Latest / Scouting the League / The First 3 Weeks - NFL Scout Camp Life
Transcript
- Rodrik David: It's Monday, August 10th. Welcome to Scouting the League. It was fantastic to see so many people across the football industry last week in Nashville. And I look forward to staying in touch throughout the fall, which is without a question the busiest time of the year from trying to win games to managing the roster, thinking about the portal and recruiting August to December and throw some January in there as well is crime time if you are in the football world. And today I dig in on one portion of that. I'll call it the first three weeks. That is the initial trip on the road for so many NFL area scouts. What does it look like? Why does it matter? And so much more. But before I jump in today on that first three weeks, make sure you head over and give this podcast a like, subscribe, share wherever you're listening and watching Apple Podcasts, Spotify. or that video portion over on YouTube. Hit those buttons that subscribe and the comments really help us out. Head over to Twitter, give me a follow as well, at RightStepADV is where you can find me. Website, our SAFootball.com for my background, get in touch, everything you need to know there. Make sure you check out the brand new website for all things evaluation, RightStepScouting.com for full reports, one-liners, video reports. full roster evaluations, whether you are an agent, player, parent, program, or anybody in between, get signed up, request that first report, and make sure you are up to date on everything you need to know from that evaluation aspect. Last week, we talked at the recruiting and personnel symposium about the network, the community that is the scouting world, and I've been working on that for about two years now. Thescoutingcommunity.com is the thought for that. resources for those in the industry and that want to be in the industry. Get connected, get connected with people that have been there and that are currently doing it. Thescoutingcommunity.com is the spot for you. And make sure you go check out the best insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have over at bluemaka.com. You're gonna be on your feet a lot on the sideline traveling to games. Bluemaka.com has the insoles for you no matter. what you need use code scouting20 at checkout to let them know we sent you get a little discount on that order as well. bluemaca.com is the spot for you. Tomorrow we talk running back Mark Fletcher of the Miami Hurricanes a big part of that run to the national title game last year and a true senior that will be part of that 2027 draft I'd imagine what will his draft prospects look like? Tune in tomorrow and find out and let's see a little bit of film as well and Wednesday. Neil Stratton and I sit down with GM and Chief of Staff for Iowa football Tyler Barnes winning the Iowa way coach Ference and the O-line factory that Iowa is do not miss that one. But today it's all about those first three weeks for NFL scouts. The structure of camp and early season has certainly changed. used to be NFL scouts come into the building when everybody else reports kind of third, fourth week of July. do some meetings, get to know the staff, but that has kind of changed a lot of teams. Hey, head out on the road, get your first three weeks in, depending on whenever that is, August 1st, August 5th, get your two to three weeks on the road, and then we'll bring you back in as cut down time happens, as we actually get to some games. Again, that structure is going to continue to change as the landscape of both the NFL preseason and the college football programs change their schedule. So again, We'll see it either way, again, meetings before, meeting after, but your first three weeks on the road is so important to set the table for the entire fall season. Getting lists right. Yes, that is what it is all about. Summer work has been done. You've gone through rosters. You've trusted your NFS and blesto lists that have been sent out to you, but now we're talking about transfers. We're talking about underclassmen who... maybe haven't played, maybe weren't on the radar, but are gonna be absolute monsters this fall. We're talking seeing body types and seeing if verified estimates that we have are actually accurate. Getting the first eyes on all those players is gonna be so important to make sure the lists are right. Area scouts have so much to do with that. National, regional, directors, everybody above those area guys are going to be relying on those lists. that are generated and finalized and kind of finished up these first three weeks to make sure, hey, nobody's slipping through the cracks. We're not overlooking anybody that we need to know about this fall. Yes, again, five for five, what the rule is gonna be with redshirts. All that stuff's gonna be up in the air. Area scouts are gonna have bigger lists than everybody because, we've got to cover our bases. Good area scouts are gonna ask about every player they can. They're gonna at least have a tidbit. That way, when somebody blows up in the middle of the season, or your director or regional national guy turns around and says, hey, I saw this guy or this guy popped this game and say, hey, I've got something, I can go to my notes. Maybe nothing's in the system yet. Maybe nothing's in your official team system. But again, whether it's OneNote, whether it's Excel, wherever you're keeping your notes, you've got something on that player. Hey, yeah, they were excited about him, just hadn't done much yet. The first three weeks. is where all those players are going to get lined up. Again, however you're tiering them, however an area guy, a team, an organization takes care of those players, it's all about making sure, know, September, October, November, as we have real games being played, the players we have, everybody lined up. As we head out to practices, area guys, regional, national directors, as they get on the road, these fall camp practices, may be the most intense practices they see all year. They may be the most intense practice some of these programs have all year. We hear about, again, Alabama used to be incredibly physical. Kaylin D'Avore, maybe that's not the philosophy. Maybe Georgia camps are the most physical practices. Maybe you're more of a finesse team. You're gonna be doing reps as opposed to being physical. No matter what it is, camp time can be the most physical time, and that's when you wanna see an hour and a half in, you want to see how these guys are responding in the heat, in the humidity, as they're getting ground down, as they're competing for a roster spot. That is some of the great time where you can go, hey, this dude is a grinder. This guy is playing really hard or man, I was there back to back practice days and he tapped out. He had a soft tissue injury about an hour in. Again, it may tell you something about that player or hey, They had an intense one yesterday and now he's just in shorts and a t-shirt the next day. Is this guy going to be a practice every day? Certainly matters to some NFL programs. Certainly is going to give that scout more ammunition for questions to ask as they sit down. And again, that is what it's all about is setting the table for character, academics, medical, and now salary and NIL questions. Scouts that are going to, you have practice to watch. and a bunch of 2025 film. We've looked at that 2025 film. It's all about the questions that are gonna be asked in the meeting room of the pro liaison, of the academic director, of the athletic trainers that you can sit down across from. That's what it's all about. You are spending almost all your time asking questions and listening and working your sources as you're on the road to make sure you have all the information that you need to make sure you're ready to go. Again, it is all about that information that you're getting, not necessarily about being out there and doing the practice work, the film work, anything like that. As scouts are heading on the road, it used to be trying to maybe hit a two a day. I'm gonna go to a big school in the morning and then I'm gonna hit a small school that night. Or hey, big school today, two small schools tomorrow. As the landscape has changed, I'd never want to say G5s, Macs, conference users, they're not off the table, but there are less players there. It is now going to be a Scouts discretion. What small schools am I hitting now and what schools am I just going to make phone calls on? It is going to be, and we are going to see for better or worse, P4 schools get the bulk of the visits. It may not be about a school every day. It may be about hitting Alabama for two days, hitting Ohio State for two days, and then heading over to Michigan State for two days, Michigan for two days, hitting your big schools and spending more time there. Lists are a little bit longer, character can be a little bit harder to get, which comes at the expense of developing relationships with all those people at the smaller schools that we know in a year, in two years, in three years may be moving up to that P4. It is going to be a tough decision. as scouts are making their schedules for the fall to decide where am I spending my time? It's gonna be so important to still get into those small schools, but you can't take away from the time and the work that you're gonna be doing where the vast majority of your players are going to be coming from. So it's becoming a tough balance. Find a way. There are plenty of days, there are plenty of times during your college visit time that you can get to them. Do not neglect your small schools, even if they only have really a C tier, a UDFA, maybe nobody this year. Know your landscape, know the people that are going to be moving up. That is the way we develop sources as scouts. Make sure you're spending time with those people. This first three weeks, I call it the first three weeks. Again, that's kind of the give or take. This is likely the longest stretch on the road for so many scouts. I had a 17 day swing and a 20 day swing in the two camps that I was on the road. That was 2019, 2021. Of course, COVID knocked out that 2020 fall road trip. But again, you're talking a grind while you're on the road. One, you're fresh. You are busy hitting every one of those visits. You are enjoying it. You're getting out there. You knock as much. out as you can. Again, after that, you're probably talking 10 to 12 days on the road at a time, but that first camp trip, everybody's done in about that three week period anyway, and kind of getting ready for game one, week one. So again, that first three weeks, again, whether it's 17, whether it's 20, whether it's 15, somewhere in there is the time to get those trips in. It's a good time for scouts. You're be with a lot of similar scouts. You may end up for 17 straight days, syncing up your schedule with somebody. weeks at least you can end up with somebody who get to know those people. And that's another thing that Scouts have to remember. Yes, we're competing with 31 other teams across the NFL. You also have a camaraderie and network of NFL Scouts on the road. So make sure you're spending time getting to know developing relationships this year. As we heard in Nashville at the symposium, pro liaisons are setting trips, setting meetings, setting everything. Make sure. You are staying in touch with them, communicating, being professional. If there's a time to start meetings, be there. Excuses aside, doesn't matter flights, never take the last flight out. Be there early, be there on time. Do not expect special treatment. Stick to the restrictions. That will help the scouting industry as a whole. So make sure you're doing it only 2025. Get the background film will matter later. So get everything done. Get the meetings. or get your list set for everybody else in the building. That way they can do their work and set you up for the fall season. What questions do you have about scouts on the road? Let me know at RightStepADV in the comments here on Twitter, in the comments on YouTube, wherever it's at, let me know. Tomorrow it's all about Mark Fletcher Jr. running back at Miami. Wednesday, Tyler Barnes, GM and Chief of Staff of Iowa Football as we head into the fall season. Hopefully get that weather to cool down just a few degrees, but again, some sweaty practices. that happens no matter the temp I'll continue to bring the heat as I keep scouting here on Scouting the League.