Most of the members of the Vortex are recovering from the loss of Billy and getting back to their lives.
That meant a return to football for Spencer and Jordan on All American Season 5 Episode 16.
Sure, they’re the two most important players on the GAU squad.
As Coach Kenny pointedly said, that still doesn’t mean recruiting is part of their purview.
But Spencer’s idea, inspired by Billy’s old South Crenshaw playbook, had merit, even though Kenny poo-pooed it initially.
Kenny knew his squad was short on depth. That was why he was holding tryouts in the first place. He was thinking too small, only inviting recent high-school graduates that other colleges may have missed.
Spencer thought bigger, contacting players who were a few years removed from their playing days but who would theoretically have more to prove.
Only he and Jordan hadn’t considered all the angles. Such players would have more than a bit of rust and would be a long shot to make a D-1 team.
Spencer and Jordan would come across as representatives of the GAU program. Kenny pointed out that they would likely get the players’ hopes up for nothing.
But the two housemates were determined to do whatever they could to save GAU. They’d already set up meetings with a couple of players, and what would it hurt to follow through, especially if they didn’t promise anything to their recruits?
It seemed either Spencer’s research or their approach was a little lacking. Both of their recruits had no idea why they had arranged meetings with them.
Man-mountain lineman Kai was just what quarterback Jordan ordered. Only Kai thought Jordan was attempting to recruit his younger brother, a blue chipper heading to a more robust program than GAU.
Plus, Kai had a horrible history with GAU. Garrett had withdrawn his scholarship offer to Kai when he discovered Kai was about to become a single dad. As a result, Kai had been just getting by working 60 hours a week at a grocery store.
Spencer’s recruit, Sal, had done a prison stint after committing a desperate crime while his family was homeless. Now out, he was working as a personal trainer. He was flattered that Spencer wanted a training session.
Both Kai and Sal ended up at the invitation-only tryouts, which Spencer broke to Kenny after the fact. But after rough starts, they held their own against Kenny’s hand-picked recruits to the point where Kenny asked for Spencer’s list afterward.
How unrealistic was it that they were both offered full scholarships? GAU, still waiting for the NCAA penalties to fall, is hardly a prime destination. Hence the walk-on tryouts. So Cinderella stories are more likely in such a situation.
Still, Spencer and Jordan must avoid too much freelancing, or they’ll end up in Kenny’s doghouse, stars or not.
All the women at the Baker sorority house had angst with which to deal.
Patience hasn’t been a fan of having her every move show up on social media. Having a personal stalker hasn’t helped.
Layla had an identity crisis. Clay graciously gave her the Keating Records name for her label. Only now, she wasn’t sure if that was what she wanted after all.
The Bountygate article Olivia wrote under the pseudonym Jayden Davis is up for a journalism award. But no one in the business knows Olivia as a result.
Then there’s Coop, who has been so busy attempting to start her legal career that she forgot about Skye’s big presentation on Patience’s social-media presence.
Coop has been neglecting Skye, so her mouth wrote a check that her schedule couldn’t keep, promising to attend the presentation.
Now Coop is a lovely person, but she’s got a bad habit of putting her needs before those of her girlfriend (ask Patience).
The professor of the law class that Coop had been auditing plugged her into the class when someone dropped it. The only catch was she had to attend a study group at the same time as Skye’s presentation.
Then her very white professor suggested that she talk less ghetto when interacting with her fellow law students. It seemed like Coop would burst an organ trying to speak proper English. And the members of her group loved it when she described a case in more colloquial terms.
Coop came home on a high, only to be brought back to earth when Skye broke up with her after Coop poorly handled her non-apology to Skye.
The other three had epiphanies after crashing a quinceanera.
After the guest of honor, Valerie, a Patience fangirl, recognized her, Patience opted to stay and perform, singing during the father-daughter dance. That helped her to remember what she liked about performing.
Valerie’s hyphenated last name inspired Layla to use a compound name for her label, honoring her father and mother.
Olivia decided to claim authorship of her article since it was the last project she worked on with Billy. It’s not like it would affect Jordan and Spencer’s status on the team any longer.
It had been a long time coming, but J.J. finally crashed and burned.
After his friend’s bad drug reaction, he chose to give up everything, especially being the life of the party, until he could get his life together.
To follow J.J.’s bumpy road, watch All American online.
What did you think of Spencer’s recruitment idea?
Other than Coop, are the other women now on the right path?
Should Coop try to win back Skye?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
