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Senior Bowl Primer w/ Executive Director Drew Fabianich · Scouting the League

• Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Well, hey everybody, and welcome to Scouting the League. We're about to jump in live with Drew Fabianic, executive director of the Spanini Senior Bowl. Neil Stratt along for the ride as well. But before we do, make sure if you have a comment, you have a question you want to get to Drew, to myself, to Neil, let's be real. The questions are going to be going to Drew today. Make sure you head over, leave it now, drop it in the comments wherever you're at. Twitter's going to be the best spot for that at Right Step A D V. ⁓ we'll get to some questions later in the show. And if it's a good one, yours might make it on here. Perhaps we can get those questions answered. Give Neil a follow as well. He is at Inside the League. You know Neil Stratton well. And make sure you give Drew a follow as well. He is at D Fab, F-A-B-E-S-B. Yes, Senior Bowl. He is entering his second year holding the reins of the premier all-star game when it comes to the pre-draft scouting cycle. As I bring. our guys in today really excited to have them ⁓ really excited to get them in here guys ⁓ i'm excited about everything that we have going on with the senior bowl ⁓ again make sure as we get them brought in here you're checking out all our websites rsafootball.com right stepscouting.com the scouting community.com inside the league.com of course senior bowl dot com and that's going to be the conversation today before you head down to the senior bowl though Make sure you have your blue Maca insoles that are gonna make that ⁓ that walk a little bit more comfortable wherever you're out in the stands in the stadium. But Drew, second year holding the reins, ⁓ a veteran of NFL Scouting by way of the Dallas Cowboys, of course, former GM of the West Virginia Mountaineers, back for year two. An exciting year of the Senior Bowl. ⁓ welcome back to Scouting the League. Drew Fabianich: appreciate you guys having me. I always like talking ball with people with no ball. It's a good thing. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the question is at this point, we're getting ready. We are into preseason football. A bunch of these senior bowl guys are playing snaps, trying to make rosters. We're getting ready for the college season. Camps are going. But again, big picture for Drew. How's it going? How has been again year two getting into the senior bowl? How how's everything for you? Drew Fabianich: a lot more comfortable this year. ⁓ I felt like I was always behind last year because I didn't get moved down here until like middle of last year. So the pre-list process, wasn't a part of. I wasn't part of stripping the board. I mean, I got maybe 200 or 300 players that we released last year and that went out this week last year. But we had just finished it the day before the release. We finished it six weeks ago, which I feel so much more comfortable in the role because now I understand You know, I understand what media gets I'm gonna have to do. I know when I'm gonna have to go on NFL Network. know when I'm have to do the civic pieces of it. ⁓ I just never knew what was gonna hit me from, I said I stepped on a lot of landmines last year because nobody told me where they were. And guess what? I walked away on stuff sometimes because I'm like, damn, I didn't understand that was coming. And now I do and so I'm so much more comfortable. We got the scouts set up earlier than we did last year. Because again, they were starting kind of from behind too because didn't get them the list early enough, you know, to cross check us. Well, they've had it now for about, again, six weeks. So that helps a lot. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. Again, I I I think about it in terms again, twenty nineteen, I go from pro scout, which again you kind of get comfortable in a row, to area scout, which is a whole new world getting out there again. I remember that first year, again, got out for some pro days, which helped because you see some facilities, you start to get to know some of those guys you're gonna be on the road with, but then that twenty nineteen fall season for me, it's like you're treading water, constantly just trying to get through the week and Make sure you're parked in the right spot and hopefully your car's not towed. And again, year one to year two, you really get your sea legs. You come back much more comfortable. And not only do you know what you're doing, hey, you like you said, you kind of hit that stride. And again, we're still gonna have some changes, still doing some things with the senior bowl that's going to continue to move it again, like everything, in a new direction and you know, forward direction, keep progressing. ⁓ Do you do you hearken back to your days learning as an area scout with the Cowboys? Like, hey, you know, get through year one. Let's make sure I'm taking care of the most important things. And again, we'll just attack it as we go. Drew Fabianich: No, a little bit. Robert, I'm going to give you a little story. Alex Loomis, the pro director with Cowboys, one day he just asked me, he said, how many guys a day do you do? I said, how many do give me? Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Drew Fabianich: You know, and he was like, I can do like, you four or five, you know, and I go, I go, dude, I said, there's been times where I've done 18 reports in one day, you know, and, know, and when the play always said, you know, ⁓ you know, that's, that's kind of a BS report. said, well, I said, you don't have a choice because if you get too far behind, it's like, if it's three days away from when I watch it, it's like, gosh, do I really remember this guy? Do I really, I mean, I gotta go back to my notes. I mean, I tried to get it within like 24 hours, you know, if I could just so fresh, you know, and with these guys, I still don't know a lot of names right now. I mean, I do, but it's more, I still picture numbers in my head. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, meow. Drew Fabianich: And it's like, don't picture faces like when these guys come down here, it's like, I need, I need headshots on the wall just so I can recognize who they are. ⁓ here he's 10 or he's 14. You know, I got that. But yeah, it does go back to that. you know, and again, it depends on the day. It depends on what's going on, you know, what kind of other obligations I have. But I mean, I sat here like two days ago and did 20 asks, you know, because I needed to just, but feel good about them. You know, because I'm going to talk about a player, I need to actually watch the game player. You know, because there's some guys out there that talk players that never watch tape. They never grind the tape. They never watch a game. They'll maybe watch, you know, six snaps and go, yeah, I got this guy. No, you don't. No, you don't. It's hard. It's hard work. You guys have done it. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. That's always that's that's one of the most fun pieces. Again, it it was when I was a scout. It's now that I'm consulting. You get to the pre draft process and that jersey number and a name becomes a face. And that's a huge part of it. And again, for scouts, as they get to the senior bowl, as they get to all star games, sitting down, actually getting to know that person behind the helmet. Cause again, you can you know, you can talk about probably five, six, seven games by that time. But again, it's like, okay. I wanna actually look this guy in the eyes and it's it's ⁓ just a whole nother element, a whole nother level of again, the draft process, which again, you guys do such a good down ⁓ good it's a huge part of mobile, huge part of the pre-draft process. So you're you're we're going into year two now. Again, you're a full year in, you've been down there. What was the one big surprise, or maybe the biggest surprise as you went through year one that Man, I again nobody warned you about or no, you know, even with your preparation just was different. What was your big surprise? Drew Fabianich: I knew agents were gonna be difficult. I just didn't know that half of them aren't smart enough to listen. Because I'll have agents go, well, hey, I've got a second round grade on this guy. And I'm like, there's no way in the scotch green earth this guy's in second round. I said, but they're talking some areas now that maybe sees 30 schools and they may have a second round grade on them. Well, as soon as you see the whole stack, as soon as you see the whole country go, we used to make a lot of West Coast guy and the North East guy, because they'd overbraid everybody. Because they really didn't see them by a lot of players. And when agents talk to these scouts, they're giving them their information, but their information isn't a conglomerate of the whole damn country. And I tell them, look, hey, this guy's not a second round guy. He's really a fourth round guy. I said, comes down here and he may increase his value exponentially. I'm sure you guys saw it on our X that our 15 highest gainers on four-year contracts from where they were projected to where they went was $86 million in difference. I mean, and you're an agent going like, okay, well, I'm not so strong, we'll put him in Z-Volt. Well, there's 3 % you could have had. And I'm not trying to like get their client hurt. I'm not trying to do anything other than just help the player. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Drew Fabianich: And show what he can do down there. Johnson, Heelan Rutledge, Max Inochar. mean, it went on and on. Rodriguez, those guys helped themselves so much. know, Caleb Banks, it was just, that was the most surprising because they would say, well, we got first round grades on this guy. I'm gonna like, he's fourth rounder all day long. And do you think? I texted that agent when they went in the fourth round. As soon as he was picked, I was like, told you. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Again, those those text messages are great receipts. And it's one of those again, Drew, it ⁓ maybe it was again a tactic or something that different scouts use. I remember back on the road, there was that language difference between as you develop relationships with agents. It's it's my grade or our grade can be very different. Again, Midwest scouts see Midwest players and their board is set in that way. We don't know again. O line, D line, edges. Again, my guys I I may like him, but he's going to be pushed down based on the numbers. Is that something that that you have found with agents? Again, one, they need to listen, but two, they need to listen to their sources too. Find out again, team grade versus individual grade can be a big difference. Drew Fabianich: I don't think you can do it. I don't think you can do it. some of them don't even delve that far. It's just, I think they want to get told what they want to hear. And they don't talk to multiple people. It's like, boy, I've been listening to this guy for five or six years. ⁓ that's great. But have they been reliable? And again, I'm doing the same thing I was doing for the Cowboys because I see the entire country. I see all of these careers. And I know where to stack them. And I'm stacking them. vertically just like the vertical board in 10 draft room. know, because guess what? Here's the top quarterbacks. Well, guess what? If I don't get those top two, then it goes to nine and 10. You know, and that's how it's going to work. So yeah, was that was the most surprising just a lack. The lack of foresight and understanding that I'm not trying to like hurt the client. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. But Neil Neil, I want to get you in here because again, the NFL PA guys just you're probably awaiting results. Again, probably don't have those yet. A new wave coming in. You're working with agents more than any. You you harp on this stuff with your calls and with you know the the the symposiums and the seminars that listening is a skill. I mean, how much more can you, Neil Strandett, inside the league, say like Drew Fabianich: These guys, they're so hip hop. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Agents, you need to listen. This is the executive director of the senior bowl saying you'd better listen. Like if if this isn't if you're not gonna pick it up from here, what what else can you do and what else are you doing to try to get that imparted agents? Neil Stratton[[]: Well the difficult thing is the nature of age being an agent is sales and Drew knew this before he started the job. I think he certainly has been reminded of that. And a lot of times when a scout when a when an agent comes to Drew and says, Hey, this guy's this round or whatever, you're picking and choosing the the the opinions that you want. And and that's difficult. And sometimes it's honest, but at the same time, they can't have viewed as much film as as Drew and his staff have viewed. And so it's hard to be objective. And and and the other thing about this is so many of these players have been with the agent now for three, four years, whereas it used to be a two to three month relationship when you got to senior bowl. They're passionate about these guys because they are invested in them in a big way. And I I think there's probably it's natural to feel a little bit more personal if Drew is a little more realistic about where they stand in the draft process. Drew, would you would you say that's fair? Drew Fabianich: It's nothing to really say. You know what I think I said? They want to hear what they want to hear and I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything, you know, because I want to be able to come back at them and say hey, you know, this guy was a fourth rounder and then he gets drafted in the first round? It wasn't because of his product. It was because of coming down here and performing that well. Chris Johnson was a top of the fourth. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Drew Fabianich: You know before he got down here and everybody goes well how do you know? I talked to ton of teams because I want them to be happy with the roster also. You know so. Again, I know where all these guys were charted. You know, I mean where they were stuck on the board, you know beforehand and then where they go. That's when I took the differences and you know if I would have put if I put pen and paper on the whole roster, I bet you would have been $130 million in difference. on four-year contracts. I just didn't have time because I'm stripping the boards trying to find the next group. So I can't tell you that they're going to listen. I can tell you that there five of them that I will never do business with again. And they don't believe me. And they're going to find out. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. Well again, agents. I mean, you've got to w we've got a lot of agents that listen to this program. And again, I work with a ton. Neil works with a ton. Drew, you work with them in a a different capacity. But again, listening is a skill. Again, the good ones will sit, listen, and have some self-awareness too. Again, there's this sales element, but also, hey, I know who my guy is because again, not just their opinion, but they've asked four or five different people. So again, agents. Take your lessons. Go ahead, Drew. Drew Fabianich: some of them, you know, some of them been really, good. Some of them surprised me because I was kind of at a misconception of some of them coming in. And the ones that I thought were going to be a pain in my ass, actually, some of the most professional ones that I've dealt with, you know, and, and I think that's a good thing. And I'll also tell them, I'll say, look, your guy is about four hours. And why don't you just invite him now? Because I'm waiting on juniors right now. You know, because I don't know which ones are come out yet, you know, or there's eight guys that are better than your player right now that I have invited, you know, and again, I'm going to lose about 20 % from January 1 to our game just on the quote, you know, training facility, you know, injuries, you know, and I'll go off on this one too. There was a nose tackle that was supposed to be in this game and he caught it. For a quad in training. Well first of all, who gives a damn if a 330 pound nose tackle is going to run 5-3? Who cares? Does he eat too? He knows he's heavy handed. He knows he's I mean, so like I said, if there's... Agents can be, as I always say, agents being agents, but there are some that really surprised me on how professional they dealt with their player and with me. And I'll continue to be very friendly to those that do that. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Neil Stratton[[]: Now, Drew, are a couple couple changes that we're seeing s o over last year. ⁓ one of them is obviously the move in the calendar day. And and since I've been doing this in 2002, I believe this is the first time that the senior bowl will go ahead of what's being called the East West Bowl. I keep I that's gonna take a while to get used to. How's that gonna change things for you, Drew? Or will it change things at all? Drew Fabianich: I don't think it'll change things at all, You know, I may lose four or five more guys in the national championship game, but I also had four guys came down here from the national championship game, and the span of time with that hasn't changed, you know? So again, would I like to be back a week? Yeah, but this is like a one, I like This is 20 year calendar because of Mardi Gras. And it's the only time it's going to happen in the next 20 years. So we'll be right back to the next week, next year, where we're supposed to be. But we can't overlap that because if you've never been down here now, Mardi Gras down here is huge. You know, hey, it's a three week long celebration and there's no hotels. There's no convention area. I mean, there's everything's booked up. So I don't think it's really going to change things. Hardly at all other than, like I said, I may lose a couple of guys that are beat up. you know, my perfect example was like Miami last year. And you know that I caught grief, you know, because it was like, well, Ruben Bain accepted, but then he dropped the next day. No, Ruben Bain accepted in December. Okay. We just put on. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Drew Fabianich: there would you like us not to announce this until after your season's over with you put that checkbox down you know they Scott same way I mean I was tied with both of those guys and you know and they were so beat up that I told myself look I said don't come here if you're beat up I was like you know because Ruben was coming I mean Nessmo was coming all of them were coming You know, that's that's a Mario bread down there. mean, they're gritty, you know, the tough guy. But know, 20s, he just goes baby says he's 27 straight weeks. He said, I'm beat up. I said, I'm good. But the ones that did come, I mean, Brockmire and what about they helped themselves? did. Yeah. Both of those Sorat was coming to. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Neil Stratton[[]: Mm-hmm. Drew Fabianich: And he was hurt, so again, the ones that came, again, four of them came after national championship. Maybe about the same, what I hope for more, but again, I don't want them to come down here and put this, don't want them to hurt their chances of increasing their graph stock. Neil Stratton[[]: Now another change that took place this year is we went from two portal windows to one. And while that one might think that doesn't have any bearing on you, I know that you've been watching kids two sometimes three years by the time they get to the senior bowl. Is it disorienting to have to try to go through and figure out, ⁓ okay, this guy was at Miami, now he's in Nebraska, vice versa. Is that a difficult part of the job that that you have to deal with now? Drew Fabianich: Well, I mean, it's hard to keep tracking them. But put it this way, if the tags up Neil, the only thing that's gonna change is the school. He's gonna stay in the same damn place on the board. So we scouting assistants just go through it and it's like, hey, this guy started at Tennessee, now he's at Kentucky. It is hard to track, but- It's a necessary part of it and it's got to be done. know, and like you said, I mean, tell some of these kids I actually recruited was GM West Virginia. I mean, there's a kid at Kentucky that's on the 300. It was from Cincinnati. went to South Dakota and led the nation in SACS and now he's in Kentucky and it's Marquise Humphrey Grace, right? I recruited my tail off, you know, on him. And it was like, okay, well, Kentucky just outdid me. But yeah, just that's always gonna happen. And I think you guys know this too. There's enough guys now that. are poaching all the players in the division teams, in the FCS, you know, because, I mean, we only got like two guys from the FCS on our 300 because they're all poached. They all came up. Guys are doing, put it this way, they're doing my job for me and they're doing the job for the NFL too. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that that minor league system is again, the good programs are ⁓ that that's the way they're using it. And again, arguably the teams at that lower level, again, they they are prepared for it. They know they're if I have a good year, my roster's gone, I'm gonna have to turn it over, I'm gonna have to r still recruit well. Maybe a different type of kid. I'm also gonna have to recruit down some of those P four players that hey, we're promised didn't take advantage of opportunity, whatever it was. But ⁓ but Drew, you kind of mentioned that top three hundred. We've already got one name out there, but the full list coming out tomorrow, it's gonna be announced on the Senior Bowl show, which is a new thing this year. First episode dropped last week. It's gonna be every Thursday, but you're announcing that top three hundred list tomorrow. Tell us about the Senior Bowl show and give us a little bit of preview on this top 300. Drew Fabianich: Well, the top the top 300 and you guys know this. mean, we've got the area scouts scattered throughout the country and you know, we put together a list of the 300. You know draft prospects that that we have seen, OK, but we haven't seen looking everybody yet and. You know, we narrow that down from probably anywhere from 2200 to 300 and then it goes to 140 for the roster. But they're out there and they cross check our list and then We meet with them in October and they present and then we cross-check them, you know, just like the NFL This is built just like a college scouting department and It has been for years. I mean, I didn't I didn't think it was I mean, it was already set up by Phil Savage and Jim Hagee I just I just built it up even more But that drops tomorrow And our first guest on the inaugural podcast was Todd McShak We had him on and this week it'll be and ⁓ really an inside look at how we do things here. And give credit to the area scouts that we employ, the scouting assistants, my director of ops, because we've got 14 people that watch tape and great players. So it's an expensive process. And we're going to do anything from talking like training cone to talking with probably Charles Davis, Tim Brando. Then when they talk to some general managers in the NFL, probably talk to some GMs in college too. Hey coaches, on their off week, I'm already hitting them up and saying, hey, Tuesday, you wanna pump your own players up, you're plenty welcome to. So it's gonna be a mix. And I want people to see what goes into this because people think it's really easy to put on a game. mean, we got over 350 volunteers that help us with every aspect of this from security to registration to the parade to the free concert to the security practice. I mean it's a huge undertaking and my staff is incredible. mean the scouting staff is great. mean the in-house staff is great. mean everything's all well. People still take us to the game. show up. A lot more to that than the ACI. That's really what it's about, Roger. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah, no, and that's perfect. So make sure again, I'm sure Neil's gonna be tweeting a you know, getting it reposted out there. He's at inside the league, at Senior Bowl, at D Fab SB is where Drew is at, at right step E D V, of course. Drew, you talked again that top three hundred last year. Maybe it wasn't the perfect one with the way the schedule with you coming in there, but Just because you're not on that top 300 definitely doesn't mean anything. Again, a bunch of guys play their way into that invite and onto rosters and extensions, all that kind of good stuff. Talk about some of those numbers that you had from last year ⁓ compared to kind of the way it ended up with that initial top 300. Drew Fabianich: can play your way into a roster spot. You can also play your way out of it. You can play your way out of the 300 also. had 64 players that weren't on the 300 last year that were part of the final roster. So that tells you how many guys can actually play their way in. We had 91 drafted. We had 100 % get either minis or camp invites. 92 % are still on rosters right now. So pretty successful roster was the 300. You know, correct. Well, at that time it was, you know, and some of these guys surprised. mean, like Colt Payton. mean, Jacob Rodriguez blew up, you know, I mean, there's guys like that. mean, there's, mean, yeah, Kee-Lan Black. I mean, goes in the third, right? I mean, comes down here, blows it up. I mean... thought he was gonna go that early and he wasn't on the original 300. He was transfered. I mean, guys can surprise and don't think we're not tracking. And just the way I go about it, people ask me, do I go to games? No. Why would I waste 16 hours of my day when I can sit there on multi view at the house and watch 16 games in one day, take notes on that, come to the office on Sunday, Monday, and it's already posted on BFF. I can watch the entire game and I can check. I go, Hey, you just got really played as as I thought he did. It just wasn't just two flashes, you know, and then we can do players the way you know, Monday. I mean, it's such an efficient use of time and I'm not the only one doing that. You know, we've got guys going to games, know, to eyeball guys. the body type of them, you know, to talk to the coaches. mean, because we can't afford school visits. Now we can afford games, but we can't afford school visits. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. Well again, it's not just Drew making these decisions, getting to games, but you have an outstanding staff. You guys just announced I want to rattle these guys off because again, the senior bowl staff, again, these guys have come through, gotten jobs. They are veterans, they are guys that belong in the industry. So Jason Brown, Matt Dudek, Mark Gorschak, who's been on the program, Brad Jackson, Russ Land, friend of the program, JP McGowan, Bob Morris, Luis Ojeda. Dave Rizzano, Michael Newsome, Jackson Robey. It's an outstanding group. Drew, excited about this group. Again, been been obviously some great meetings and ready to roll on the fall now. Drew Fabianich: Yeah, and put it this way, there's probably, just, and Molly had this stat last year. I hope she did it this year, I mean, there's gotta be a hundred and. 25 years of NFL experience with that group and me. I mean, just in who's on that list. And these guys are good at what they do. And a lot of these guys, I was on the road. And I know them quite well. And there's a reason why I brought them on, because I know they can evaluate. Neil Stratton[[]: Now, Drew, ⁓ when Jim was running his staffs, I think it's fair to say most of them were former scouts who are maybe trying to get back in. One thing I noticed with this staff is it's a good mix of of guys like that, but also some guys that don't have extensive NFL backgrounds. Was it your goal to try to kind of bring them up and maybe make this more of a try to raise up the next level of scouts ⁓ with the the people you chose for staff this year? Drew Fabianich: to and even with like the scouting assistance, I'd like that to just be like a two year gig. And I'm also trying to expose these guys to the thought about going to work in college too. Because there's a lot of opportunities for them to get into, because again, if a guy's running a college program, you you a transfer portal just like you run a pro department in the NFL and high school is just like the college department. Well, there's places for these guys to evaluate players. They're sitting in my office. We're watching tape together. We're talking, you know, we're talking verbiage. You know, they write reports. I'm looking at the reports. I'm, know, taking them and yeah, there's I mean, I read the reports and because I also want to check myself because again, maybe I hadn't watched the guy since week one and the area scouts watched him, you know, the last three weeks of the season and maybe blew up, you know, and that's happened. I mean, Ted Hurst. I mean, that wasn't That wasn't me. That was the area scouts all in the same. The team wasn't great, but this guy really elevated himself throughout the year and here we go. And that's what they're there for. And yes, I'd like to have a mix because I'd like to those guys employed whether it's in NFL or in college. Neil Stratton[[]: Now you I think there are eleven members of y'all staff right now. And you touched earlier on kinda how that's organized. But Drew, could you go into more detail? Do you have kind of two people covering each region of the country? Do you have more people in the SEC? I mean, is it is it kinda like that or is it generally everyone kinda has a lot of different areas? Drew Fabianich: No, it's just fine. It's just like it's just like it was broken down with like an area. You know, know Bob Morris lives in Dallas. Well, don't have more of that Texas kind of Southwest area. You know we so hey that lives in Northwest or he'll have more than Northwestern Northern California. mean and again it's a lot of paperwork and you know I just don't want guys to get over loaded. I want it to be kind of be cool. You know everybody's going to do maybe like whatever 35 schools and they're going to do maybe 100 and 20 players. something like that. ⁓ You know, and again, because I don't want to overmoney because it's really not a full-time gig and I can't pay in a ton of money. You know, it's more that they enjoy doing and that they can come down here and be down here during the week and they can be in contact with teams and they can possibly get a job and then if they ever need help, I I'll always try to get these guys. They have every chance I get, you know, because again. They're good at what they do. And so no, like I said, it's almost broken down. The boxes are almost exactly the same as what we used to do in the Gavils. Here's your 12 schools. Here's your number A players. Here's your number B players. Here's your number C players. I mean, it's almost exactly the same. Neil Stratton[[]: So now Drew, how do you you mentioned the fact that you're talking to teams and obviously you're very connected in that way. How do you integrate what your scouts tell you and what your eyes tell you with what the teams tell you? How and how do you kind of make those decisions? It's just it's a it's a difficult mix sometimes. How do you do that? Drew Fabianich: you It is a difficult mix, again, it's what we see. And again, am I gonna listen to them say, well, hey, I got him in the fourth, and we got him in the sixth? Well, then I might go back and peek at him, and we'll probably settle on him being more so like a fifth, maybe, or if I see it the same way as I saw it before, I'm not budging, mean, they can't force me to take a player that I don't want. Again, I would just like to have a solid roster. He goes, man, said, this time, this time with the NIL and everything else, he said, this is a really, really good roster. And he said, I said, does everybody belong? And he goes, yeah. He's like, everybody belongs. There wasn't one he went like, he can't play. He's way, he shouldn't be in this game. I didn't get that at all. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Well, and that's what you want. Again, you want the good rosters. You want a an executive director who stands on what he believes. Again, it's what every scout should be doing. Again, you may understand come draft board time, draft time, that my Midwest grade, yeah, by the time you get to the pro a it's again, my grade's my grade, but I know that that player's not gonna go there. And again, it's gonna be the same thing for you, having been in the room. being able to stand on those players. And again, that's a it's a trait that again, I I have heard it is a a a trait that scouts must develop is be able to stand with confidence on the grade you have, Drew, you're a veteran. You you have no problem telling people your opinion on a player. We'll just, you know, leave it at that. And you know, it doesn't matter who is offended, whose feathers it ruffles, your grades your great. And at the end of the day, that again, you can point back to the film. And that's what scouts have to be able to do is hey This is why my grade is what my grade is, because this is what I saw. ⁓ but Drew, let's talk about some players, let's talk about some positions. 2026 was supposed to be the year of the quarterback. Man, greatest quarterback class ever. Okay, now it's 2027. This is gonna be the best, and it's gonna be 2028 before we know it. But again, looks right now like we could have a good, strong quarterback class again. You've got Arch, Dante, you Mestmaker, you get Lenores from a talent standpoint, who was really like there's some good players across the country who I'd imagine you guys are gonna have your eyes on. Quarterback is always one of those spots. It can be tough at the senior bowl. Again, you end up getting a mix. Talk about this quarterback position. Who do you like personally? Who are you hearing some buzz on? And kind of how does this, how does this position shape up in your top 300 without giving away a day early that top 300? Drew Fabianich: and Archie has been phenomenal. full access, you know, it's like you go to team meetings you can, know, mean Peyton and Eli, mean, they're people. They coach their tails off. I mean, they bounce from every field. I mean, it's an incredible way to see. mean, it was 40. was 46 quarterbacks there starting quarterbacks and I got to see some last year that weren't there this year. It's it's a huge advantage for me to get to meet those guys and be up close and personal with them and then watch them work out. Gosh, I mean, you know, I don't know if Arch will come out this year. mean, if he blows it up and they win an actual championship, yeah, he might. But people needed to just leave his ass alone last year and let him develop and not put so much pressure on him just because of the name. Because he kept getting better and better and better with repetition. mean, didn't the media say he was the first pick before the season started last year and he was the heightened trophy winner and he played three games? And I think I told you guys this. I'm pretty good at this, but I damn sure didn't say that because I mean it was mop up duty and start one game when somebody's hurt. He looked good. mean, CJ Carr looked good. I we always loved the Norris Sellers. I I think I told you the comp on him was gone with a nap for me. I mean, body type and all, but lower and just being athletic and it comes off his hand just beautiful. He throws a great ball. Sam Levitt. mean, Trinidad was an invite last year. Shandler's. You know, and then it was just whether he was going to come back or whatever. mean, John McKeer looked good down there too. And it wasn't about the motion. And I know somebody said, it's just now the thumb pressure and you can actually, you know, handle the ball the way you used to before he messed his thumb up. know, having Jennings. I mean, you love that cat. Full-on mechanics are a mess. You but it's accurate. I kept going, wow, he's throwing sidearm and it's mud. You know, it's coming off over the top and he's falling away. But you know, it's accurate. mean, Steve Angelli looked good down there. The Abba, and I'll tell you what, I'm not, you guys know this. I am not a fan of smaller players. You know, it's that bias, know, small guys wear down, big guys don't get any smaller, but like. know if a feta and to my Williams for being shorter dudes they can spin it you know I mean not anymore it just goes on and on so I think you know I mean like I said how many more do you want to talk about you know I got to choose I got to choose that's all I'm taking Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Drew Fabianich: And it's a great class and if everybody comes out, it will be probably the best class that's ever been, you know. Neil Stratton[[]: Drew, you mentioned an interesting name there. Would would Soars be in be in ⁓ competition be one of the quarterbacks in Mobile this year? Drew Fabianich: No, he's in the top 300. I mean, can't take that away from him. I mean, he proved it on tape. I mean, he earned his spot on the 300. We'll make that decision, and whenever we do make that decision, it'll be after Thanksgiving. That'll be when we narrow it down to a buck 35 to a buck 40 on the roster. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah, that quarterback group again, it lot lot of lot of season to play out as we saw this year. Who, you know, rises, who falls back a little bit, who gets a nice NIL check somewhere to stick around or to move for another year. Again, who what team, like you said, with Texas. Again, you you think about some of these. It could come down Arch and Dante in the national championship. Again, those are two of the top four teams by just about everybody. You could see some great head to head stuff and then get them down to mobile. And keep going head to head. Again, it would be a lot of fun to see it happen. Quarterback an outstanding group. Again, after that, again it's it patience on quarterbacks. Again, that's it's you know, if if we could all be more patient on quarterbacks with every decision we make, that's probably gonna benefit the game at every level. Be patient. We'll be patient and we won't we won't press you for any more to these quarterbacks. So let's let's jump to edges, because again, after a quarterback, you think about those priority positions, wide receiver, O-line, and edges. Gotta get somebody on defense. There's some really fun ones, some really good ones after a year where maybe there was a question on who was really that best guy, that complete edge. Talk about the edges that you like in this group and ⁓ who could we be ⁓ hearing about. Drew Fabianich: just prove who is the best out of this group. ⁓ Quincy Rhodes was an invite last year. Mark is on will help was an invite last year. I love doing this. Damien Wilson. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yes, please, yeah. Drew Fabianich: I you know, hey, call me a home, but I lived in Austin for a while, know, know, green James, you know, there's a lot of them. Can you have a Jackson? These guys need to come down here and compete and go, guess what? I'm identifying myself as one of those dudes like Zion Young did last year. He helped himself coming down here. If you're not a top five pick, you better be down here. In that first round, let's just say you're 18 and you go at 12. Well, on a four-year contract, that's about $6.5 million difference. So ding, ding, come down and prove who you are. That's the biggest thing for me. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. What about on the other side? Because again, we've seen the game go more and more trenches. This is again a year last year where, hey, may arguably the most talented tackle is now playing Garden Miami. There's there were more questions, who is OT one? This year, it looks like there are going to be some again, maybe more traditional, like this guy's a true left tackle, put him here, franchise type guy. This O-line group really shaping up. maybe a little bit more veteran than we've had in the past because guys are sticking around. What what do you think of this O line group as a whole? Drew Fabianich: I think it's about numbers wise, I think it's kind of close to the same as was last year. I'm kind of surprised that Jordan Seaton didn't get talked about more than he is. I think that move for him is a great move. think he'll show his wares against the SEC and that'll help his spot. mean, is Goosby going to be ready to go? You the other ones that you're talking about tackle, you know, he, him looking from, you know. More Carolina State and going to South Carolina. think that's going to help him too. The guard class is good. Huge fan of Greg Johnson. Minnesota huge fan. And the Senator Hextable, Ashton Beaters. I mean, kind of tells you what he is. ⁓ You know, great name for him. I mean, Dolcer, Lennon Hatchett. You know, Cogs. I mean, it's a good group. Is it deep, deep, deep? No. But I think that's more so because guys are sticking around a little bit longer. Like you said, they're the only one. And I know the league's talking about how when they're drafting guys now in the fifth round, when they're really P.F.A.'s because there's nobody left. You still gotta take 15 offensive linemen camp every year. And those guys in that fifth, sixth, seventh round are staying in college and making more guaranteed money than they would be getting drafted in the seventh round of goings. So I think the numbers kind of vary a little bit from what they used to. I don't think there's just many in the depth side, but I think the high end guys are still a quality what they were before. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. And again, that's I mean, there's a number of underclassmen who are gonna pop into this group, I think, as as the process goes that are gonna again elevate the top end of that group. And again, like you said, Drew, we're we're probably not quite there as the balances come back, the scales come back to balance with NIL, five for five, whatever these eligibility. Again, we are still that day three has been affected a little bit. Again, it's gonna even itself out over time, and we're probably still in that phase where, hey, Yeah, that day three, fifth, sixth, seventh looks a little different than it used to. But again, you're gonna find your players on the offensive line. And again, guys make themselves money and whether it's move themselves up for scouts back to film, which is always a big thing post-all-star game, ⁓ or just solidify themselves. Again, those battles in the trenches. If there is one spot that everybody's lined up for, the biggest crowds follow that O line, D line. one on ones, some half line drills. Again, those are two outstanding groups that guys every year somebody helps themselves out a ton and can point directly back to the senior bowl ⁓ to show that this is this is really good we've got the ball moving. Drew Fabianich: I mean, that's that's fat. ⁓ I mean, this way, Kaden Green in Missouri was an invite last week. And after I talked with the kid, he's gonna move inside, which I think is perfect for him. I heard he might have to go back outside because somebody got hurt again or whatever. like, you know what, know what, SC, mean, you know, he's got another one written, like Zik Ulzer. I mean, it's a good group. I mean, now, again, like around the fourth round, it's probably gonna fall off a cliff, you know, but in those top four rounds, there's some quality. players there. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. Well, as we as we start to wrap up, we're gonna hit wide receivers, but make sure if you're listening, you get ⁓ your alarm set for tomorrow. The Senior Bowl show is going to be dropping the top 300, a bunch of these guys we're talking about today. Make sure you're following Drew over at D Fab SB, Neil Straten inside the league. I'm at right step ADV Drew. Perhaps the number one player on every team's board right now, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State. Again. It I mean, the the guy's phenomenal. He could sit out this year and he may still be the best player on boards next year. It's a wide receiver group. We've seen these guys going higher and higher. ⁓ everybody needs at least two, three really highly rated guys. Again, that's just the way the game's going. Cam Coleman moves to Texas. That's gonna be a fun one to see him in that offense. This wide receiver group, as we kind of wrap up talking position specific, we'll we'll get some extra names out there if there's anybody, any positions that excite you with this wide receiver group. Talk about the wide receivers and again what what ⁓ you're excited about. Drew Fabianich: this one because I think going to have a lot better year than he had last year. Ryan Coleman lives and he's local also. And when I saw him at the SEC media day, said, I've been looking forward to talking to you for a long time. And I think a lot of my concentration drops, I think he'll have a lot better year than what he had. Cam Coleman, like you said, great change of scenery. Got quarterback now that I'm sure he's going to leave a lot more He's than he did at Auburn. The other one Singleton. Singleton's going to get a lot more touches. He was an invite last year too. Now he's back with his offensive coordinator Buster who was his offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech before he went to Auburn. So I'd be willing to bet you he's probably going to get about 10 touches a game. Somehow, someway, they're going to get involved because he's explosive. Another one of my another one of my pet cats Mario Craver, you know, I love him, you know, he bounced off the screen. mean, I'm sure you guys remember that Notre Dame game up at South Bend where he blew it up and look great. Nick Marsh, great move going to Indiana, know, with Hoover. That should be a good help for him. know, TJ Moore, know, Brian Westbrook, two really good ones at Plumson, you know, and you know, the quarterback. I he was good at. So hopefully they can both get lot of touches and be productive there. Those are kind of the guys that I'm really looking forward to seeing. it's a really deep class of receivers. And you can get a real quality player probably in the fourth round. Now he's not going to be the one, but he could be the two or three. And there's a lot of value in that position this year. There's some that just the same as they were. I mean, there's good corners and there's good safeties, but then it falls off a cliff. The linebacker class has been going, number-wise, it's been going downhill for probably about seven or eight years. And safeties, there's not many of them. I think that's more because of 7 on 7 and the whole NIL here. Guys wanna be offensive players, they wanna get the touches, they wanna boost their brand. And guess what? There's some linebackers out there that are really, really good players. But after you finish about 10 to 15 of them, there's just not many left. There's just not, and safety's kind of the same way. It's like eight or nine of them and then that's it. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. And and Yeah. And what that's one of the real challenges with those with those at the college level linebackers look like strong safeties at the NFL level. ⁓ overhang players, like, what is that guy? Is is he a safety? Is a nickel linebacker? Is he just your best player? ⁓ has that become a challenge for you guys as you evaluate some of these good players at the college level? It's like, all right, hey, where where are we gonna put this guy? This guy's a Neil Stratton[[]: Louis. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: two hundred and five pound, really productive inside linebacker, but what's he gonna play at the next level? Not everybody's Deion Jones, not everybody, ⁓ you know, Jeremiah Wusukormoa from Notre Dame was kind of that guy that had some success in the NFL. Like is has that been a challenge for you with this class specifically, finding exactly where to slot those guys? Drew Fabianich: You know enough. Not really. The wills are will backers most of the time. There's a couple of bigger safes that I would like to see as a will linebacker. But that's going to be up to the coaches, that's going to be up to scouts, because I can't just go, hey, once you come to scene board, you're going to find your linebacker. I can't do that. But there's also, like I said, it's more body type to me, and it's more lack of lack of back end coverage. ability and back end range. You know that if I walk him down and play him as a mental backer, you can you match up against a, you know, can you match up against a backer or a slack. That's where it kind of comes into. And that's, like you said, it's not somewhat ability, but more body type wise to me. That's where, you know, that those decisions have to be made, but I can't make it. Neil Stratton[[]: Drew, you mentioned that the pool of safeties is getting smaller. At the same time, the NFL seems to be erasing the definition of strong safety versus free safety. Are you seeing that the ones that you do see are about as comfortable playing center field as they are in the box, or are they still kind of segmented in that way? Drew Fabianich: have to say that that way. Because, to me, if you can't go red line to red line, you can't play in the post. I mean, because if you can't make it from there to the red line on either side when that nine ball's thrown, you can't run well enough to play from set. That's the of range it has to be. So that was where my Mendoza line was always set. Because it's like, hey, that 4-6-5 guy, he's probably not going to go red line to red line. And here's the other thing, you know, I've got telemetry because of Teamworks. Teamworks has been a fantastic partner with us and I know what these guys are going to run. And when I see like, Rick Harper at 22.3, he can run. There's guys like, okay, can you really handle the post? And I look at the max speed and it says like 18.9 or 18.7. I go, probably not. So that helps me. The technology has helped me become a scout. Now I don't have to wait on those times because sometimes you just went, it was just that little, just that little area where you went. Is it 460 or is it 468? Right? Well now I know, before maybe. I could always tell the guys that could flat out fly. I mean, if you can't see that on tape, you're not right there. It's those guys that are just right at that edge of not being quite fast enough that you worry about. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know we're getting into the good scouting talk when you start talking about the red lines, because there's probably some people listening, like, I I don't see a red line on the football field. Like, what where's that at? Well, go watch some practice film. If you can get your hand go look at some practice fields, maybe Google it. Hit me, hit Drew, hit Neil up on Twitter, ask us, what is the red line? Again, that's real scout talk. I love it. Again, you start talking numbers, red lines, sidelines. Go ahead, Drew, red line. Drew Fabianich: It's four yards from the sideline. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Four yards from the sideline. It is again something that most NFL teams, most college teams have it marked. It's a good, a good marker for safeties. It's a good, again, fade line for wide receiver range. So again, I love it. Real scouting talk. ⁓ again, you talked about doing your work as we wrap up here, Drew, but you are not just sitting in mobile in your beautiful office there. you know, listening to construction going on outside you. You're getting out on the road. I think you're gonna be on the road later this week. ⁓ where are you headed? Drew Fabianich: Head back to Dallas. I got asked to speak to North Texas, their team meeting. I asked to speak at SMU and TCU, all three in a day and a half. It's good for me to get in front of them. What it's about is what scouts are looking for when they come into the building. And then the last two slides are just how beneficial the scene for us to players. And they asked me to do it. I didn't like the volunteer. I did it for Neil Brown, know, in West Virginia. and did it at Auburn when I was a general manager there too. it's just good for the players to know. I just did it at South Alabama again for major. I'll probably go to Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, next rotation through. But again, it's more that I get in front of those 120 players that they have and they understand that this is the premier All-Star game. It always has been, always will be. And it's important. And when you get chosen to play in this game, it's prestigious. So that's really why I'm out there for, but I'm out there to help them. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. And again, that's what again, at the end of the day, what good scouts are doing, what you're doing, Drew, with the senior bowl, what Neil focuses on. Again, most people in the industry, I'm not gonna say most people at the end of the day want what's best for the athletes. Again, we want a good fit on an NFL roster. We want you to elevate your draft stock to the highest level. We want you to go through the process pre-draft, the twenty twenty six season. We want you to put your best foot forward. That is what you are all about at the senior bowl. Again, I'm not gonna say everybody in the industry takes that stance, but you certainly do, we certainly do here on Scouting the League. We are going to highlight that stuff. And again, listening, again, we we know athletes on rosters, you hear it from your coaches all the time to hear a new voice reiterate and you know put it back down that hey, these things are important again. Hopefully that will help some of these again young athletes, future NFL stars make good decisions. Cause every good decision you make is going to put you that much closer to being ⁓ again, a senior bowl pick, a draft pick, sign that nice second roster. Again, get to a Pro Bowl, have a really nice long career. But Drew, as we wrap it up, again, we want to make sure we get people tuned in tomorrow. You're at D Fab SB. Neil's at inside the league. ⁓ I'm at right step ADV. The senior bowl's just at senior bowl and the senior bowl show where is it streaming, what time, that way people can set an alarm. Drew Fabianich: It'll be up by 8am, everything's going to be in Central Time. It's on Spotify, it's on Facebook, it's on YouTube. It's on the website and you can actually go directly from the website onto the YouTube channel and actually get it directly from there. It'll be posted on X, you'll be able to go through it. We'll have early teaser clips, you know, that are going to come out like we did last week with Peter Todd. Some of those were flipping phenomenal. My content guy, Nick Wiggins, does a hell of a job. He really does. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, awesome. Well make sure you're tuned in all these things, following all the different spots. Drew, you've got a fun, you've got a film filled fall ready to go. There's gonna be a lot of good football. We're gonna see lots of new names. We're gonna see some names fall off. But Neil and I always appreciate you being on and I'd imagine we will ⁓ we'll be talking to you again. Good luck. Enjoy the fall. Drew Fabianich: Thank you guys always appreciate like I said, I like talking about with guys and go ball. That's a good thing. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, once again, we it it's always nice to be recognized as guys who know bowl, because I've had plenty of guys tell me, hey, you don't know what you're talking about, but again, that's just what the industry is. So make sure you're following us. Again, I'm Roderick David at Right Step A D V Neils at Inside the League, his website, inside the league.com, of course. Drew Fabianic, the executive director of the Senior Bowl. We appreciate you being on. Make sure if you love football, you are following Drew, you're following Neil, you're following myself. Again, take your time on quarterbacks. Take your time on all these positions, do your film work. Don't watch highlights, watch some game film because you know real scouting is about the time, the process, the full evaluation. So make sure you keep scouting.