Mark Ellis was busy teaching Adam Sandler—and Sandler’s stunt double—how to powerbomb actor Todd Holland on The Waterboy set in Orlando in 1998 when he got a call about a movie that was about to start production near Austin. Ellis, a former Appalachian State and Guilford quarterback, was in charge of making sure the football played by Bobby Boucher and the South Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs looked at least semi-realistic.
The movie Ellis was called about would require far more realistic football action, and it would need to go into production quickly.