A Darker Shade of Red

A Darker Shade of Red is a sharply focused examination of redshirts, the players on any college team who stand on the bottom rung of the pecking order, trying to claw their way onto the varsity. It is based on author Lloyd Pye’s experiences during his year as a redshirt, and is framed around ten days leading to a season-opening game between the fictitious Cajun State Fightin’ Crawdads and the defending national champion Texas Longhorns (based on a game between Lloyd’s alma mater, Tulane, and Texas in 1964).

The game should be a rout, but Cajun State has a secret weapon—a junior college transfer named Pete Prosser, who joins the team with remarkable statistics as a runner. However, the coaches soon learn he also has a mile-wide streak of independence, which they feel makes him a “bad apple” who will erode team discipline. He is sent to “quit drills,” specifically designed to cower players into quitting and giving back their scholarships—or to injure them so badly they have no choice. So the die is cast and fates are sealed.