Tag Archives: NCAA Scouting

Eleven College Personnel Professionals to Watch

20 Friday Nov 2020

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As I’ve expanded my work with members of the college evaluation and recruiting community, I’ve begun to work with dozens of young people who are incredibly talented. Here’s the funny thing: until I really started looking, I had no idea who these people were. In fact, until CAA’s Ed Marynowitz started bringing this community together at his Personnel Symposium a couple years ago, I barely knew this community existed, so hats off to Ed.

At any rate, there are lots of rising young evaluators who have well-developed eyes for talent, superhero-level administrative talents, a special way with recruiting and communicating with young players, or all of the above. It’s time to recognize some of them.

Here are 11 young men working in college personnel and recruiting who are ready for a promotion to running a P5 school’s recruiting department, to serve as an NFL scouting assistant, to jump straight to college scouting coordinator for a pro team, or to serve as a chief of staff for a college or pro head coach. I’ve presented them alphabetically.

  • Marcus Berry, Director of Recruiting, Maryland: Marcus lives to evaluate and is passionate about getting better at it, though he’s already really good. I always learn something when I talk to him. He will be a great NFL scout someday. 
  • Albert Boone, Director of Football Operations, South Florida: I don’t get to link up with Albert as much anymore because he’s always busy. Albert is on a steady climb in the industry and has earned the acclaim of some powerful people.
  • Alex Brown, Director of Football Recruiting, Rice: I met Alex years ago before he was part of an FBS football administration, and it’s incredibly how far he’s come in a short time. If you check out his podcast about college personnel, you won’t be sorry.
  • Cody Cejda, Director of Football Operations and Strategy, Northwestern: The consummate professional and the gold standard as far major college administrators, which is why he’s the only person on this list whom I’ve asked to speak at one of my seminars.
  • Will Christopherson, Director of Player Personnel Operations, Maryland: Will is relentless. He finds opportunities, excels, then builds his network with the people he’s worked with without being a self-promoter. 
  • Ryan Fischler, offensive assistant, Texas A&M: Everywhere I go on the all-star/combine trail in January and February, I see Ryan either working or just networking. That’s what you have to do if you want to climb in this industry.
  • Zach Gold, Assistant Director of Player Personnel, Temple: Not only is Zach engaging, but he will move heaven and earth to learn and find resources to help him get better. You have to admire that.
  • Matt Lindsey, General Manager, Ole Miss: Matt is at the forefront of a new position in college football, general manager. He’s incredibly impressive, is a ‘Bama grad, and has already worked in the NFL (Eagles). 
  • C.J. Owens, Director of Player Personnel, Old Dominion: I haven’t known C.J. for very long, but I’ve been really impressed so far, and I look forward to tracking his career as it continues.
  • Steve Schrum, Director of Player Personnel, Kent State: It’s been fun to watch Steve rise through the industry, as no job has been too small or too large for him. The Golden Flashes are 3-0 and Steve has a lot to do with it.
  • Tim Silvernail, Director of Recruiting, Rutgers: Tim has an extensive MAC background but he’s on the move and making things happen in the Big Ten now. He’s got a lot of momentum and there’s a good reason for that. Highly organized.

There are several others who are worthy of recognition; they’re just a few steps away from being ready. They include Nathan Applebaum, a recruiting assistant at Florida; Cody Bellaire, a player personnel assistant at Baylor; Taylor Buie, recruiting assistant at Stanford; Price Burton, a quality control assistant in recruiting at Toledo; Aaron Clem and Nathan Ellis, recruiting assistants at Maryland; Camden Dietz, a recruiting assistant at Kansas; Tom Fratcher, a recruiting specialist at NCSA; Allen Gaudet, player personnel assistant at Texas A&M; Chris Haase, a football scouting assistant at Northwestern; Justin Markus, recruiting assistant at Rice; Kyle Morgan, southwest area scout for XOS Technology; Jalun Morris, Assistant Director of Recruiting at UAB; Connor Roche, grad assistant in recruiting at Arizona State; John Todd and Nathan Cooper at Sports Info Solutions, a top sports analytics firm; and Jeremy Wright, a community relations coordinator at North Carolina A&T. These guys are among several who hold a lot of promise.

I’m certain I’ve left some out. This is far from an exhaustive list, and it’s important to note that if someone’s not listed here, it’s not that I don’t see them as a riser in the business. It’s probably just that I haven’t met that person yet (or, more likely, I’ve just forgotten to include them in this rather hastily assembled post).

There are so many people in this industry who are talented, and I just haven’t made my way around the business yet. But I will, and I will continue to point to these peoples’ successes when I see them.

Examining NFL Teams’ Reliance on College Production

30 Friday Jun 2017

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It’s been my theory that scouting has changed in the last 10 years, with more of a focus on what happens off the field and less on pure production. In other words, despite what scouts and executives love to say, the NFL Combine and pro days are more important than ever, and 40 times, media buzz and ‘it factor’ are a bigger part of draft day than ever.

This really came home to me a few weeks ago when I was having lunch with a scouting friend of mine. When I started discounting many of this year’s top picks as one-year wonders, he countered that the player I suggested as alternates were also  one-year wonders. That got me thinking: do teams really value the kind of production and staying power they used to value? It’s something I wanted to take a look at, but how do you measure such a thing?

I wanted to try, so I gave my intern, Griffin Rice, this project: take the top 50 picks from 2017 and put them alongside the top 50 from 10 years ago (2008), and give me a line about the season before their last season in college (for the ’17 draft, 2015; for the ’08 draft, 2006). In other words, I wanted to see what kind of resume they’d accumulated before catching fire, becoming a ‘star’ in the eyes of the media, and possibly riding the hype train to first-round status. I had him put it all in a spreadsheet, and this is what came out of it (sorry, it’s a pay link). My goal — determine how many ‘one-year wonders’ made it to the first round this year, and compare it to the totals from 10 years ago.

My conclusion: to get drafted in the first round 10 years ago, it was pretty simple. You had played at least two straight seasons in good health, at the same position where you were drafted. You had started every game for two years, no questions asked. Also, you might have come from a small conference or a lesser school, but you were highly decorated there. Finally, in most cases, you had four seasons of college football under your belt.

These days, all bets are off. Here are a few thoughts:

  • More and more top picks might have arrived at school with a nice pedigree, but they just don’t have a lot of experience (and certainly far fewer games started) before having a big season that vaults them into the draft discussion (and often, into the draft).
  • Program means way more, too; Ohio State players just seem to be tinged with gold as teams seem to value Urban Meyer’s eye for talent more. The same could be said for Michigan and Jim Harbaugh.
  • Of course, there are more juniors to choose from, which tilts selection in the direction of less experience and fewer honors (and more projection on the part of scouts). Ten years ago, 29 seniors went in the first 50 picks versus only 18 last year.
  • The biggest revelation, however, is the number of players with less than 10 games started the year before their last college season. That’s evident in the grid we assembled. Again, you can find that at ITL.

Based on these criteria, I would argue that, due to health or inexperience, 14 players who went Top-50 this spring would never have been picked so high 10 years ago: Bears QB Mitch Trubisky (1/2); Bengals WO John Ross (1/9); Saints DC Marshon Lattimore (1/11); Indianapolis SS Malik Hooker (1/15); Broncos OT Garrett Bolles (1/20); Falcons DE Takkarist McKinley (1/26); Cowboys DE Taco Charlton (1/28); Browns TE David Njoku (1/29); Steelers OB T.J. Watt (1/30); Saints OT Ryan Ramczyk (1/32); Panthers WO Curtis Samuel (1/40); Colts DC Quincy Wilson (1/46); Ravens OB Tyus Bowser (1/47); and Bucs SS Justin Evans (1/50).

Granted, the nature of football has changed, and colleges have followed the NFL in using a much more aggressive rotation system (especially at running back and on the defensive line), and that affects things. What’s more, the players that would have stuck around four years in the past leave early these days. Still, the change of philosophy in favor of risk has been, to me, unmistakeable.

 

A Look at College ‘Scouting’ Positions

23 Friday Jun 2017

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This week, ITL’s Danny Shimon compiled a list of the Directors of Player Personnel or Directors of Football Operations at all FBS schools. We’ve never compiled such a list before. We did this because, most often, these are the coaches that are working with scouts when they come through, and usually the point men for coordinating pro days. In other words, these are valuable positions for young men aiming to build a network of NFL contacts that they can parlay into a job in the league.

We did this as a service to the scouts and agents who are ITL clients, of course, but also to take a look at the people who fill these positions. How do they get there? Where did they come from? What are their credentials?

Here are a few observations.

  • We counted only eight former NFL scouts holding these jobs. They are Bobby Merritt (Houston), James Kirkland (Illinois), Marcus Hendrickson (Minnesota), Matt Lindsey (South Carolina), Dave Boller (Louisville), Bob Welton (Tennessee), Dennis Polian (Texas A&M) and Bill Rees (Wake Forest). Paul Skansi also held a voluntary personnel role with the University of Washington this season, but he was recently hired by the Redskins.
  • This number is relatively, low which is surprising because as teams build out their staffs with more personnel and recruiting specialists, there’s a perception that dozens of NFL professionals have filled those roles as they wait to get back into the league. Not so.
  • Though we don’t have hard numbers, these jobs are held mostly by people under 40. There are no ex-head coaches holding these positions and no ex-NFL executives. It’s mostly area scouts in these roles.
  • Most of these positions require plenty of non-personnel duties like helping with administration, recruiting, and even fundraising. So former scouts looking to grab these jobs need to know it’s not as simple as serving as a team’s advance scout and watching film on next Saturday’s opponent, or catching up with old friends as they cycle through the team offices.
  • Unlike a lot of positions in college and pro football, these seem to be legitimate jobs that require total effort. One thing you don’t see much of in this list is last names that are common with the head coach or some other prominent football name. People in these positions have to have game. They gotta be locked in and hard-working.
  • Reading the bios, many have traveled with the head coach to multiple stops, indicating that they’ve proven themselves. Again, these aren’t blow-off jobs. They may not have the glamor of other positions, but people who don’t perform aren’t kept around.
  • These positions do seem to be populated by those who worked their way up. In other words, they worked in the football office as an undergrad, then took some low-paying job/volunteer position before landing in personnel.

We get dozens of questions about how to land NFL jobs. Well, before you land that NFL scouting assistant position, you might have to land a college job. Hopefully, you can find something in the above points that gives you a little guidance.