For guys like Russell Boudreaux, football is the only way out of their small Louisiana town. As the team's varsity tight end, Rus has a singular goal: to get a scholarship and play on the national stage. When his best friend is unfairly arrested and kicked off the team, Rus faces an impossible choice: speak up or live in fear. Desperate for change, Rus kneels during the national anthem. In one instant, he falls from local stardom and becomes a target...

Just before his sixteenth birthday, Felton Reinstein has a sudden growth spurt that turns him from a small, jumpy, picked-on boy with the nickname of "Squirrel Nut" to a powerful athlete, leading to new friends, his first love, and the courage to confront his family's past and current problems.

"A group of girls at an elite private high school uncovers the awful secret behind the success of the school's beloved football team"--

Armando Salguera is a tight end at El Dorado High School and is aiming to make his NFL aspiration come true. But his dream is threatened when--after 15 years of silence--his estranged father, Oswaldo, sends word that he will be coming across the border, back into Armando's life. Could this mean that Armando's dreams of making the pros are over?

Darren Taylor is an all-state defensive end on one of the top teams in Houston. Only football promises to take him away from his gang-filled neighborhood in Houston's Third Ward. But during a preseason scrimmage, Darren tears up his right shoulder, taking him out for the season. The sudden uncertainty sends Darren into a spiral, leading to an addiction to pain pills that threatens to end his football career--and, maybe, his life.

After being away for two years, Riley Young returns to Lawton, Alabama, with her fifteen-month-old daughter to help take care of her grandmother who has Alzheimers, even though it means she has to face the lies that forced her to leave town in the first place and a blossoming friendship with the high school football star Brady Higgens, who is dealing with his own family problems.

It's always been Stevie McCrae's goal to play running back at University of Texas-Austin. But because of his size, Stevie never gets recognition from recruiters. Despite gaudy numbers and state rushing records, his only scholarship offers have come from out-of-state Division Two schools. But if Stevie can lead his team to a state title, his dream of attending the University of Texas might be within reach. Austin is from Texas Fridays, an EPIC Press...