I’m really excited about our 14-man class at the CGSU, the scout school we hold annually at the College Gridiron Showcase. The class is the brainchild of CGS co-founder Jose Jefferson, and this is our fourth class (here’s our first).

The participants come from all around and have had excellent attitudes, which is extremely impressive given the travel challenges everyone faced getting here (as well as the scheduling challenges since they arrived). Here are a few notes on what’s happened so far, and what’s ahead. 

• Last night, co-founder Jose Jefferson welcomed everyone with 15 minutes on the game, where they fit in, and how they could achieve their goals. When Jose speaks, I listen, and part of the reason is because it’s always entertaining. If you don’t believe me, listen (again?) to the Scouting the League Podcast when he was a guest.
• After that, former Chiefs scout and current and current CFL scout John Bonaventura, who leads the program, gave a detailed discussion on the life of a scout, from travel to building relationships to getting your foot in the door. John had some good stories from his time in both leagues. 
• Today, some of the 15 CGSU participants (two are still in transit as I write this) will head across town to assist with our workout for street free agents. They’ll be recording times and helping out as we conduct testing in Carrollton, about a half-hour from here. We had no problem getting volunteers, which speaks to their attitudes. 
• By the way, we have participants from as far away as Buffalo, NY; Salt Lake City; Newark, Del.; Nashville; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; and even the state of Washington. These are not people who drove over from somewhere in the Metroplex. Again, that impresses me.
• Among our success stories: Browns scouting assistants Hajriz Aliu and Tyler Habursky, Air Force Director of Football Operations Joe Caulfield, Memphis DPP Blake Moore, Michigan State Assistant Director of Scouting Syrus Amirian, Georgia personnel analyst Sales Pinckney and many others.
• Another thing about this week: they’re already knitting together, feeling comfortable with everyone and learning each others’ names. That’s one of the cool things about this. They’re making friends that will help them in their careers. 
• We’ve got 164 scouts registered to join us here this weekend. Are all of them NFL scouts? No (though the overwhelming majority are). Will some scouts stay home, given the cold, wet conditions in Fort Worth today? Maybe. Still, we’ve got football happening in a big way this weekend, and there will be dozens of helpful (and perhaps career-making) connections made over the next 72 hours. If you want to work in football, you simply have to go where it’s being played. Everyone at CGSU bet on themselves, and I think it’s gonna pay off.
• There are 190 players inbound to Fort Worth today. Our guys will be ready. The big opportunity will come Saturday afternoon, when we have our (kinda famous) interview session from 3:30-10:30 p.m. tomorrow night. It will look a little like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as our CGSU members facilitate interviews and serve as runners for NFL teams. It is, without question, the best way to get face time (and prove your value) to NFL scouts without actually working for a team. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of with respect to what we do here.

If you aspire to be a scout someday, put it on your calendar for next year. I assure you it’s worth it.