Football Genius

Football Genius is a middle grade sports fiction novel by former NFL player Tim Green. A graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Law, Green played in the NFL for eight seasons before turning his focus towards broadcasting, law, business, and creative writing. In the novel, protagonist Troy White discovers an almost supernatural ability to predict football plays, wrestles with his father’s abandonment, and pushes back against the nepotism and bullying on his own high school football team. This guide refers to the HarperCollins 2009 eBook Kindle Edition.

Football Genius follows the format of the Hero’s Journey or “monomyth” as made famous by literary theorists Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler. Football Genius is therefore not only about Troy’s struggle to learn how to help the football team but also a quest into his own subconscious.

Plot Summary

At the beginning of the novel, Troy is caught up in a bitter rivalry with his teammate, Jamie Renfro. This rivalry causes Troy to lie and steal in his attempts to best Jamie. At this point, Troy is entrenched in his familiar, if uncomfortable, child’s world, which the Hero’s Journey refers to as “The Ordinary World.”

Jamie and Troy both play quarterback for the Duluth Tigers junior football team. Despite Troy’s clearly superior skill level and strange ability to predict plays before they happen, Jamie remains the starting quarterback while Troy fills in the backup role because Jamie’s father is the head coach of the team. As the child of a single mother, Troy resents the opportunities Jamie receives simply by virtue of having a father present in his life.

Conspiring with his teammates, Tate and Nathan, Troy steals a football from star Falcons linebacker Seth Halloway’s backyard in order to show off to Jamie. Troy just manages to escape with a ball, but the entire exercise is futile as Jamie simply continues to reject and taunt Troy. Troy’s mom, Tessa, earns a job with the Falcons team, and Troy gains access to the stadium sidelines. This is the inciting incident of the story and offers Troy an opportunity to cross the threshold of his known world and into an exciting new one.

Once on the sidelines at the game, Troy realizes he can more accurately predict football plays before they happen. Excited at the prospect of helping the Falcons, Troy goes onto the field, attempting to get Falcons defensive coordinator Coach Krock to heed his advice. This is the Hero’s Journey trope a “Call to Adventure,” as Troy feels he must assist the Falcons.

Coach Krock immediately has Troy removed from the field. Troy manages to make his way back and tries to convince a Falcon’s defensive player to listen to him. Krock sees Troy has returned, and Troy is forcefully removed from the stadium. Tessa’s boss is furious and fires Tessa on the spot. Later that night, Troy’s mom finds Seth’s stolen football, and Troy is in even more trouble.

Troy and Jamie’s rivalry subplot continues to escalate, and Jamie contracts an illness, allowing Troy a chance to play quarterback. He combines his mysterious gift with brute, anger-driven strength, and he thrives as quarterback. Although a minor victory, the event puts him in further conflict with Coach Renfro and highlights Troy’s underlying anger issues brought on by being abandoned by his father.

Looking to teach Troy a lesson, Tessa arranges for Seth Halloway to visit Troy’s house to collect the stolen football. When Seth arrives, he asks Troy how he was able to predict the play in the Cowboys game. Troy shows Seth his ability to predict plays. Seth brings Troy to Coach Krock, but the meeting does not go well. Krock uses a pre-season game as a test to discredit Troy’s abilities. Troy fails the test, shattering his confidence. Unbeknownst to Troy, the pre-season games involve no strategy and thus are impossible to predict. Dejected, Troy executes the “Refusal of the Call” in his Hero’s Journey. Meanwhile, his introduction to Seth is his first interaction with his mentor: “Meeting the Mentor.”

Troy’s grandfather appears at this point, playing the role of the “Supernatural Aide” in the Hero’s Journey. Together, Troy and Gramp realize that the lack of strategy in the pre-season game is the reason Troy’s gift did not work in the meeting. Recharged with confidence from his grandfather, Troy enters his “Road of Trials,” wherein our hero must prove himself against obstacles to meet with his ultimate goal.

Together with his female ally and fellow teammate, Tate, Troy sneaks back to Seth’s house and shows Seth the full extent of his powers. Troy asks Seth to bring him to Coach McFadden so that Troy can show McFadden his ability. McFadden is impressed, but Coach Krock strongly opposes the idea of Troy working for the team. McFadden relents, and Coach Krock threatens Seth and Tessa’s careers (McFadden gave Tessa her job at the stadium back).

Troy tells his mother the truth about his recent adventures, embracing honesty at the behest of his mentor, Seth. Tate comes up with a plan to get Seth and Troy’s mom together to become allies. She wins a punt, kick, and throw competition and arranges for Tessa to take her prize: a lunch date with Seth. The plan works, and Tessa and Seth bond.

As the allies come together and the story climaxes, the hero must find a way to become “Master of Two Worlds;” in this case, the world of his childhood and the world of adulthood. Troy, Tessa, and Seth rehearse and execute a plan to deliver Troy’s play predictions to Seth. Krock discovers the plan, however, and thwarts the group. In a last-ditch effort, Tate and Nathan facilitate Troy’s “Magic Flight” to the upper levels of the Falcon’s dome via a distraction. Here, Troy appeals to the team owner Mr. Langan to intervene, a classic “Rescue from Without” for the hero.

Langan fires Krock, Troy predicts the opposing team’s plays, and the Falcons win the game. Seth is the star performer. Mr. Langan offers Troy $10,000 per game to work for the team under the cover of being a simple ball boy. Troy accepts and becomes a member of the adult world.

As the action falls, Troy, Tessa, and Seth spend the Sunday evening together like a family. Seth unexpectedly asks Tessa along on a Bermuda vacation. Tessa rejects him until she realizes he intends to bring Troy as well.

At the Tigers’ final practice, the league fires Coach Renfro, and Seth offers to coach Troy’s team. Troy’s dream of having a father figure for a coach is realized. Troy finally gets to be the starting quarterback. When he winds up to throw another deep pass, his former anger is now replaced with peace and a new kind of positive energy. This reconciliation of the child and adult world is Troy’s equivalent of being the “Master of Two Worlds” in his hero’s journey.