Today, permit me to think out loud on a topic that’s been tying me up in knots for the past several weeks. It’s the ITL All-22, my way of honoring the college executives and teams doing the best jobs, and I’m trying to figure out how to attack it. I’m planning on introducing it at our annual NIL symposium in February at the Combine. I’m also going to solicit your opinion on it, especially if you think I’m way off track.

The original idea: Recognize the top executives in a college football world that is becoming more NFL-like in its model, yet at the same time more independent of the league (few college GMs, scouting directors and DPPs aspire to work in the league anymore) and growing more professional all the time.

The bumps in the road: Honoring the top executives and scouts in the league is much easier than doing the same on the college level. We’re talking 32 teams with, on average, about 20 members of the scouting department. Though NFL front offices are far from homogeneous, you still have three basic strata on the college side: scouting assistants and coordinators; area and national scouts; and director-level scouts who are managing things and making the big decisions. On the pro side, it’s usually two evaluators and a director. However, when it comes to college, it’s almost like no two GMs have the same job description, and while some teams (like Oklahoma) are building almost an exact replica of an NFL team, others are much more traditional, letting the coaches do much or most of the scouting. That’s to say nothing of the fact there are:

• 136 college football teams on the FBS level
• Four “power conferences” and five more who have far fewer resources
• Despite the acceptance of revenue-sharing, there’s a wide variety of funding among schools (even within the P4)

The thinking on how to arrive at the winners: After two weeks of presenting my thoughts to GMs and scouting directors across college football (P4 and G5), via text and in-person visits, it seems there are three groups that could offer help. They are:

• The agents who do business in the transfer portal and get an up-close (if adversarial) look at schools, big and small, on an annual basis
• The GMs themselves, who at least have a handle on the job and what it takes to have success
• The media that follow the transfer portal and the business of college football the closest.

Of course, all three come with drawbacks.

• Who even are the agents doing the most business in the portal? There isn’t a list anywhere. Talk to members of college personnel departments and they tell you the number of people texting them a list of “their guys for the portal” seems to double every day.
• In speaking to college GMs — and make no mistake, they are just a small part of the people making the portal work at their respective schools — and they say they don’t have enough of a handle on college football at large. Most are familiar with schools in their area, or schools in their respective conferences, but not the whole country.
• We’re still at a point, media-wise, where there is a very, very small number of people covering the business of college football as it relates, specifically, to the portal and roster management. What’s more, the temptation would be there to give preference to the GMs who gave them the most access.

Here’s where I am: I need to come to some kind of decision, really, by Dec. 1, so this is what I’m thinking.

• There are just too many key people making decisions to recognize just GMs. So I think I’m going to make it a team award and ask GMs to accept on their respective teams’ behalf at our symposium at the NFL Combine in February.
• I have to cut the numbers some, so I am thinking the only teams eligible would be those that are bowl-eligible. It’s not a perfect metric, but hopefully, the teams doing the best job will rise to the top next year or soon after.
• I think I have to break it down 14:8, P4 to G5. It’s only fair. Otherwise, it’s going to be 22 big schools.
• Again, maybe not the best way of doing things, but I think I’m going to survey the GMs (or the GM-equivalent) on each draft-eligible team and see what we come up with. Hopefully it won’t be mission impossible finding their emails. Schools tend to publish a general football email on the team website, but hopefully I can get past that.
• My guess is that I’d provide ballots to them via email and solicit their votes most of December, then count the ballots, determine the winners (and notify them), and hope the lion’s share of them can make it to Indy in a few months.

Anyway, that’s where I am right now. Am I off base? DM me (@insidetheleague) or email me (nstratton at insidetheleague dot com) and let me know. Thanks for your help, and thanks for reading.