Dale Denton | The Legacy | Rookie Year

[The JZA]

[The JZA]

Michigan should be a fun team to compete again, nice bounce back against Indiana. Put they ass on fraud watch.

Captain Canada,

[Soapy]

oh okay

respect earned.

[Captain Canada]

I'm sorry. What?

[The JZA]

[The JZA]

oh okay

respect earned.

Soapy,

I'm sorry. What?

Captain Canada,

[djp73]

Spiderman meme
Dale Denton - Denard Robinson

[The JZA]

Spiderman meme
Dale Denton - Denard Robinson

djp73, Same player, different era

[The JZA]

Chapter VIII: Bye The Bye, Man up

Despite redeeming Dale redeeming the team's first loss in a huge win against Michigan, campus felt different. Dale stepped out his dorm with headphones on, hoodie pulled low, trying to drown out the world in bass. But no beat could cover the whispers. Eyes cut his way like knives.

Girls on the volleyball squad walked past him in a tight pack, voices low but sharp enough for him to catch slivers—“that’s his ass right there… He better keep his head down, walking around here… can’t believe Addy even gave him the time of day.”

Dale kept his stride steady, but inside? His chest was boiling. That phone call was still stuck in his head, Addy’s voice breaking, her goodbye. He told himself he didn’t care, that she wasn’t his girl, just a fling. But every whisper, every stare told him otherwise. This wasn’t just private beef no more—it was campus currency.

And Dale’s name was dirty money.

By lunch, it hit harder. He stepped into the student union and the noise dipped. Conversations picked back up quick, but the damage was done behind that cliché. Heads turned. Dudes from the football squad threw smirks his way, like they’d heard the rumor and were waiting for him to react. And standing dead center in the crowd, loud as always, was Trey. Trey leaned against a table, arms crossed, laughing it up with some players from the basketball team. The second his eyes locked on Dale, his grin widened. He didn’t say a word—didn’t need to. That smug smirk screamed, Yeah, I did that, I'm that nicca now.

Dale’s fists curled, but he kept it moving. He wasn’t about to give Trey the satisfaction of blowing up in front of half the campus. Still, his mind was racing. Trey had lit this fire and Addy poured gas on it by shutting him out. Now, Dale was burning on both sides.

Practice throughout the bye week was no different. The locker room energy always seemed shifty the second Dale walked in. A couple of dudes clapped him on the shoulder with fake “what’s good” smiles. Others just gave him that side-eye, like he was guilty until proven otherwise. Trey? Trey played it smooth, cracking jokes loud enough for everybody to catch.

“Man, some people out here breaking hearts like it’s conditioning drills.”

He chuckled, and the room laughed with him. Not because the joke was funny, but because it was Trey throwing shade and nobody wanted smoke with him. Funny how they forgotten Dale was the star QB, but it mattered not. They knew Dale wouldn't jeopardize the team, lose his scholarship, throw away his future.

Dale sat on the bench, lacing up, jaw tight. He wanted to swing, to shut Trey up with a fist, but he knew the playbook—one wrong move and the coaches would make him the problem. He couldn’t risk his spot, not with Tanner Applewhite continuously trying to weasel minutes in the game, looking for a footing. Tanner was an afterthought, but Dale didn't fully forget.

Still, the damage was done. Addy avoided Dale at all cost. No words, no listening, just daggers in her eyes for him. Dale just wanted to clear the air after having time to let cooler heads prevail, but that wasn't the case. Besides, Trey was out here controlling the narrative. Dale couldn't help but feel he was stuck in the middle, branded the villain in a story he didn’t even write.

That Saturday night, while most were at the basketball game, supporting the team, Dale was lying in bed, he stared at the ceiling. His phone was cold and silent, no messages, no calls. He thought back to Addy’s last words. It cut deeper than he wanted to admit. He’d been here before, left hollow by Keisha’s betrayal back home. Now it was happening again. Different city, same pain.

The whispers weren’t going away. The beef with Trey wasn’t going away. Addy, she was gone for good.

For the first time since stepping foot on campus, Dale felt like the grind wasn’t enough to protect him. Football was his escape, but drama like this? It was poison. And it was only a matter of time before it started spilling onto the field. Even though it was ways down the line, the transfer portal slipped in his mind, a possible escape route. Just be done with it and wash his hands of Addy, of Trey, of the team that now looked at him as the black sheep. But is that what Dale really want for his-self? To keep running away from problems as if they're linebackers looking put him face first in the dirt with a few broken ribs?

Dale was a runner, for different reasons. It would seem that this would be something Dale would have to face head on, let the consequences play out. Something he keeps telling him-self.

[The JZA]