mouth, apparently with a point.

Kip didn't refute either, and nodded with a smile, "I know." But the best is not necessarily the best. ”

Kip admitted that in the training camp, he was personally optimistic about Lu Ke, even if the shortcomings were obvious, but his passing ability and defensive reading were still eye-catching; However, in the blueprint planned by Trent and Jim for the team, there is no position for Lu Ke, to be precise, there is no position for Lu Ke as a quarterback. So, Kip had no choice but to give up.

"He comes over every day to train?" Kip sat down next to Adam, looked at Lu Ke, who was doing basic passing training on the court, and asked casually.

"Yes, after the rookie boot camp ended, every single day, there was no interruption." Adam's understatement made Kip look surprised, which made Adam's eyes show a smile, "And the daily training has never been slack, you can see for yourself." What's even more incredible is that he has improved again compared to six weeks ago. ”

"Haha, Adam, get rid of it." Kip laughed.

Breakthrough and progress in strength in six weeks? This is possible if you are in high school, or early in college; But for the players who graduated from their senior year and participated in the draft, their skills and talents have been basically set, and the room for growth is bound to exist, but it is really limited.

Adam's assessment, in Kip's opinion, should be a joke. But then Kip found that Adam did not speak, nor did he justify, but just looked at the court with burning eyes, and that determined posture made Kip stunned, did not say anything more, and turned his head to look at the court.

The excitement and excitement in the game always make people's blood boil; But the training in real life is extremely boring. Especially those basic skills, just repeat, repeat, repeat, no shortcuts, no laziness. Only after experiencing these boring and boring can you polish the shining light on the court.

Gradually, gradually, Kip's eyes lit up.

At this time, Lu Ke was training for fixed-point passing, but the whole training was a little special.

Under Lu Ke's feet is a rope ladder, and he must constantly move left and right to correct his moving steps; At the same time, it is necessary to go around the small orange cones back and forth to develop the sense of movement in the pocket. This requires absolute concentration, and just a little wandering of the mind can lead to tripping.

The target of the pass was about twenty-five yards away, and it was a six-foot net, like a basketball net, but much longer, and the whole net was even narrower than a basketball net, enough to throw a football ball into; It is then adjusted to a 45-degree angle to simulate the position and angle at which the receiver receives the ball with both hands.

Anthony stood next to the net, observing and recording the parabola, angle and force of each pass, and then loudly fed back to Lu Ke, asking for adjustments to the next pass. After 30 passes in one position, Anthony switches positions, perhaps closer or farther, covering as many corners of the pitch as possible.

For an hour, a whole hour, Lu Ke's passes were no longer countable, and the first hundred, Kip was still counting seriously, but gradually, he couldn't keep up. But what is certain is that Lu Ke's pass success rate is really amazing:

The success rate in the short passing area is 90 percent, which is only a lot more; The success rate in the mid-range area is 80 percent, which is a little less stable; Passing success in the long passing area...... Kip doesn't remember at all, Lu Ke had a ball lost in the long pass area, so it was 100 percent?

Just thinking about it in his head, Kip was already in shock. He'd seen all sorts of fancy passes, and Charile-Frye could even get down on one knee on the halfway line of the pitch and pass the ball straight across the goal – 60 yards away, not just for arm strength, but also for wind speed, angle and control.

Today, Kip saw an even more miraculous performance. While that is a bit of an exaggeration, the first player that comes to Kip's mind is Aaron Rodgers. Of course, Lu Ke and Aaron, there is no comparison between the two, and there are many levels of difference in the middle, but the character that comes to Kip's mind at this moment is Aaron Rogers.

This hard work, this perseverance and firmness, is really amazing!

What's more, Adam didn't lie: in just six weeks, Lu Ke's strength has been significantly improved again, not only the accuracy of passing, but also the movement of his feet, and the control and handling of the whole person in the pocket are becoming more and more free, which has nothing to do with whether there are defensive players involved in training, but the stability, accuracy, and control of Lu Ke's footsteps, which have been improved, all of which make Lu Ke's passing more and more calm.

"God, how the hell did he do it?" Kip exclaimed, turned his head, and saw the smug smile on Adam's face. There is no need to explain, no explanation, the facts are laid out in plain sight: training, hard training.

Kip chuckled, thought for a moment, and then said, "Adam, I'd love to choose him, and I'm a big fan of him. But, you know, the team has a team plan, I can't call the shots. Even though he choked, Kip had to endure the pain.

Adam nodded to show that he understood, after so many years of rolling in the industry, how could he not know? "I know it's not just the 49ers, it's the other teams as well. Every team has its own considerations, and I just think ......," Adam exhaled softly, "someone should look at it, not just me." ”

The sigh and sadness in his words silenced Kip, and in just six weeks, the world was in full swing, and it seemed that all fate was doomed. "I was just thinking that if I hadn't asked you to come over, I would have regretted it. But now, you've been here, I've done my best, and professional competitive sports are so cruel, so be it. ”

After a moment of silence, Adam raised his head and looked at Lu Ke in the field, "You say, are we missing history, or are we witnessing history?" ”

Kip opened his mouth, a little stunned.