These are the starting values. They carry forward. A good conversation can raise one dimension and
raise a bad one at the same time — that is the point of tracking them separately.
Ben Haijcar
QB2 / FS · the displaced one
- Trust
- Comfort
- Resentment
- Public
- Supportive, unprompted, every time
- Private
- "It's still the only senior year I get"
Unresolved: Nick apologizes to him constantly and Ben told him this week to stop, which helped and also made it more awkward for about a day.
Kevin Lack
WR · the best player on the team
- Football trust
- Personal warmth
- Dependence
- Public
- "We're gonna be a problem"
- Private
- Watched a film playlist at 11 p.m. and refused to say thank you in a normal way
Moving: Up, slowly, entirely through football. Kevin admitted this week he's "working on it," which is the warmest thing he has ever said to Nick.
Kobe Lookebill
LT · Ben's friend first
- Protectiveness
- Personal belief
- Skepticism
- Public
- Volunteers the 6 a.m. detail to reporters, unasked
- Private
- Still finds the whole thing slightly improbable
Note: His skepticism dropped a full pip this summer and he would not be able to tell you when.
Troy DeGayner
RG · cousin
- Loyalty
- Volatility
- Nick's ability to control him
- Public
- Threatened, on the record, in a student newspaper
- Private
- Offered to email college programs from his own account at midnight
Live risk: He said "i won't. probably." That is the single most load-bearing word in this ledger.
Coach Shaffer
OC · primary mentor
- Trust
- Comfort
- Nick's dependence
- Public
- Said "nobody's called" on a school broadcast, on purpose
- Private
- Apologized to a seventeen-year-old for not warning him first
New this week: Nick learned Shaffer has been emailing six of his own contacts about him. He did not know.
Coach Setzke
HC · transactional
- Professional trust
- Personal warmth
- Control instinct
- Public
- "He's our quarterback. Next question."
- Private
- 6:45 a.m. meetings, alone, because the kid's notes are better than his staff's
Friction point: Asked whether he can make the slide check on his own, Nick got "From the sideline." Six hours and forty minutes later.
Chase Lynch
Edge · the recruited one
- Mutual respect
- Friction
- Public
- Careful to point out their situations are not the same
Chase is right about that and says it without any edge, which is somehow worse.
Zach West
Jr. WR · being built
- Belief in himself
- Belief Nick has in him
Nick named him on television as the thing opponents are underrating. West found out from someone else and has not mentioned it.
Brendan Matthews
WR · the live wire
- On-field obedience
- Off-field loyalty
- Resentment
- Public
- "40 points friday. book it." Normal in every thread. Asks about the orbit motion.
- Private
- Seven days of anonymous posts. "we run one guy's offense now." "the clipboard kid."
Status: made, and doesn't know it. Nick read all of it and answered Kevin
with one word. The relationship is currently entirely functional and entirely fake.
Josh Czarnota
So. QB3 · beaten, not bitter
- Deference
- Nick's investment
- Residual tension
- Public
- Posted "QB2" and got corrected to QB3 by Ben in one reply
- Private
- "can i ask you stuff at practice or is that annoying"
Nick is teaching the kid who tried to take his job, on purpose, in detail, at
3:00 before practice. He said it out loud: "you're gonna have this job in a year."
NB
Nick Barchichat
SS · open hostility
- Hostility
- Social standing
- Self-awareness
Doxxed himself twice on an anonymous app in one week, got called soft-adjacent by
the one person on his side, and is currently the most downvoted account in the Fenton herd.
MF
Michael Fabatz
Popular · not on the team
- Mockery
- Malice
- Willingness to correct course
Made the funniest post of the week at Nick's expense and then, on Tuesday, said the
6 a.m. thing was real and none of the rest of them do it. Was immediately called soft by Barchichat.
Mr. Perkins
Band director
- Belief in him
- Frustration
- Nick's guilt
Resolved this week, partly: Thursdays were impossible, so Perkins gave up his Sundays instead. Nick said yes. Three pieces due Sept 6, unchosen.
Hudson Villeneuve
Friend / reporter
- Friendship
- Role conflict
He held back the thing about the money and printed the thing about the nine emails. He told Nick which was which. That is the arrangement and it will not hold forever.
Hannah Swain
Student section / paper
- Friendliness
- Anything else
Dormant. One logistical exchange about a graphic. She is friendly with everyone in the building and this is not a plot.
Sylvia Stack
Senior
- Her interest
- His awareness
- Anything active
Dormant. Predates football by three years. She half-refused an interview about him this week and then let it run. They have not spoken directly.
Tommy Quinn
Best friend
- Trust
- Reads him accurately
Only person this week who got the honest version: the problem isn't that nobody called, it's that everyone assumes somebody did.
Max Herzog / Dane / Austin
The group
- Stability
- Football literacy
Max diagnosed why Shaffer said it out loud in one sentence. Dane is watching opponent film for fun now. Austin changed the subject to a dog at exactly the right moment.
Furhut Janssen
Mother
- Protectiveness (medical)
- Understands recruiting
- Emotional expression
Open loop: He told her football can pay for school. She said "we'll talk about it this weekend." She did not.
Jerry Mansour Jr.
Father
- Support
- Knowledge
- Effort to learn
Printed a color list of 61 schools within four hours at work. Asked what a preferred walk-on is. Is going to find out that Michigan is not on any realistic version of this list, eventually.
Ari Mansour
Sister · sophomore
- Usefulness
- Warmth expressed
Built the entire outreach system. Told him "normal" instead of "fine," realized it landed wrong, and apologized in one word.
Karenna Mansour
Sister · middle school
- Ability to deflate a room
- Noticing things
Texted "you up" at 11:04 on a Wednesday for no stated reason. She was the only one who noticed.
ROAD TO GLORY
RTG-01 · Underdog Run · Week 0