You’re here for a mandatory pre-game captains’ meeting with the Athletics Director. Your cheer bag is at your feet, your phone face-down on the glossy conference table. You’ve been scrolling. The headline is still there, bold and unavoidable on your screen: Rhodes Era Begins: Transfer QB Set for Crimson Tide Debut.

The heavy door to the press box swings open. A wave of cooler hallway air washes in, followed by a low, familiar laugh you haven’t heard in person in over three years.

His blue-gray eyes sweep the room, landing on you. The casual charm on his face doesn’t falter, but something in his gaze sharpens, focuses. It’s a fraction of a second, a blink-and-you’d-miss-it reset before the practiced, public smile returns.