As you know, we like to take periodic looks at some of the bigger-name draft personalities at key points in the draft process. With the NFL Combine next week, we thought this would be a good time to take measure of their latest work.

We have stayed with the same seven mocks we’ve surveyed since we started — Pro Football Network/Tony Pauline; Pro Football Focus; Sports Illustrated; Bleacher Report/Matt Miller; ESPN/Todd McShay; The Athletic/Dane Brugler; and Walter Football). It’s worth noting that the most recent mock from Pauline that we could find was pre-Senior Bowl, so it’s a little dated. All the other mocks have taken place in February.

And away we go.

• Twenty-one players who were rated by at least one service as a first-rounder during our last survey no longer carry such a grade by any of the seven mocks. They are Stanford DC Paulson Adebo; Missouri TE Albert Okwuegbunam, Oregon OB Troy Dye, Stanford OT Walker Little, Georgia OG Solomon Kindley, Florida DE Jon Greenard, Alabama OT Alex Leatherwood, Florida St. DT Marvin Wilson, Alabama OB Dylan Moses, Texas OT Sam Cosmi, Boise St. DE Curtis Weaver, Alabama WO Devonta Smith, Ohio State DC Shaun Wade, Michigan WO Donovan Peoples–Jones, Purdue TE Brycen Hopkins, Virginia DC Bryce Hall, Clemson OH Travis Etienne, California FS Ashtyn Davis, Georgia OT Isaiah Wilson, UCF WO Gabe Davis and Auburn OT Prince Tega Wanogho. Obviously, several of them didn’t enter the draft (Adebo, Little, Leatherwood, Moses, Cosmi, Smith, Wade, Etienne and Marvin Wilson) but others apparently aren’t as buzz-worthy as they once were, at least with mock draft analysts.
• The real movement appears to be at wide receiver. Our last snapshot of mock drafts  had Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy, Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb and Colorado’s Laviska Shenault on every one, in that order. Today, that order still holds, but primarily because Pauline had him a 6 in January. He’s at 12, on average, based on the other, more recent, mocks. However, Lamb is closing the gap quickly and two mocks (Brugler and Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson) even have Lamb going first (Brugler has Lamb 12 and Jeudy 13, while Hanson sees it as 9 vs. 13).
• Also of note: only Brugler (at 23) had Louisville OT Mekhi Becton in the first round in December. Now, only Pauline doesn’t have him as a top-11 pick (which probably changes in Pauline’s next mock). Brugler has him at 7.

For more analysis of these seven top mock drafts, make sure to register for our Friday Wrap, where we’ll go much deeper. You can do that here. It comes out every Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Also of note: on Wednesday, we’ll be honoring The Athletic’s Ben Standig for having the top mock draft last year as graded by The Huddle Report, which tracked more than 100 mocks — including all of the seven we’ve tracked here — that were filed shortly before the actual draft last April. Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Hanson is a previous Huddle Report champion.

At any rate, Ben will be on hand at the 2020 TEST Football Academy ITL Combine Seminar, our 11th such event and the place to be if you’re interested in networking with people in the football community. You can find more details here, and if you’re an ITL client, you’re invited. See you there!

The XFL’s opening weekend was a smashing success, both from a broadcast standpoint as well as attendance, and it has the full attention of those in the football business community. Still, there’s a facet to the excitement that I think many are missing.

What do Bears Assistant Director of Player Personnel Champ Kelly (indoor football GM), Browns area scout Gerald McCully (CFL scout), Tampa Bay scouting coordinator Cesar Rivera (AFL scout), Chiefs national scout Cassidy Kaminski (scouted for an Australian team), Colts NFS scout Mike Lacy (AFL scout) and many other NFL evaluators have in common? They all got their start in alternative leagues. The XFL has a long way to go before it shows the staying power of the CFL (or even the now-defunct Arena Football League), but the early returns are promising.

This is great news for aspiring NFL scouts. While the best routes into scouting remain working in college personnel or, even better, having a father who’s in the NFL, there’s an opportunity here. However, you have to know how to take advantage. Here’s what I recommend.

• Reach out: Daryl Johnston and Bob Morris (Dallas), Blake Beddingfield and Randy Mueller (Houston), Trip MacCracken (New York), Jeff Bauer (St. Louis) and Tony Softli (Seattle) are all XFL (and former NFL) scouts and evaluators on Twitter. Most of them are also my friends, and I can attest to them being good people. If you reach out to them with the right attitude, you’ve got a great shot at making contact. God knows they have plenty on their plate and could probably use some help. But first . . . .
• Make it clear you’ll do anything: Every XFL team has a bare-bones evaluation staff, and that’s by design; the league has made an affirmative decision to reduce costs by centralizing evaluation. Still, these teams are playing to win and they need help sorting out the good players from the bad. But first, you have to prove that you are hard-working and reliable. That means you might have to run errands, load and unload, make copies, bring coffee, whatever. Make it clear you are elated to do this.
• Don’t send scouting reports: Believe me, I get it. You want to show your passion for football. You want to show that you are fluent in the game. All those things are important. Still, the first thing most aspiring scouts want to send is a resume and scouting reports, and the last thing most scouts I know want is same. You need to impress upon them your willingness to do anything before you assert your eye for talent.
• Be there: This is the one thing that is most often overlooked. If you already live in an XFL city, you have a huge advantage over everyone else. The same is true if you’re trying to volunteer with virtually any team in any league. Maybe it was Woody Allen who said, “showing up is 80 percent of success. Maybe it wasn’t. It’s still true.

Do all these things and maybe you’re the next Will McClay, Vice President of Player Personnel for the Cowboys. Back in 2001, he was Director of Player Personnel of the XFL’s Orlando Rage.

Want more ideas on how to break into the NFL? It starts with knowing what’s going on behind the scenes. You can get a really good handle on that by reading our Friday Wrap, which comes out this afternoon. You can register for it here.

It’s an interesting time to be a football fan.

Tomorrow, after a pretty exciting end to the 2019 NFL season, the XFL kicks off its first weekend of play since 2001. I expect ratings to be pretty good this weekend, and attendance, as well (I was told they’re expecting about 20,000 in Houston as the Roughnecks host the Los Angeles Saturday).

Fans are essential, of course, but readers of this post aren’t fans, by and large. Like me, most are asking themselves this question: will the XFL really have legs? Is this league any different from all the other attempts at a new league?

To me, here are the reasons to believe and the reasons to have doubts. First, the pros of the XFL.

• Money: The XFL seems to be far more responsible about its spending. I spoke to one friend in an XFL team’s front office yesterday and he said the big difference he’s seen from his AAF experience is that his team is willing to spend for the big things, but is much tighter on frivolous purchases. That’s good news.
• Experience: We’ve never seen a new league start up while the wreckage of a previous, viable new league was still smoldering. Many of those who served in the AAF are back with the XFL. We’ve also never seen a league owner come back for a second bite of the apple. No one can say Vince McMahon doesn’t know what he’s getting into.
• Contracts: There was a lot of hullabaloo when player salaries were announced last. year. Some players even elected not to play, but to me, the league has to be wise about its expenditures. The facts are, this is what the market dictates players be paid. It might even be a little on the high side.

Now for the cons.

• History: There’s a reason these leagues don’t survive. From football fatigue to competition for the entertainment dollar to a lack of talent across the board, we’ve seen dozens of leagues give start-up football a go without success.
• Team sites: One area where the AAF really excelled was in giving the game to cities that have always sought an NFL franchise. The XFL, however, went in the opposite direction, even seeking out NFL-sized venues. That’s a real dice roll.
• NFL labor peace: When the league was in its early stages, it looked like the NFL may be in for a work stoppage. That’s looking less likely now. That means it will be business as usual across the board for the NFL news cycle, i.e., free agency, the draft, etc.

Make sure you weigh in on the chances for the XFL’s long-term success in our Twitter poll. We’ll also have thoughts from people around the game in today’s Friday Wrap. You can register for the Wrap here, and if you aren’t already receiving it, I hope you do. It arrives in inboxes at 6:30 p.m. CT.

As you know, it’s been a pretty interesting week for the Dawg Pound. Cleveland set sail on several of its top evaluators while bringing in a new GM, Andrew Berry, who, though highly regarded, was also part of a previous unsuccessful Browns regime.

Berry, 32, gets the unenviable task of turning around a team that has missed the playoffs 17 straight seasons and has had only two winning seasons since it was reconstituted in 1999. The problems are various and substantial. However, I see three as most pressing.

• One of the head coaches on the sidelines Sunday, San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan, was Cleveland’s offensive coordinator five seasons ago. Until Dec. 31, the Browns’ GM, John Dorsey, was the man who built the other team, the Chiefs. Meanwhile, Green Bay went to the NFC Championship game with a defensive coordinator, Mike Pettine, who was Cleveland’s head coach as recently as 2015. None of them got more than two years in Cleveland. Why in the world would a talented coach or executive come to Cleveland?
• The GM prior to Dorsey, Sashi Brown, was tasked with making analytics front and center in Cleveland. He tried without success, and his reward was getting unceremoniously dumped after just two years. Meanwhile, the presumed architect of all things analytical, Chief Strategy Officer Paul Depodesta, remains. Is Berry going to have the flexibility to experiment until he finds the right mix? Will DePodesta allow that?
• I get it that, more and more, you better have instant results to last more than a year in the NFL. Still, during the ownership of Jimmy Haslam, five head coaches have had at least one full season. Just one — Hue Jackson — got more than two years. Meanwhile, Berry is the fifth GM Haslam has hired. Not one of them so far — not Michael Lombardi, Ray Farmer, Brown or Dorsey — has gotten more than two seasons. That’s high-octane dysfunction.

At the end of the day, I think Berry’s biggest obstacle will be trying to satisfy an owner that doesn’t know what he wants. Berry has a five-year deal, but most certainly won’t live to see the end of it unless he either (a) has immediate success or (b) is able to convince Haslam that it’s a big job turning around an NFL team, and it doesn’t happen overnight.

Today, for our Friday Wrap, we asked dozens of NFL scouts what they think Berry’s toughest job will be. We got several meaty responses, and we’ll present them today at 6:30 p.m. CT when the Wrap goes out to thousands of people across the industry (and you, if you register here).

Meanwhile, you can let it be known your feelings on which of the three issues is the biggest in our Twitter poll, which you can access here. We’ll continue accepting responses until late this afternoon. Please vote!

I call the Senior Bowl “Disney World for people in the football world.” If you’re in the business, you just have to be there. But I noticed something funny about my trip to Mobile this week. No one was there.

OK, some people were there. Plenty of people. Teams still sent scouts, and several GMs and head coaches, but not nearly as many as I’ve seen in the past. I was looking around on Tuesday, the first day of practices (and quite a cold day), and the sparse nature of the stands was unmistakeable. In fact, the shaded side of the field had barely any scouts at all, which many attributed to the temperatures (a friend told me the press box was quite crowded). All of that is understandable.

I tried to find out if registration was down this year, and I didn’t have any luck, so I just have to go off what I saw and what others said. One Senior Bowl veteran called it “uncharacteristic” of the usual numbers, and another agreed that this week it “definitely felt like it was lacking numbers.” I spoke to several scouts who agreed that there were fewer people in town than usual.

It’s odd, because the news on the fan side seems better than ever; the game is poised to move to a new venue in 2021, and ticket sales for this year appear to be robust. Still, presuming my eyes (and the eyes of so many others) weren’t playing tricks on me, here are five reasons why crowds might have been down.

• One thing that was unmistakeable was the lack of assistant coaches. In past years, teams have sent their entire coaching staffs, lock, stock and barrel, to Alabama. Maybe this has become a net negative. Scouts often lament spending four months developing a complete picture of a player, only to see the board changed in February after vocal coaches spend three days watching practices in Mobile.
• Could this be attributed to a coming work stoppage? Maybe. I don’t recall a similar dip in advance of the 2011 CBA negotiations, but it’s certainly not unusual for teams to tighten their belts in anticipation of a work stoppage. It seems like scouts are always the first group looked at when it comes to cuts.
• There’s no denying that analytics are becoming a bigger part of the game, and teams are having to look at their budgets to see how they allocate funds to traditional scouting vs. newer numbers-driven methods.
• The Patriots model (which requires less opinion-forming and more numbers-gathering from its scouts) has become undeniably prevalent among teams. However, in the past, even teams that share the Pats’ scouting philosophy still sent their staffers to the game.
• Scouting numbers seemed to be down at other all-star games, as well, during this cycle. Maybe this reflects a new philosophy as the GM-head coach model flips and head coaches put less emphasis on evaluators.
• The AFCA conference has continued to grow, and has eclipsed the Senior Bowl as the primary place to get a new job. Over the past several weeks, we’ve heard of many college head coaches declining to go to Nashville simply because they have staff openings and know the conference will be one unending solicitation.

There were other reasons some people I spoke to gave, from bad weather to staff vacancies. In so many other areas, the game has incredible momentum, and the future seems bright. Here’s hoping this is a fluke and not a trend.

For more on this topic and others related to the business of football, make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter, the Friday Wrap. You can do that here.

The NFL’s divisional playoff round featured some great defensive performances and one stunning defensive collapse in Kansas City. Let’s unpack the action and see how mental performance impacted the games.

With insights from Lawrence Barnett (defensive back trainer at Traction AP and Eclipse DB Training), aka ‘LB,’ we’ll filter through the aftermath to look at how defensive backs got things right and wrong last weekend – and how their play impacted playoff storylines.

• The Texans couldn’t keep up and weren’t able to adjust

Let’s start with the track meet in Kansas City. After going up 24-0 via a few weird plays (a blocked punt and a Tyreek Hill fumble on his second punt return of the season), the Texans proceeded to get decimated by Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and company, giving up seven straight touchdown drives.

What happened? One major factor was that they weren’t able to hold up for the length of time they needed to in coverage.

Usually, defensive backs have to cover for 3-4 seconds before the pass rush gets home. With mobile quarterbacks, though, that time can be significantly increased. (Deshaun Watson and Mahomes both averaged 2.82 seconds time to throw this year, an above-league-average mark that highlights their tendency to extend plays). On longer plays, the Texans, especially, suffered.

Take a look at what happened on Travis Kelce’s second touchdown of the day. As Mahomes rolls out to extend the play, Kareem Jackson is forced to chase Kelce for close to five seconds. Kelce uses the extra time to settle into a window, leaving Jackson in the dust for an easy catch.

It’s a big task for any defense to keep up with the Chiefs, but it was clear in Kansas City that the Texans weren’t able to lock in for long enough – and they weren’t able to adjust to that reality.

• The Titans had belief in their fundamentals

The Titans may have put on the weekend’s most impressive defensive showing in Baltimore, where they held presumed MVP Lamar Jackson to one late touchdown in a dominating performance.

The key was that their secondary was able to fill the dual roles of pass coverage and run defense that are needed to contend with Jackson. Watch these highlights and you’ll see an example of DC Adoree Jackson holding up in man coverage and DC Logan Ryan securing the edge to keep Jackson from getting loose on an option.

Plays like these were the story of the game. Over and over, the Titans DBs held the edge. And over and over, they made big plays on balls in the air, totaling an impressive eight pass breakups. The Titans had belief in their fundamentals and their mental performance never wavered over the course of the game. The end result was a four-quarter clinic.

• Richard Sherman showcased his knowledge of the game

Finally, there may not be a better corner to watch (or a better corner, period) than the 49ers’ Richard Sherman. He proved it again against the Vikings.

Take a look at his game-changing interception in man coverage against Adam Thielen. Thielen’s been a top-tier receiver, but Sherman is at another level. He stymies him at the line, runs the route for him, and ends up with the ball against his chest. He’s done things like this every week he’s been on the field for nearly a decade.

How does he do it? Sherman’s the perfect example of an elite mental performer at the cornerback position: he’s able to be hyped up and calmly intelligent at once.

From a scientific perspective, he’s tapping into the kind of functioning that allows Navy SEALS to perform at elite levels. This is only possible when the amygdala (the part of the brain that controls fight or flight) and the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain that controls rational decision-making) are activated simultaneously. In the vast majority of the population, when the amygdala gets activated, the prefrontal cortex shuts down and you fight or flee. You don’t think.

Elite warriors, though, are different; they’re able to use the increased intensity while also thinking analytically. Sherman is doing the same thing. After the game, he described how he diagnosed the route to make the pick, making it sound like he was calmly picking up a tell in a poker game. Even in his press conferences, he operates at a high level of intensity while simultaneously making rational, thought-through arguments.

It’s how the best corners function. It’s impressive and it’s fun to watch.

• Defense wins championships; mental performance makes champions

High-level skill and high-level mental performance make great defensive players. I help athletes maximize the mental side of their games, and I’m honored to work with consultants like LB, who’s a nationally recognized expert at teaching tactical skills.

The combination is what makes championship-level performance possible. It’s what Sherman put on display last weekend – and what will likely impact who advances to the Superbowl this week.

This week’s post is the latest in a series of guest columns by Donovan Martin, who heads Ft. Wayne, Ind.-based Donovan Mental Performance. Donovan and his team are doing exciting things to help athletes bring their very best to the court, diamond or gridiron. We introduced Donovan in November on our Friday Wrap, and he’s addressed topics like the mental side of being a kicker, how two great teams prepare for a showdown, why some teams always win and others always lose and the pros and cons of perfectionism in this space. 

For a number of reasons, January is my favorite month, because it takes me to “my people,” the agents, scouts, administrators, game volunteers and officials, wealth managers, players, coaches and even parents who make up the game. I never learn more about the business of the game than I do the first 31 days of the year. There’s just no substitute for being there.

Here are a few thoughts and observations from my first week on the road.

• I think negotiating is something that most people find exciting. However, it’s important to understand when you have no leverage. Players in all-star games that are not the Senior Bowl do not have a lot of leverage. They need every practice — shoot, every rep — they can get to prove they are worthy of a UDFA deal. Unfortunately, too many players aren’t getting this message. That’s why it was so satisfying to get this text Wednesday, the last day of workouts at the College Gridiron Showcase: “Loved seeing your post about guys that are advised to sit out the last day. I actually had two teams text me about one of my guys today after he had a great day!” Lots of kids missed an opportunity Wednesday.
• It’s always fascinating to me the quarterbacks the Packers have carried on their training camp rosters, but ultimately cut or shipped off. They include Taysom Hill, Mark Brunell, and, of course, Kurt Warner. But how is it the team continually finds out-of-the-way passers who have NFL ability? I was told this week that the team has a rule: whenever a scout comes across a four-year starter, he automatically “writes him,” i.e., evaluates the player with a formal report. In a league that is increasingly driven by stats and hard numbers, simply being a good quarterback sometimes gets lost in the shuffle by some. But not Green Bay.
• It’s no surprise that Cleveland-based Klutch Sports Group is having an immediate impact in its first year as a football agency. No. 1, of course, is the work of Damarious Bilbo, one of the 4-5 best recruiters in the business. However, I think you can also credit Klutch’s success to the players the firm is recruiting: big-name athletes from big-name programs (Ohio State and others). More and more, the modern player sees himself not just as an athlete but as a major media figure, almost from the moment he becomes draft-eligible (and in some cases, from the moment he is recruited). It only makes sense that such a player would seek out representation from a company headed by someone he aspires to be.
• On a related topic, the runaway new must-have feature for all NFL agencies recruiting top-100 prospects is a crackerjack graphic designer. I touched on the impact graphics professionals are having in the college game earlier this fall. This is the first year that the phenomenon has fully evolved into the college-to-pro arena.

I’ll be in Daytona Beach (Tropical Bowl) and St. Petersburg (Shrine Bowl) this weekend and next week as I complete my Florida leg of the trip. More to come. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Friday Wrap, which comes out this evening at 6:30 p.m. CST. Do that here.

This week, we take a break from the series by guest blogger Donovan Martin of Donovan Mental Performance to look at the changing industry. I can boil it down to three texts I’ve received in the last seven days, all from veteran agents who’ve represented big-name players and who know the industry top to bottom.

I’ll provide their texts and then a little context and perspective.

• “I’ll never forget one of my first clients, a PFA-type kid from Coastal Carolina, got in a car accident a month before the draft and my firm repped him on the soft tissue bodily injury case. We made more money off a minor, run-of-the-mill fender bender with that kid than we ever did in football with him.”

I provide this really more for comedy relief than anything else. This text comes from one of the most devoted contract advisors certified in the last five years. He’s smart, driven, and has resources, but in today’s system, often, that’s not enough.

• “A player called me about representation. He asked about training – told him no. He called back and asked me if there are places that will arrange a loan for training and housing.”

This text gives you insight into the perception of so many players, especially fringe prospects, that combine prep can turn them into overnight first-rounders. Desperation is part of being young sometimes, but for a young man to take on a $20,000 to $30,000 loan on a million-to-one shot is a failure of so many people close to him who should know better. This misperception is almost solely social media-driven.

• “This rookie business sucks as is…really from the top down. First-rounders, you have to damn near pay them what you are going to make off of them. Then you have Day 3 guys have the nerve to request stipends. The day I pay a Day 3 guy a salary for 4 months to sign with me is the day hell freezes over.”

In its zeal to make life better for players, the NFLPA has stayed largely out of the fray as the signing chase has become an arms race. I get it; it’s a volatile sport, so let players take advantage of the market. At the same time, this has taken a dramatic and tragic toll on the “middle class” of veteran agents who are extremely connected and knowledgeable, but don’t have endless resources. At the end of the day, signing should be about sound counsel, not cash. In my opinion, it’s a pretty short-sighted position that the Players Association has taken.

If you aspire to be an agent, consider these texts and make sure you’ve read previous posts here about the state of the business. If you’re a coach or work for a college team, make sure you’re providing your players with mature counsel. If it’s your son who’s trying to get to the league, make sure you’re thinking about the best for your son, and don’t be afraid to tell him some hard truths.

If you’re part of any of these groups, and you need to know more, or need help communicating these lessons to a prospect, please reach out to us.

Saints WO Michael Thomas was the sixth receiver selected (second round, 47th selection overall) in the 2016 NFL draft. Coming out of Ohio State, he didn’t get much hype; he went in the second round after guys like Baylor’s Corey Coleman (1/15, Browns) and Mississippi’s Laquon Treadwell (1/23, Vikings).

Last Sunday, Thomas set the NFL record for most receptions in a single season, surpassing Indianapolis’ Marvin Harrison, who had 143 in 2002. Thomas has 145. And there’s still one game left.

How did Thomas go from a mid-level prospect to arguably the best receiver in the game? The short answer: skill, mental performance and focus.

Thomas has elite receiving skill: Obviously, Thomas is an elite athlete, but he’s a better football player. At six-foot-three and 212 pounds, he has good size, but his measurables at the NFL level are average to above-average. At the combine, his 40 time was 4.57; Notre Dame’s Will Fuller, for example — taken by the Texans 26 spots before Thomas — ran a 4.32.

Skill, more than athleticism, is what makes Thomas great.

“My hands,” said Thomas when asked what sets him apart. “The way I know how to create separation.”

“[It’s] attention to detail,” said Keyshawn Johnson who, in addition to being a Pro-Bowl receiver in the 90s, is also Thomas’s uncle. “When you’re running the right routes and you’re doing everything the right way, you’ll be difficult to guard.”

Thomas has clearly committed himself to doing everything the right way. It’s paid off in high-level skills that allow him to produce at a record-setting pace. He’s not a track star. He’s a receiver.

Thomas is a strong mental performer: The most obvious component of Thomas’ mental game is his unwavering belief in himself.

“I just love his mindset,” says his quarterback, Drew Brees. “He is going to look you dead in the eye and say, ‘I am going to get open.’ And you believe him.”

Thomas is clearly confident –- and, just as important, he has reason to be. His intense focus on improvement gives him an edge. He knows the work he puts in and his own desire to be great, so he knows he’ll win his matchups.

“I don’t care who’s in front of me,” says Thomas. “I just gotta make my plays and play my game.”

Thomas is laser-focused on improvement: This point could fall under the umbrella of mental performance, but it’s worth noting because of its importance: Thomas is laser-focused on improvement. It shows up, for instance, in practice.

“He’s an extremely hard practice player,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton.

“Here’s the thing: If you saw the guy work and you saw the guy prepare, it’s just what we see every day in practice, honestly,” Brees said.

The best players practice the hardest.

It’s also worth noting that Thomas has seemingly eliminated distractions from his processes. He got a big contract before this season; other than that, you’ve probably never read about anything he’s done off the field. It’s because he’s so focused toward what he does on it.

Skill and mental performance cause greatness: I help athletes maximize their mental performance. It’s a needed component of elite athletic performance, but high-level skill is crucial, too. That’s why I partner with DeAundre Muhammad at Traction Athletic Performance. Dre (who played at Indiana University and with the Raiders) is a nationally recognized wide receiver consultant who helps athletes with skill development to reach next-level performance.

The bottom line: taken together, elite skill and mental performance create greatness. As his 145 receptions clearly show, Thomas has both.

This week’s post is the latest in a series of guest columns by Donovan Martin, who heads Ft. Wayne, Ind.-based Donovan Mental Performance. Donovan and his team are doing exciting things to help athletes bring their very best to the court, diamond or gridiron. We introduced Donovan in November on our Friday Wrap, and he’s addressed topics like the mental side of being a kicker, how two great teams prepare for a showdown, why some teams always win and others always lose and the pros and cons of perfectionism in this space. 

About a week ago, my longtime friend, Kevin Dunn of TEST Football Academy, sent me a link. It led to a 30-minute video posted on YouTube, and I was blown away after watching the first five minutes, but quickly got distracted and didn’t get to finish it.

Kevin persisted, however, and asked this week if I’d ever finished it. I felt guilty about it, and immediately went home and watched it in its entirety. I’m really glad I did. Kevin and I have known each other for the better part of 20 years, but I didn’t really know him until I watched his story, which is called TESTED.

It tells the story of Kevin’s challenges raising two children with significant medical needs, as well as as his brother, who was part of the TEST team before his tragic death a few years ago. It’s a movie about family and, of course, football, but also something that should appeal to anyone who aspires to do something great in this arena and the serious obstacles you might face.

I encourage you to watch the video. In the meantime, I asked Kevin a few questions about the film and the story it tells. My questions and his answers are below.

Had you known what your next 20 years would look like, would you have started TEST?

“When you take on a project as large as this, you commit your life to something that will hopefully be thriving long after you leave this earth. The legacy we are creating here is a special one. The 20-year journey was well worth the ride knowing the players and families we helped along the way and the long-term generational impact obtaining a career in the NFL would have on them.”

How did your experience with your children’s medical situations help you deal with the problems your brother faced? Or did those experiences help at all?

“It’s hard to believe in miracles until that’s the only option you have. I found myself on a rollercoaster of emotions going through all of the medical emergencies with my kids which ultimately led to the point of actually mourning the loss of my son who was non-verbal, autistic and had severe hydrocephalus.  The dreams you have of how life was supposed to be all of the sudden disappeared. Hearing ‘Dada’ or ‘I love you,’ making friends, girlfriends, sports, proms, college, marriage and grandkids, all became things that Kurtis would never get to experience. That was a hard pill to swallow. There were definitely several years where I became angry and resentful, but my children solidified the necessity of faith in my life and have ultimately given me the best, most compassionate perspective to want to help kids that can’t help themselves.

“Because I walked through that battlefield early on, it literally felt like I was in a war and by nature, became numb to bad news.  It kept me calm and patient during a very difficult year for our family as we tried to help my brother.  I’m proud of the man he was becoming and how amazing he was with my kids. The camping trips, the Santa suits, and all of the time he spent with them was truly a blessing. We choose to remember the positives he brought to our world and are reminded that there are no guarantees in life.”

Dealing with aspiring NFL players can be grueling for a lot of reasons. How did your daily challenges raising your kids help you in your work with young athletes?

“Winners make things happen, losers let things happen. The only way you can make a good decision is to know all the variables.  I was making life-and-death decisions for my kids since I was 27 years old. I didn’t have time to wait for paper-pushers at insurance companies to determine whether or not it was appropriate for Kurt to get his surgery in NYC with the best heart surgeon for the job. After being denied three times, I finally won that battle, and it is one of the reasons Kurtis is with us today.

“I approach my business decisions with the same level of intensity.  Getting into the NFL is truly a life-or-death situation for some kids.  I will fight until my very last breath to help athletes save themselves.”

Viewers are treated to you singing at the end of Tested. Do you ever sing for your guys around the facility? Maybe throw in a little rap?

“I did have one moment in time at the (NFL Combine) when the room we had came with a mic and I broke out a beat-box session. It’s some serious comic relief.  But in all seriousness, in the film, I sang that song at my dad’s funeral. We all have special gifts to give that are more valuable than money, and that was one that money couldn’t buy.

“I hope this film is a blessing to people that are going through storms in their lives. I hope it encourages them to keep fighting and being teachable in moments of struggle. The storm will eventually subside along with the emotions that surrounds it. This journey has opened my eyes to so many incredible things that most of us take for granted.  I will live forever by my dad’s quote on the wall, ‘if you start the game, finish it at 100 percent.'”