Nowadays, a sports film such as this has but two paths to follow: faith-based proselytizing (Facing the Giants, Woodlawn) or a regulation biopic like all the rest. First time director (and author of Hoosiers and Rudy) Angelo Pizzo dutifully delivers the latter in his latest schoolboy tome, a tribute to Freddie Steinmark, college safety for the University of Texas, who at age 22 succumbed to cancer. Pizzo spends far too much time on the field, so much so that a good portion of the picture resembles college training films. As appealing a presence as Finn Wittrock is, other than the basics — Steinmark was popular, his girlfriend and family loved him, etc. — we never get a feel for the character. When it ended, no applause or sounds of crinkling tissue packets passed through the crowd, a sure harbinger of box office doom. With Aaron Eckhart as the coach, and John Paesano’s militaristic score, the worst of the year. (2015) — Scott Marks