One might think that all schools want to see their players drafted, right? It brings press and prestige to the program, and helps a team land the next big recruits, one would think.

Well, one would be wrong, at least in some cases. We polled several scouts to get their opinions on what schools give them the most problems. Some were diplomatic, some less so. The one school that came through more than once was Auburn, but I’ll let the scouts do the talking.

Here are five responses we got from different scouts. Auburn was the only school named more than once, and it was named three times.

• “All schools are different. Some (are) certainly “easier” than others based on a lot of factors. But in the end, it’s a long evaluation process and teams generally get what they need (even if it’s not as easily accessible as they would like).”
• “So many bad ones and so many very good ones. Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, UCLA, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Stanford, would be at the top of the lists before this year. Worst visits would be K-State, Louisville (and) used to be Texas, but not sure now with (head coach Charlie) Strong. (Former Texas head coach) Mack Brown was a really good guy, but you had to work really hard to get information. It should be better (now). Basically there are some difficult coaches who make your job difficult.”
• “TCU, Georgia Tech and Auburn come to mind. They just restrict viewing practice and when you can visit. (Auburn has) actually gotten better. Georgia Tech is possibly the worst in the South. They only let you watch practice for 12 minutes. (Head coach Paul Johnson) doesn’t care.”
• “Most of the colleges out west are pretty good. Sometimes, some of the SEC schools can be difficult. But it’s different with different steps. Sometimes you can go to Alabama or Georgia and you’re great to deal with, but under a different staff there, (it’s) tougher to deal with. Same thing with any other college. . . Obviously all the big schools have high-end equipment and some of the lower-end schools (Division II, Division III) and some of the traditionally African-American schools sometimes don’t have as good equipment. . .  .”
• “Auburn, Michigan and Michigan State to name a few. (Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn) is odd but his assistants are good people.”
• “Auburn and Oklahoma State.”

All scouting and evaluation is a crap shoot. It’s very inexact, no matter what teams and draft gurus tell you. One area where I think scouts err the most is at running back, and you don’t have to go back far to find them.

There’s former Ravens and Chiefs running back Priest Holmes, who was a dominant force in the late 90s/early 00s, and today, there’s Houston’s Arian Foster, Carolina’s Mike Tolbert, San Diego’s Danny Woodhead, Seattle’s Fred Jackson and many more. Look back even further and two Hall of Famers, Joe Perry and Marion Motley, were also undrafted.

One team that’s had a lot of success with undrafted running backs is the Saints, who won a Super Bowl with Pierre Thomas as a versatile, hard-running back with great pass-catching ability. Today, though the team is struggling, it’s no fault of Khiry Robinson, another hard-running back who went undrafted.

I’ve already told the story of my fumbling of an opportunity to get Thomas (along with Tolbert) discovered. For the story of a friend who was smarter about an off-the-grid running back, I’ll turn to Justin VanFulpen, who despite being an agent today has a long history of running various successful all-star games. Justin invited Robinson to the last edition of the Texas vs. The Nation game in Allen, Texas, just outside Dallas.

“I remember seeing highlights of him and liked his running style, but all the scouts I talked to to get a buy-in called him a JAG (just a guy).

“He was the last running back to be added, and one reason I even added him was because I needed another Texas running back. I only had one small-time agent calling me about him. Can’t even remember the guy’s name.

“He had good stats and looked the part, and he was very humbled when I invited him, and he accepted right away. He thought it was too good to be true, and he thanked me a ton for the opportunity.

“He was able to go in that week of practice and outshine D.J. Harper from Boise State, Matthew Tucker from TCU and Ronnie Wingo from Arkansas, and be the best running back on the Texas side. Only (Raiders RB) Latavius Murray from UCF has had a better career so far in the NFL.

“Scouts liked the fact that he ran hard, but still didn’t sign him as a (priority free agent). He had to go to the Saints as a tryout guy, then ended up getting a chance to sign.

“I was surprised he didn’t sign as a priority free agent, so I checked in with him a day after the draft and he told me he got a tryout.”

Even though Robinson once shared a backfield with Cam Newton (while at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas), he barely registered with NFL teams while bouncing from Mesabi Range Community College to Blinn to West Texas A&M. But his play at the TVN game sparked something, and years later, he’s part of an NFL backfield.

It’s a simple question: what makes a can’t-miss player fail?

I asked five scouts the same question, and I got a variety of responses. I expected them all to be a variation of ‘you can’t measure heart, and you have to really want it, and some players don’t,’ but it turned out to be much more than that.

Here are few responses that I got back in texts:

• “GM and Coach-driven draft pick:” I think this response was intended to illustrate that sometimes GMs want a player, but a coach doesn’t, and either the player proves to be a bad fit for the team, or the coach doesn’t give the player a sufficient chance to succeed. I’ll buy that. It’s one reason.
• “Reaching for a player because of need. You pass on a great player because you think you are good at that position, (and take) a player not worthy of that slot. You are one injury away from not having a great player at that position:” I think this makes sense, too. Florida State’s E.J. Manuel comes to mind. Despite a great series of pre-draft workouts, most scouts I know saw him in the third or fourth round. The Bills, however, badly needed a passer, and three years later, he’s barely hanging onto a roster spot. “It’s not the player’s fault he was overdrafted,” my friend added.
• “There’s not a single reason. Each player — hits and misses — is unique:” I expected to get this answer from several sources, but most scouts were more specific.
• “The No. 1 thing is they can’t play at the mental speed of the pro game. The complexity of the pro game . . . they’re not able to handle the mental pressure that is applied by having to play so much faster. It’s so much more complicated. You have to watch tape. If guys are slow reactors on the field .. . if QBs hold the ball too long, and don’t see progressions, and don’t let the ball go, they’re never gonna do it in pro ball. If a lineman can’t see the blitz, and doesn’t pass off well on stunts, there’s no way he’ll do it in pro football. You get all these wonderful measurables added up, and a coach will say, “we can fix it.” Most of the time you can’t. It’s between the ears. It’s so much mental. If you can’t play strong and sharp and fast, you start to lose confidence, and then you can’t function:” I would agree with this, but it’s a little hard to measure. How do you predict who will be able to process the speed of the game, and who won’t? It’s not the kind of thing the Wonderlic can measure.

I think draft success is a function of talent and ability, mixed with system and ability for a team to adapt to a player’s talents (and vice versa), and finally, where a player is drafted. First-rounders get paid reasonably well, and for a lot of players, a switch flips and the hunger isn’t the same as it is for a fourth-rounder who thought he was going at the top of the second round.

There are probably many more theories on why players don’t make it. I hope to revisit this topic again in the near future.

I was on the phone with a longtime friend who’s an area scout last week. I was discussing with him some of my interns, and how often they are hoping to get into the business some day. I think I mentioned that I’m always trying to ‘crack the code’ for finding opportunities for young people in such a situation. His response was that it’s very simple.

“I would tell them to get G.A. jobs,” he said. “That seems to be where everyone is hiring from these days.”

Could it be that simple? Well, maybe so.

At ITL, we track these things, and do brief backgrounds on the scouts that are getting hired by NFL teams these days. I think most scouts that have been in the game more than 10 years were former coaches who moved in through their relationships. Relationships are still very important, which is just another reason to find a grad assistant job if you’re in college and hoping to be an NFL talent evaluator someday. That’s especially true if you’re a grad assistant assigned to the personnel department, a relatively new part of college staffs.

Think about it.

• You get to work around football, obviously, even though college ‘personnel’ jobs vary widely in what they actually mean.
• You meet key people around the game. This is especially true if you are able to help out with pro days, or even organize them; most college coaches see this as a chore, not an opportunity.
• You get to learn all the buzzwords, practices, habits and expectations of people around the game.
• Most importantly, you will probably meet several actual NFL scouts, and perhaps even win them over. There are no better people for bringing you into the league than those already in the league.

At the end of the day, an all-consuming work ethic is the most important thing you need to get into the business, but connections are an important part, too. If you’re a college student reading this right now, I urge you to do whatever you can to volunteer for your school’s team. Do it right now. Even if you’re already a sport management major. Even if you’ve never picked up a football in your life. It’s probably the best way to get you on track, immediately, for a job in football.