Before each football practice in which he coaches, Danny Schaechter removes his gold wedding band and loops it onto a chain draped around his neck. Years ago, he learned a hard lesson when a football smashed into his open hands with such velocity that it cracked the ring, subsequently punctured the skin and sent blood dripping down his palm.
That pass wasn’t launched out of a ball machine. It came from the arm of a 16-year-old high school sophomore named Caleb Williams. Schaechter returned home to his wife, told her the story and then heard an earful. Her anger gave way to shock and, finally, awe.