For today’s War Story Wednesday, I’m going to give the floor to Ken for a true ‘inside the war room’ account.

“There are a plethora of stories (first-hand) that I could share with many that have an interest in this kind of thing but many names will need to be left out to keep careers protected.

“When I was in draft meetings (my third season) with the Jacksonville Jaguars, there was a very heated discussion on a particular player. Now, it’s not unusual that these high-level meetings bring out some strong opinions on where a player should be stacked in regards to his specific position as well as where he fits in the big picture. Usually there are several reports (area scout, regional scout, college director, general manager, cross-checking scout, position coach, coordinator, head coach as well as all-star reports) discussed on each player when considering the overall draft process. Not all players have all of these specific reports, but the higher-profile players have this many and more.

“We all know about opinions; they’re like backsides. Everyone has one and they’re all just a bit different. After several hours of information and opinions shared (on this one particular player), the last report was presented to the group in the room. That was the all-star report, which is based on just three days in pads and obviously has a limited amount of exposure to the athlete. Now this was my player, in my area, where I had seen him for more than two years with several visits to the university. There, I had gathered a ton of information on work ethic, injury history, ability to grasp football concepts and leadership, as well as several practices viewed and a multitude of games tapes evaluated. Usually, though not always, the specific area scout (especially an experienced one) should have the best feel for where a player fits in regards to that particular team.

“Most of the opinions (grades) were fairly close (within a couple of rounds) but the “all-star” evaluation by this one scout was a bit out in left field with this player based on two days of practice (and all-star game tape) with a scheme he didn’t know, a new coaching system and teammates he had never competed with in the past. It’s never a problem having a different view of a player, but this particular scout tried to push and push a second- or third-round draft choice to the seventh round, or even free agent, category. As it were, he and I got into it in a chest-to-chest confrontation, almost like an umpire and baseball manager arguing a call at home plate. We were able to know what kind of salad dressing each of us had for lunch, and others had to separate us. Yes, two grown men almost coming to blows over a grade on a college player.

“This isn’t the norm, but believe me, the amount of time, effort, work and money that goes into evaluating these collegiate athletes can flare tempers especially after 20 consecutive days of 12-hour meetings.

“I’ll let you know what actually happened to that specific player in the next war story.”

At this point, if you’re a football fan, you’re  probably in one of several camps.

1. Your fantasy team is crap, but your favorite NFL/college team is rolling, and you’re pretty excited.

2. Your fantasy team is rolling, but your favorite NFL/college team is crap. You’re still pretty excited.

3. Your fantasy team AND your favorite NFL/college team are rolling, so you’re pretty excited.

4. Both your fantasy team AND your favorite NFL/college team are crap, so you’re focused on basketball.

Unless you’re in the fourth category, you’ve got probably got one eye on what’s going on now, and one eye on what’s coming in the winter months, i.e., bowl season, all-star games, the combine, etc. For scouts, however, it’s very different, as the next few weeks represent the end of a long grind.

I asked a longtime friend of ITL, Ken Moll, to give me his thoughts on what’s going on if you’re a road scout with a couple weeks left before Thanksgiving. He’ll present his thoughts across the next couple days, giving us insights on what goes on with the game inside the game.

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All of this information is based on first-hand knowledge and experiences that I have had through 37 years in the industry. Competing as a linebacker at a major university, 15 years of college coaching, 13 years in NFL personnel (Jaguars and Browns), four seasons in the CFL (as a personnel director) as well as five years with ESPN (writing game matchups and free agent reports) has given me a unique perspective on professional football.”

What college area scouts are doing down the stretch:

Each NFL team is structured differently and therefore approaches its evaluation process in a variety of ways. Most (if not all) have area scouts that are responsible for a specific geographical area which has been mapped out well before the season. Understand that each of these scouts are feeling like “dish rags” at this time of year after traveling hard for approximately 22 out of 30 days the past four months, with 10 days to go before Thanksgiving. Often, they’re sleeping in four hotel rooms in five nights and sometimes not knowing (or remembering) if they are waking up in Atlanta, Georgia or Auburn, Alabama.

Down the stretch of the college season, scouts are usually doing a couple of things. They’re either “cross-checking” another area (grading players that need several looks) or tweaking their grades on players that needed a later school visit due to early-season injuries (that limited their playing time), “late bloomers” or so-called “diamonds in the rough” that are getting a lot of attention. There are several reasons why second and third looks are needed, but the main thing for a scout is to “not miss” on a player. Being the expert in your particular area is extremely important and contributing your own opinion on players in another cross-check area that may be different, or that may confirm another scout’s opinion on a player’s value to their club is equally important. Staying mentally sharp and finishing strong in regards to how efficient your travel is, as well as being extremely focused, is a tough challenge for those road warriors.

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More thoughts tomorrow. Don’t forget, if you’re in the Houston area, stop by our event tonight at 7:30 at Rice University.

In this space, I normally try to provide answers to questions I’ve received over the years, or guidance where I think it’s needed for people aspiring to make football their lives’ work. Today, I guess, I want to make sure I’m covering everything you, my reader, needs.

On Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m., as I’ve already mentioned, I’ll be interviewing former Redskins, Texans and Lions pro and college scout Miller McCalmon for a presentation before the Rice University Sport Business Society (it will be in Herring 100 if you’re in town). It will be called ‘Inside the War Room,’ and among the things we’ll talk about is Miller’s career in scouting, from being required to get a $10,000 line of credit to be considered for an unpaid internship with George Allen’s Redskins to being in the room a week before the 2006 NFL draft when a running backs coach — of all people — helped convince the team that N.C. State DE Mario Williams should be the team’s No. 1 overall pick, and not Heisman Trophy-winning USC RB Reggie Bush.

Of course, because this is an Inside the League event, I want every student and young professional who attends to have a better understanding of what it takes to work in professional football and, more importantly, how to get that ‘big break’ that could launch your career. As such, I need questions from you, my reader. What do you wonder about? What strategies are you considering? What is precluding you from ‘going for it’ and pursuing an NFL career, and what do you need to know to help you make up your mind?

Of course, there are other questions I haven’t even thought of, and that’s why I need you to go here and add yours. I’ll try to pick at least one (and maybe several) to pose to Miller, and we’ll bring his answer back to you in this space. For what it’s worth, we’ll also be posting video of the entire program on our YouTube channel sometime before Christmas, so stay tuned for that, too.

I’ve found there’s nothing more riveting than talking to a seasoned veteran of player evaluation; their old stories and experiences offer a treasure chest of insights and bits of information that are tantalizing to a football junkie like myself. I think you feel the same way. Help me get information that will make a big difference for you professionally next week by sharing your questions here.

I wanted to pass along a few more thoughts from my lunch with former NFL scout Miller McCalmon, whom I’ll interview for the Rice University Sports Business Society on Tuesday, Nov. 18. One of the striking things from our two hours-plus conversation was how big a role the team’s owner can play, even in personnel matters.

Miller was with the Texans for their 2006 draft, which netted them LB DeMeco Ryans, OT Eric Winston, TE Owen Daniels and, of course, DE Mario Williams. Not only are each of them still active today, well beyond the average length of an NFL career, but they were instrumental in the team’s run of success in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Though he was on the pro side, he was brought in to help on the college draft that year as the team tried to decide what it would do with the No. 1 pick. That year, of course, the media already had the Texans with Heisman-winning running back Reggie Bush on the heels of his sterling junior season at Southern Cal. But the team was very dilligent in its selection process, and wound up selecting Williams, to everyone’s surprise.

What caught me off-guard is that Miller says owner Bob McNair was part of the decision-making process. He didn’t make the call on who the team would take, of course, but he did take part as, a week before the draft, two of the team’s coaches made lengthy cases each for Williams and Bush. McNair took in all the points made during the video, heard the coaches point out the qualities that made each special, and considered the impact each would make on the team.

That year, like this year, there was a talented local quarterback that people around Houston hoped the Texans would take; in 2006, it was Texas’ Vince Young, while this year, it was Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel.  The difference is that while McNair never pressured GM Charley Casserly or head coach Gary Kubiak into selecting Young, it’s been widely reported that Titans owner Bud Adams was pretty heavy-handed about his desire to take Young, a Houston high school legend. Maybe that’s why the Texans’ dip won’t be as pronounced as the Titans’ struggles have been.

On the other hand, Miller also worked for the Lions. Detroit’s ownership, the Ford family, has been aggressively hands-off for the most part, and that hasn’t led to results, per se. I guess it’s always hard to draw conclusions, and one size doesn’t fit all.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m., I’ll be interviewing former NFL scout Miller McCalmon before an audience from the Rice Sports Business Society. We’ll talk about his experiences in scouting and he’ll tell a few war stories, as well as imparting his advice on how to break into the the sports business in general and professional football specifically. Today I did the pre-interview over lunch at a Houston restaurant.

I’ve interviewed five or six former NFL scouts (and have the videos archived at ITL), and every time I do it, the pre-interview is a lot of fun for a football weirdo like me. You get to hear all kinds of stories about players and front office types that you’d never read anywhere else, and I always learn something, or at least get something reinforced that I already know. Today was no exception.

Miller has almost four decades in the game (38 years, to be exact). His story of getting hired by the Redskins as a scout (his first job in pro football) will probably turn up in a War Story Wednesday one day because it’s quite interesting, but the real takeaway I got from his story was that he came in just one year ahead of Charley Casserly, who went on to be a GM with the Redskins and Texans. They were both hired by legendary Redskins head coach George Allen, and that’s about the last time Miller got a job from someone he didn’t know beforehand.

At that time in the early-to-mid 70s, Miller was head coach at a high school in Colorado, but wanted to move over to college coaching. He went into scouting because, frankly, Allen regarded the draft lightly and sent his interns into scouting. Miller eventually moved on to other teams (the Bills and Colts) before getting back into scouting with the Redskins. At that point, Casserly had moved up the ranks, and brought him back to Washington. Later in his career, Miller was working with the BLESTO scouting service when Casserly came to Houston to launch the Texans franchise as its GM and hired him again, this time as a pro scout.

After the Texans scouting staff got sacked in the late ’00s, Martin Mayhew had risen to GM in Detroit. Mayhew had played for the Redskins when Casserly and McCalmon were in Washington, and even interned in the front office at one point. Through that connection, Miller was able to finish out his career with the Lions before retiring in January.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that maintaining relationships and building strong bonds with your coworkers is a recurring theme. I thought I’d pass along today’s story just to reinforce that lesson.