Latest / Scouting the League / Bringing Back "Big Red" - w/ GM Pat Stewart

Transcript

Bringing Back "Big Red" - w/ GM Pat Stewart · Scouting the League

• Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Hey everyone and welcome to this Go Big Red Edition of Scouting the League. Today, Neil and I sit down with the general manager of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, former NFL Scout Pat Stewart. We talk his origins, the great franchises he has worked for, and what he and Coach Rule are doing in Lincoln to get one of the most iconic programs in all of college football back. where it belongs. A fun one today, so stick around. Before we jump in though, make sure you head over, like, subscribe, share this podcast wherever you are listening, and hopefully watching, whether that's on Apple Podcasts or that video portion over on YouTube, hit those buttons, share it, get the word out there, and let us know what you think in the comments. Always love to have those comments. Let us know what you think. You head over, follow me on Twitter at At right stepadv, my website, rsafootball.com. Neil Stratton will be joining us today as always on our Wednesday editions. He is at Inside the League. on Twitter. InsetheLeague.com is his website. Pat is on Instagram. Yes, he's the cool one of the group. At peace to underscore GBR. If you're not a fan of college football, you don't know that GBR, that is go big red. So fitting for Pat. P Stu underscore GBR on Instagram. Agents, players, parents, if you are anybody in the football world, make sure you head over to write stepscouting.com as well. Get signed up for a report, request a report, it's a video report, full report, one liner. If you need information, draft portal, NIL, any information on one of these guys, head over to write stepscouting.com. Get a report ready to go. Again, I'll get something to you, whether it's that video report. Whether it's that one liner, we'll get it to you. Let you know exactly where a player stands, help you make good decisions, have all that information. Right Step Scouting is going to be a beautiful database. Keep all your reports there. Really nice one-stop shop for everything you need to make sure you're making good decisions. Rightstepscouting.com is gonna be that spot. And if you're a scout or you want to be an NFL scout, want to work in personnel, make sure you go check out thescoutingcommunity.com. resource kind of a group community that I am you know putting together. I'm not in charge of it. I am helping facilitate some things, help you know connecting people. The scouting community.com is going to be the spot for that, no matter what you need. If you're on the road, if you need something information, resource, you know, something medical, something outside of what your team is doing, the scouting community is going to help you do that. So if you're curious, Hit me up. Let's talk about it. Let's find a way to make sure we move the scouting community forward together. And then make sure you go check out our partners over at blueMaka.com as well. Use code Scouting20 while you're there. Left the mill we sent. You get a little discount on their order as well. The insoles that will upgrade every pair of shoes you have. Whether you're a scout on the sideline, you want those good insoles, or whether you're an athlete, wants that non-slip, wants that planner fascia support or that turf toe support. Again, blue maca.com has the answer for you. So head over. Use code Scouting twenty to let them s know we sent you. But let's get into it today with Pat who spent nearly twenty years in the NFL and now leads one of the original Blue Bloods of college football. Well, I'm really excited to get started today. Patrick Stewart, the GM of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, joins us from one of my favorite places in these United States, Lincoln, Nebraska, getting ready for week one. Pat, you've been with Coach Rule now for a couple years now. We're getting ready for college football. Everybody's excited. Week zero behind us, week one, the actual start of you know, real games, because week zero, what does that even mean? first Pat Stewart: Right. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: off though, welcome to Scouting the League. Pat Stewart: Yeah, thanks for having me guys. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: You are you are a guy that's again been been some places. You've won some rings, you've had pro and college experience now. You are leading a a a program that whether they're a blue blood now, they are a blue blood of college football, one of the most historic, one of the most iconic again organizations, college programs in all of it in Nebraska. but it before we get into Your time at Nebraska. Let's walk through your origin story because again, it's not hasn't been a straight path as just about anybody getting to a college GM spot these days. you started in college before you moved to the pros, time at Ohio State, time at Western Carolina, Temple, before you got to the New England Patriots. When you got into football back in the early 2000s as a student at Ohio State, talk about kind of your interest in football. Knowing what personnel was, was it coaching? Talk about how you got to where you kind of you got your football career started. Pat Stewart: Yeah, so my dad was a high school football coach, so I was just always around it. And it was always something I wanted to be involved in. really just sports in any way, you know, whether it was gonna be basketball or football or baseball, I just wanted to be involved. I loved being part of the team and and those kind of things and you know, got a chance to become a student manager at Ohio State and kind of said then like, Okay, I'm gonna bury myself in this, probably at the expense of my GPA. But, you know, I I was always around the building, always willing to do something. worked there for I I red shirted, so I took five seasons to get through. once I was in there for a while and kind of realized that football was where I wanted to be, start, you know, applying for every single job on football scoop was the thing at the time. GA jobs was is what I was after. got to Western Carolina with Coach Rule. He was the offensive coordinator that year. Our defensive coordinator was Jeff Collins. So it was a really, really good staff. Marcus Satterfield, who's our tight ends coach here, he was on that staff. Clayton White, who's the defensive coordinator at South Carolina, like he was our DB's coach. Like it was it was a good crew. so got there for a year. Matt went to Temple. They had something open there. He thought of me. I ended up going up there for Coach Al Golden's first season. And then while I was there, you know, I just it's funny because now I think everybody all these kids know they want to be GMs and they wanna be this and they wanna be that. Like I I didn't even know scouting was a thing at that point in two thousand four, you know, like you knew I knew scouts came through schools, I just didn't know how they became that or did that. And so my time at Temple, I kinda would talk to the scouts when they were coming through and realized like that's probably something I can be of benefit to somebody at. And applied for a bunch of jobs blindly. Patriots kept my stuff on file and I ended up there. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Nice. And that was again, when New England was rolling at that point. Again, they were a bunch of guys you gotta work with. Again, I believe Thomas was still there at the time, Scott Pioli was still there at the time. Of course Bill Pat Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: was running the show. Casario, Tele again, all that crew was there. When you stepped into that front office, again, coming off, I believe they'd already won a couple of Super Bowls, knowing who they were, what that franchise meant. You step into the NFL football with the Patriots, the franchise again, go on for another fifteen years at that point. Was it like wow, like eye opening or was it, hey, this is just the next step for me and my career? Pat Stewart: Yeah, I I don't know again, like I knew who Scott Pioli was, right? Like just from certain the research, this kind of stuff, but I didn't know how exceptional our staff was at the time. Like I was, you know, from my time in New England and in Philly, like I've worked with twelve GMs and that's pretty remarkable, right? Like nine of them came out of New England, like There there's just been been very, very lucky to to have been around those people and like yeah, yeah, now looking back on it, you're like, well, you could look around that room and and understand how each of those guys rose to the level that they rose to because of how they carried themselves and how they did their work and all that. And I yeah, again, I didn't realize it at the time, but in hindsight it was it was pretty extraordinary. And then on top of that, like in New England Scott left, went to Kansas City, Nick kind of took over, but we also brought in Floyd Reese at that point. So now here's a former GM. And like Floyd is, you know, God rest the soul. Like he's he was one of the first ever like kind of superstar general managers, right? Like he was a titan in the industry. And then when I got to Philly, Tom Donahoe was on that staff and got to work with him. We had Larry Cook in New England as well. So like there was just this wealth of people around me that, you know, always always took an interest in how I was developing and helped me. and they didn't have to. And then when I got to Carolina with Coach Rule, we had Terry Bradway on staff. And Terry's, I think you guys know Terry, like saw to the earth, great guy. Like he would just send me boxes of old reports, old manuals and those kind of things just to kind of help me in my in my thoughts of of how to to build things. He was he was really, really instrumental in that. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Terry really is Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, that's Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: a class act. You're right about that, Pat. Pat Stewart: Yeah. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: And if you and if I could jump at kind of obviously no disrespect to Carolina, there Dan's building good things there, but you were with two blue blood franchises, the Patriots and the Eagles. Spent your time with them when they were winning and they've been having success. What are the things that they do that's similar, Pat? What are the things they do that's different? But obviously that they both kind of end with that same success. Pat Stewart: Yeah, I think like the the thing that was common about both those places was just the the support from ownership. Like there was full buy-in on what we were doing on the personnel side. And there wasn't a lot of intervention. There wasn't a lot of thoughts coming from that end of things. They kind of gave the people in those decision-making chairs the autonomy to make the decisions. And and truthfully, like the I think the test of it is when you make mistakes or you, you know, have a misstep, do you get to fix it? Right. And in both those places, the people in charge get to fix it as well. And then if you don't, then people eventually pay the price. But like there there was that, you know, autonomy from ownership and support from ownership, like, hey, we're fully bought into how your vision is for this, and and we'll support you, you know, hell or high water. And and you got that. I like Philadelphia to me, like I I had my first year there, I had like a personal family thing that happened, like my first day of training camp there. And and the support. And then I I was kind of away from the team for a month, but the support they gave was unbelievable, just above and beyond like the exact organization you'd want to work for or something. You hope your bosses treat you that way when something like that happens. Like that was kind of the to me that embodied everything that that organization was about. and I'll Forever be indebted to Mr. Laurie and and Howie Roseman for how they they reacted in that that time. And to this day, like still be able to talk to Howie and ask him questions. And then when I was in Carolina, I was able to pick up the phone and talk to him about things around the league and was great to me. So yeah, like the the just the people, you know, like we talked earlier about how many GMs we worked with, like the people we had in those buildings were, you know, it's it's really ridiculous when you sit back and think about it. Whether it's it's Thomas, Nick, J Rob, Bob. Quinn, Jay Light, you know, Monty, Adam Peters, Dave Ziggler, and then in Philly, Joe Douglas, Ian Cunningham, and Andrew Berry. So like it's it's a Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: It was a mark one. Pat Stewart: it's a pretty remarkable crew that you got to learn from and very, Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. Pat Stewart: very fortunate for that. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, we we we talk about it all the time from a roster standpoint, NFL rosters, you're doing character work, you need to put the right people together. That's certainly the case for a front office too. And again, you want again more people that I talk, you want a good mix. You want some vets, you want some young people, you want some really smart people, you want some man, I just want film, and you get that really nice, nice mix where Pat Stewart: Yeah. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Again, that's where really good front office is have that nice balance with your front office, just like you do your roster. And Pat Stewart: No doubt. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: and and Pat, you said it again, it's it's really hard sometimes when you're in it to find a balance of man, like not letting the eyes get too big of like, wow, like look at all these really again, in some ways, legendary football people around me. And again, you've got a job to do, you're amongst them, but You still want to appreciate and get what you can from them. And again, especially as a young, as a young scout in Atlanta, we had again form we had Phil Emery, Rustin Webster, again, Joel Collier, Scott was with Tom, again, a bunch of people where it's like, hey, yes, we are colleagues, but also I need to learn everything I can from you. How would you advise young people who are in the industry to navigate that in a way to not just take it for granted, but also don't let what you're doing be be too big for you. Pat Stewart: Yeah, I think like the first thing I always tell people is like, well, if you want to work in football, you go work in football. So like however it is, wherever it is, you do it. You don't you don't say like I I want to live on the beach somewhere and also work in football. Like, well, sometimes you have to live in wherever and and work in football. And you know, you can't say like, I want to be a GM by the time I'm thirty four years old, 'cause it just doesn't happen. Right. Like so I think like acknowledging the fact that like, hey I'm in this for the long haul. It's what we always talk about with players, right? Like showing grit, like it's persistence over time. Like, you know, success is a marathon. So you have to put your time in, you have to learn from the right people. Like, I think, you know, identifying who does things the right way. Like in New England, when I got there, we didn't have scout school, like we do for a lot of scouts now, like teaching the young guys how to eval. And I think that's super important. It's great we do it. But like, I was kind of making POA tapes and just reading the reports that Jim Nagy and Marvin Allen and Larry Cook and those type of guys wrote about these players and learning how to write. And I think it was so important to me to kind of process of, you know, having some success and failures of how I want to like take notes and how I want to write my reports and what needs to be in them, what's important to our team, but what's important to me also to make sure that I highlight on it. just kind of developing that that style and system for work, I think, is really beneficial. And I think, you know, the more exposure you can get to the more players is is awesome. You know, like if you're doing college, you know, you don't need to do pro, right? So it's just like expose yourself to as many of the college players in your area and be the expert in your area and take ownership of that. And then if you do a good job, then you're gonna get another. chance somewhere else wherever you want to do and and whatever you want to do. So I think it's just, you know, understanding where you are in your career and what your role is and accepting it and and doing it to the best of your ability. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Pat, would you recommend staying specializing on one side or the other, or do you think it's better to have experience on both college and pro sides? Pat Stewart: You know, I don't I don't know really you guys might know this better than I do at this point, like what the trend is. I I don't know if there's a lot of people doing cross like pro and college. I know yeah, Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: We're seeing a lot more. Pat Stewart: I think there is a lot more of that now, right? So I know when I did it, like I was a scouting assistant, then went out on the road for a year. And when I was on the road, I had the southwest and I was swimming, you know, like and and a lot of that's just because like the first time I did a school call was the first time I did a school call. So like I said earlier, like With that scout school we do with guys, like that's beneficial. You do a ride along and you go to a pro day and you see all that stuff. Like the first pro day I ever did was New Hampshire and I did it by myself and I was the only scout there and there was twenty eight guys running, you know. So that's that's you know, baptism by fire, right? So Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: That's fun. Yeah, absolutely. Pat Stewart: yeah. So I after that year on the road, I was like, you know what? I think what would be really beneficial to my career is doing pro and learning what plays in the league because you might sit there as a scouting assistant and watch some preseason tape and make tapes, but you're not studying the league as much as you probably should, right? And I think a lot of us, at least early on in our careers, we want to be part of that process of getting the draft picks and all that stuff. I I thought it was really cool doing pro and having, you know, kind of a day-to-day impact on the roster, right? Because you're constantly looking for guys to work out. You're constantly looking for free agents that are out on the street that, you know, can fill a role and identify needs. in real time and I thought that was I thought it was really beneficial to me like as I advanced in my career. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Now, Pat, there's one more thing unique to you as a Patriot Scout. Not only were you going out for the first time and doing it solo, you were doing it without the benefit of NFS or Balesto. How did that make your job different? And did it put more pressure on you to, man, make sure you don't miss anything? Pat Stewart: I to be honest, like I didn't know any different, right? 'Cause I just like Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Yeah, I guess it's true. Pat Stewart: that's how that's how we came up. And so we you know, you'd start during pro days and and it's funny to me now because everybody goes through and gets the ABC list now during pro days. You know, they go to the pr liaison afterwards and like, hey, the guys for next year, are they this, this, or this? And everybody does it now, but we were kind of the ones that were the flying the ointment on the the pro liaison getting out of there early after everybody tests. but You know, I th that was our process and and I really thought it was beneficial. I don't think we were any more prepared than any other team. Like I have the utmost respect for and it's not me just BSing and playing the company line. Like I think scouting's really hard and I think everybody does it the best way they can. And I think having worked within Blesto and NFS after I left New England, there's certainly benefits to it. But when our reports were due from the spring and June. And you got to shut it down for a couple of weeks and then you'd show back up to training camp. I always felt like I was in a really good place when I started doing school calls again of who was lined up where and just kind of got ahead on it that way. And I thought like, you know, we would get those ABC lists, but you were able to massage them based on what you watched on tape as well. So you weren't kind of beholden to any list at that point. And we had to do if I had to like nitpick one thing, it was the senior starters. And I know Roderick, you guys probably did it in Atlanta too. Like we have to write every senior starter. And that's all well and good when you're doing SEC in Big Ten schools, but when you're dropping down towards the bottom of of conferences and it's like they don't have enough players to be any good, why are we wasting time writing these guys? Well, you're you're gonna end up finding a couple that are probably good enough to get into a camp and and do some things. So that Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Pat Stewart: had its benefit too, but it was, you know, an exercise of futility sometimes. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. I d I remember again twenty nineteen fall we were under Thomas. We were not blesto at the time. We became Blesto, I believe, in twenty one, twenty twenty one fall, somewhere in there. And I remember there were times where every other scout was getting up and it was me and the New England scout sitting there Pat Stewart: Yeah. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: asking about ten more guys because again they Pat Stewart: Yeah. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: were they were that senior starter. They were again somebody that was going to be added to an NFS or Blesto list at some point, but again as many franchises are encouraged to do. Hey, stick with the list. We'll clean those guys up later. And it like you said, the work's gonna get done at some point. Good scouts are gonna find these players. And I know there were scouts later that said, Hey, why'd you like I that was kind of my guy. I w wanted to keep him a secret. I'm like, gotta get the info. He's, you know, Pat Stewart: Yeah. Right. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: thirty two are gonna know him at the end of the day. So Pat Stewart: Right. Yep. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: it's it's all fun in the process. I just remember a lot of I think it was Falcons and Patriots for a long time doing that work. And there's a couple others that Pat Stewart: Yeah, always tell people there's there's no there's no proprietary information in scouting. Everybody has the same lists they work off, everybody has the same tape to watch. It's just who processes it the fastest and the best are the ones who have the advantage. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Go ahead, Neil. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: No, I just I I mean, you're absolutely right about all that, Pat. I I hear so much now about sharing of information, but I think you're right at the end of the day, there's not a whole lot of secrets out there. Now, Pat Stewart: No. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: always fun for us to ask about specific drafts. in two thousand eight, when you were with the Patriots, I believe, the team drafted not only linebacker Gerard Mayo, who turned out to be a great pick for y'all. But also San Diego State quarterback Kevin O'Connell, who by the way was off the 2008 Hula Bowl roster. I can't remember Pat Stewart: There you go. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: somebody ran that that that game, I can't remember who it Pat Stewart: Yeah. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: was. Was leadership part of the profile trait that made them attractive? I mean, given the fact those both those guys are NFL, went on to become NFL head coaches. Did you see that during their college careers or did you see it during their time in New England? Pat Stewart: Yeah. So I was a scouting assistant then. So like my Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Okay. Pat Stewart: job was really, you know, background checks on Luxus Nexus and and and making profile tapes and kind of staying in my lane, like I said, and and learning as much as I could from reading the reports. And so like I I do remember like with with both those guys, especially Gerard, like 'cause Gerard's first round pick, right? Like we had a lot of a lot of information on him and and Kevin as well. But I I do remember a lot of the feedback on Gerard, you know, it's You know, it's what you see now. Like he was he's extremely charismatic, awesome personality, really intelligent, very cerebral. you know, he was the type of guy, like team comes off the field, the coaches go to him to kind of find out what's going on. Like I think he could carry those high level conversations with coaches that you don't often find with players, especially young players, but he did it right away. and kind of stepped into that that role when when Bruce left, right? So like he kind of became the green dot, even if I don't think we had green dots then, but you know, it like he was that guy. so you definitely saw with him. I think with Kevin, I I really remember about Kevin is like he was a laid back, like he might have been swimming, you know, like a duck, like swimming underwater, but above the surface, like everything was cool. I'm sure he had a lot of anxiety about being a quarterback drafted and going into the same room as Tom Brady, but he never showed it. Yeah, I I never, you know, would have identified then either of those guys would be head coaches because that seemed to me like that'd like such a far projection, right? But like you can definitely see it now, like I think from afar. Like I know a couple of people who worked in Minnesota with KOC, like Grant Udinsky and and Brian Angelico and Flores. Like and Brian was another one of those guys that started with us in personnel, by the way. Like he was in personnel and now he's a head coach. It's here was a head coach. It's crazy. but with with KOC, like you kind of see him from afar. Like he's very calm in stressful situations, it looks like. I'm sure he's a very relatable guy with the players, very articulate and and clear-minded about the vision for the team and what he wants. And I think his probably path after football probably uniquely prepared him for what he's doing now. You know, like he got into like the quarterback training game and then advanced that into like coaching and being with Shanahan and and and all those things. So it's it's it's really cool to see those guys progress from that after their playing days though for sure. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Pat, so you were with the the Patriots from two thousand seven to twenty seventeen. You end up getting back there in twenty three. You jump over to the Philadelphia Eagles for twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. All during that time, Coach Rule is doing great things at the college level. He's winning, he's building programs, he is producing NFL guys. He gets that Panthers job in twenty twenty. and you guys again, soon thereafter get reacquainted. What was again, you you talked about him being back there at Western Carolina, I believe, the first time you you were with him. What did you do or how was your relationship developed over that time, even though you guys weren't working together? Pat Stewart: Yeah, I think we we worked together in Western Carolina in two thousand five. His wife Julie picked my resume out of a stack on their kitchen table. And she said we need more Yankees down here. So need more n Northerners. So I I ended up going down and and basically, you know, I was a graduate assistant, but you know, I was working nighttime security at my carp apartment complex to make some money because, you know, you just don't get anything then, right? And so I I kind of did whatever was asked of me there. And then like I said, he went to Temple and passed my name along as somebody who could potentially fill an ops job. But I also did some special teams there and that was kind of the the process. And so I left after that first season at Temple and went to New England. But we always stayed in touch just talking about, you know, players they had on their team or, you know, how we were doing practices and and just philosophy type stuff. And we always kind of shared that same vision for For what it should look like, right? So everywhere he would go, you know, I'd always make sure that that was one of my stops. I think everybody, at least in New England, knew at that point that he and I were friends. And so I was gonna go, I would do temple, right? Like that's just one of the things. Like I'll go there, get the info, and and but every time I'd go, we'd end up sitting in his office and talking football for a couple hours. And like that was awesome. and then I think When he's at Temple and then when he gets to Baylor, I think all the scouts that went through kind of realized like this guy could probably, you know, do it at the next level too. And just the way he ran his programs and and the players he was able to develop and produce, like that's what got him the opportunity in Carolina. And so when he got to Carolina, he called me. I was, you know, super fortunate that, you know, how he was understanding of everything, and the circumstances and the situation and my relationship with Matt and and thought it was important that I could go help him. and so so went to Carolina for three years and and exposed to a lot of different roles there than I was previously. Like it became director of player player personnel, eventually vice president of player personnel. it was during COVID. So that first year there was a lot of it was actually kind of beneficial. Like it was my first time doing one of those jobs, but the rules had changed so significantly about rosters and transactions and such that I didn't think we were ever at a disadvantage because we everybody is working within those rules for the first time. and you know, we that season I think we had the most unique players to a roster. So we were churning over despite all these, you know, rules that were supposed to prevent you from having too many players in your building during the course of a season, but we managed to do it. so yeah, our our relationship always kind of evolved and then we finally got to work together and and had a great time doing it. Didn't last very long, but You know, it I wouldn't change it for anything. And like you said, went back to New England after that for two seasons. And then the college game kinda changed. And they there's a need for people with our skill set at this level, just that have had experiences dealing with agents, dealing with contracts, planning out strategically like how to allocate resources and those sort of things. And it seemed like a good challenge. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah, certainly. And again, you the relationship, again, we talk about it all the time at the NFL level. Head coach GM have to be in lockstep. Again, for a lot of franchises, ownership has to be in lockstep as well. You've got to have all three on the same page. Again, college football used to be so head coach heavy. Hey, this guy is setting it. There's still some programs where, regardless of who's got the GM title, the head coach is running the show. Are you seeing a balancing of the scales at the college level to where it is a true partnership? The GM is going to be really in charge of the roster. The head coach is going to be in charge of the coaches. Are we going to get to that spot? Or is the college head head coach still going to be a little bit bigger hammer when it comes to running a program? Pat Stewart: I think like, you know, maybe the commitment to developing a personnel staff has has changed and kind of tilted towards, you know, like let's add some people on this side of things rather than the other side of support staff, like adding more to your recruiting and personnel departments than your training and strength staffs maybe. I don't think, you know, save for a couple teams, I I don't think there's probably anyone that has like the hammer on the the roster. And truthfully, like, I don't think that works, period. I think it has to be collaborative. Like you can't have somebody say, like, well, these are the guys I'm giving you, you coach them. Because if there's not buy-in on the other side, like you're not going to get much out of it. Right. So I think it's always got to be collaborative. The relationship between the two has to be aligned and has to be, you know, going in the same direction. You know, Coach Rabel said one time, like, we don't have to have the same personality, but we have to have the same mentality and as you don't have to move the same way, but as long as you're moving in the right direction and in the same direction, like you're gonna give yourself a chance. And I think that's all you can ask for in your relationship with the head coach. And so I I I don't think we're in a spot where there's gonna be a bunch of teams turning over the roster to personnel people and the coaches just coach it and and hire and fire the coaches. But it's it's certainly become more of a collaborative process, I believe, between the two sides. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Pat, is there are so many financial demands on a P4 team now? I mean, it used to be facilities, but now it's so much more than that. And part of that is personnel staffs. I think we've seen probably 70 GMs named at least in the last two years, both at the P4 and G five level. Is it sustainable to continue to expand these personnel staffs and do things in a new way, given that there are so many Financial restrictions and pressures put on teams right now that are trying to win. Pat Stewart: Is it sustainable? Like I I don't know if any of it's really sustainable, right? But you kinda have to do it, you know, like until we figure things out and there's some guidance from people in authority positions. I think that yeah, I think you're gonna continue to see, you know, staffs build out, with you know, adding different layers of portal scouting and high school conventional recruiting and that sort of thing. Yeah, I think you'll you'll probably end up having upper level executives who maybe are over the top in over the top type roles of those two things and maybe cross checking each other and that sort of thing. Cause, you know, it's just like the the NFL, like in my chair, like I handle a lot of things and the further you get into this business, the less scouting you get to do. So you kinda have to have a staff that you trust and and rely upon to get you the players that matter so that you're covered. Right. And I think that's probably the biggest thing changing about this level right now is that as more and more people with different experiences come into it, they understand like, we're overlooking this batch of players just because we don't typically recruit there or things like that. Let's get an eval on them and see if there's anybody that maybe we can talk to and and get here despite not being in our footprint or or what have you. So yeah, I think like we're gonna continue to see staffs build out. you know, I I think there probably is a limit, right? Like 'cause you do need money for your your payroll. And and so like those kind of decisions will have to be made from institution to institution. But if the schools wanna, you know, invest in that, I think they have to decide what are they not going to invest into. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Pat, if you had one one more question on this because this really fascinates me, if you had the choice of adding one person to your staff and one person had an extensive NFL resume and one had an extensive college resume, which one at this point in your career and where Nebraska is right now in twenty twenty six would you prefer? Pat Stewart: Yeah, I think I would probably take the guy with the college background. I just think there's a lot Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Two of the Pat Stewart: of there's a lot of things about this level that are way different. Right. And I think it drinking out of a fire hose for a little bit for me, just the change of you know, from the NFL to here and the recruiting aspect of it and the you know, that sort of angle, I think the more guys you can have that have connections and are able to talk to people. in building somewhere because we don't get to go on the road and recruit and dig on these guys. Like you need to have those people who could are able to establish quick relationships with recruits and with coaches and their families and all that stuff. So I would take a guy with college experience at this point. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Well, Pat, is you're sitting here ready for week one now, getting Nebraska back on the on the right track, the winning track. Again, I'm from Eastern Colorado. I went to school at Division III, Nebraska Westland in Lincoln. Like I've been around Nebraska football for a long time and for maybe a younger generation They haven't experienced what really, really good Nebraska football is. And we look, you know, Coach Rule, you have this program all point in the right directions. We had Eric Stokes on, I think, twice in the last couple of years. Certainly a Nebraska guy, certainly excited about the opportunity. Winning in Lincoln, though, it is Lincoln, Nebraska. What is unique about Lincoln and what is going to allow you guys to get back to where Hey, it's college football playoff for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Pat Stewart: Yeah, I I I guess like I would say first of all, like yeah, it is Lincoln, but like Eugene's Eugene, right? And it's hard to get there. So like you have you can't use it as an excuse or or anything like that. Like you gotta make the best of it. And in my opinion, like we're s uniquely situated in that we're in the middle of the country. Like we're equidistant to California and Florida, right? So we can go and get guys from anywhere. It's gonna be the same flight. So it's it's I think that's a unique thing for us. I you know, I don't think we're in a you know, traditional hotbed of high school recruiting here in this part of the country, but we do have a lot of good players within, you know, five hundred miles of campus, right? Like it's it's drivable to get here for a lot of really good players. And for us, it's just, you know, like you said, like there there's a lot of history here. Like you you can't tell the story of college football without Nebraska, right? And the the thing we have to overcome at this second is the fact that, you know, a lot of the players don't know that that we're recruiting. And their parents do and their coaches do. But it's it's a memory for them too, right? So we just have to get to a point where we're continuing and I say continuing because I think, you know, right now we have a top top twenty recruiting class next year. And Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Mm-hmm. Pat Stewart: we've done a great job getting kids to campus. It's just getting as many kids here as possible to see the support we have The see the fan base in action. The facilities are unbelievable. The people in the facility are unbelievable. It's like top of the line, you know, amenities and staff, right? They're best in class in our strength room. They're best in class in the nutrition, academics, training staff, all that. Letting guys come here and see like whatever they want to accomplish in football, they can do from right here. Right. And it's it's a serious football place, I would say, right? Like it's it's not really a comfortable place to be sometimes, especially in the season. There's not a lot of safe spaces for guys. Like I think we have to continue to to bring guys in that understand that and and want to be a part of that. So I think, yeah, it's I think we're kind of uniquely qualified to to be that spot in the middle of the country that people can go and accomplish their dreams. And I and I think we have a lot of things going for us right now. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. I I think you certainly see that again when you start talking about head coach, face of the program. That sure seems to be who coach rule is. Gritty, tough, down to earth. Again, like you said, no safe spaces. He's gonna tell you now, he's gonna coach you up. He's gonna love you up. But again, come here, do the right things, help Nebraska get back to where where it's gonna be. Is is Pat, you guys are gonna have some new players, got a bunch of good returners coming back. You start this year with Ohio, Bowling Green, and North Dakota, weeks one, two, and three before you get into Big Ten play. From a personnel, from a roster standpoint, you're sitting here as the GM. What kinds of things are you wanting to see these first three weeks of the year? You know, starting with week one against the Ohio Bodcats, a good football team in the Mac that you know, former Nebraska legend, again, Frank Solich really got that program turned back around to where they're again a traditional Mac team that you don't want to face. What do you want to see from a personnel and roster standpoint these first couple of weeks? Pat Stewart: Yeah, it's my it's my dad's alma mater too, so it's a big day in our house. So Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: It is a big one for ya. Pat Stewart: but yeah, I think you know, when you play Ohio, bowling green in North Dakota, like there's not a lot of sticking your toe in to see what kind of team you have when you have to go play against those teams, right? Like they routinely battle power four teams to the end. Mac teams always do it, right? And anytime you play a team from North Dakota or South Dakota, whether they're the state or just regular university, like they're They're good programs with a lot of good players in them. so I think like right now for us, it's finishing up the camp part of this, transitioning to the game plan week of of where we're at you know, who the opponent is and and figure out where we at in different position battles. We did a great exercise with our staff during camp where we would get together just like we would in the NFL and cut the team down to fifty-three and and we get end up giving 17 practice squad spots just because I didn't want to get into the semantics with okay, offense gets seven, defense gets eight practice squad guys. So we gave each of them eight practice squad guys apiece and three and one for the special teams. And I think it does a really good job of letting everybody kind of hone in and understand, like, okay, who are the guys that we're gonna rely upon? Who are the role players and who are the depth guys and special teamers that we need to make sure are getting the reps on those units. to to warrant bringing to the game. Right. So I think it's it's just like the NFL on the standpoint of we're trying to figure out who our sixth receiver is and if we're going to keep six receivers or four tight ends or are we going to count on eleven offensive linemen or a six linebacker. You know, like it's we we have those type of conversations which I I think is really good to jog guys' brains of like, okay, who do I really need to coach up and practice to make sure they're ready to go. Because we sat here and said we're going to need eight defensive backs this week. And whether it's four and four or five and three, like we have to figure out who that best combination is. And so like we're still, we're still working our way through that. It's been a great camp for us though. Like it's it's it's a lot further along than we were last year at this time. You know, Coach Holgerson said at one point on day three, it was the first time he ever did day three's install on day three because the team had done so much work ahead of time together as a s as a group. in OTAs that allowed us to kind of hit the ground running and it's it's been really beneficial to us. Now the fog of camp hits in the middle of this, you know, this this stretch and there's some days you're grinding through it and and getting out. But but I think for the most part our guys have answered the bell and I'm excited to see them kick it off. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. Getting to real football. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Hi Gliven, the where where the portal is and and how much change over there is, even for P four teams every January, how long in the season do you know, hey man, we did a good job in the portal or hey man, there's some we had some misses there. Is it the end of the Pat Stewart: Yeah. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: season? Is it mid season? Is it the end of comf of non conference play or somewhere else? Pat Stewart: Yeah, I you know, I don't wanna like pun on that question because but it's like I I've never really had an off season to do the portal with the staff and do a recruiting cycle with the staff. Like when I got here last year, all of our guys were committed for the twenty sixth class and I think maybe two guys came in late, but all the guys for the twenty sixth class were already committed and the portal was closed when I got here. So like there was There was or there was a spring portal, but we didn't act we weren't active in it. so this will be the first time I go through it with like our staff and we get to kind of look and and analyze like where, you know, I think we're gonna how many, how many how much are we spending per snap? You know, like for guys that we brought into the portal, how much did we get out of them? I think is gonna be an interesting question for us to answer. And was that money well spent and was it it was there to fill a need? But could we have filled that need with maybe somebody who's already on our team or developmental guy down the road and recruiting? I think that'll be a good exercise for us to discuss because I don't know if like those type of conversations happen a lot. So I think that's something for us to like continue to evaluate at this point. Hopefully it comes Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Pat Stewart: into, you know, focus pretty early on and these guys play really well and and we know all of them are good good ads for us. So we'll see. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, good. But speaking of some of those players, Pat, again, there's been a number of guys that have been thrown out there, watch list guys, all-star game guys, future 2027 draft guys. As you look at this roster ready to kick off this week, who are some guys, man, I'm excited about this player. Not only is he going to be good for Nebraska this year, but man, this guy has a shot to play on Sundays a year from now. Pat Stewart: Yeah, I I think, you know, I I'll I'd speak about the guys who are gonna be exhausting eligibility. As we sit here today, you know, we think they're gonna be exhausting eligibility. We'll find out, I guess, with the next injunction. But you know, a guy like Anthony Jones, we brought in from UCLA, like really excited to see what he can add to us. He's an edge player. he's in really great shape now. He looks way more twitchy and explosive than he did f off tape a year ago. So excited to see what he can do for us. We added Dwayne McDougal in the secondary as a safety. He came with Coach Arrich, played for him at San Diego State and at Idaho, and and we'll, you know, hopefully kind of see what he can add to us. He's been in a lot better shape now than he was when he got here. just having that time in the offseason program with our staff has I think been very beneficial to him and he's a guy that, you know, knows the defense and kind of g can get guys lined up and direct traffic back there in the secondary. He's been a good ad for us. and then offensively, like look, I think Justin Evans is probably one of the best centers in the country. if there's anyone better, I'd love to talk about him and and kind of go head to head because I think Justin's really good. He's strong, he's physical, extremely smart, developed into a great leader. he's not a big vocal rah rah guy, but he's a tone setter. And when he says something, guys listen. so we're very excited to see how he continues to grow and develop. Elijah Pritchett, left tackle, I think is is it's a Madden creative player, you know, just physically. He's got great feet. He's strong, he's physical, he's nasty. you know, just hopefully he takes that next step with consistency, finishing plays and that sort of thing. I think that's something that he's done a lot better job on this year and this this offseason. And we bring back Luke Lindemeyer, who's a tight end. You know, two years ago he's sitting behind Fedoni and Borkacher, who are both now in the NFL. Last year was kind of his first time to take on a big role, and he's a super productive player. I feel like every catch he had was a first down. he's a guy who's a competitive blocker, does everything, a really versatile, well-rounded skill set. and you know, he's a walk-on. He's self-made, right? So he's he's a guy we're really excited for, and and I think is definitely a guy that people will get to know as the season goes on. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's that's a it's a good group. Again, if anybody wants to look back at what has made Nebraska football good over the years, it's the trenches. It's that O line, so D line. You talked about a couple of them. Self made, walk on, have done the work. We've got to ask you about a guy that you were with in Philadelphia that probably, you know, holds a lot of those qualities coming from a completely different sport. Neil, go ahead and take it. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: So you drafted a player out of South Sydney in Jordan Mailata in 2018. And he's turned out to be a pretty good player, Pat, Pat Stewart: Yeah. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: in Philadelphia. And I think people enjoy hearing about this, but even if they don't, I love hearing these kind of stories. What was the conversation? How much did you know about him going in? And if Jeff Stoutland's not your O line coach, do you even make that pick? Do you think there's even a way to develop him as significantly as a coach like Coach Stout that has a reputation that he does. Pat Stewart: Yeah, so that actual draft, I was in New England. I got there right after Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: okay. Pat Stewart: the draft, right? So like I don't know really what happened in the draft room. I just know and look like we talked about proprietary information before, like a lot of people knew about Jordan and I think that's why they drafted him was because it's like we have to draft him to make sure we get him, right? 'Cause it was gonna be a really competitive market from there. But I just know like when I got there and we're there for the first day of minicamp and it's the first time he's ever put on football pads, right? Like He's literally learning from scratch. But and then I was like I said earlier, like I was away from the team that first month of training camp, but I was talking to Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Smart. Pat Stewart: everybody and everybody's being great about checking in with me about things that were going on with me. And the I would ask about Malada, and it was always like, he'll have a mistake every day, but he never does it twice. Like it gets corrected and it's fixed. And he never does the same. Like it's not like 51st dates where like the next day it starts over and we have to teach him that same thing again. Like once he fixed it, he fixed it. And then so when we got to the final cuts, it was pretty much a look, we might be playing with 52 guys on our roster this year, but he's he's gonna be 53. He won't be ready to go, but he's gonna be fifty three. We can't expose him to waivers. And so like I I think not only Coach Stout, But Roy Istvan, who was our assistant offensive line coach that year, like I thought they did a great job developing him and sticking with him when it was probably going to be easier just to coach the guys you have to coach. But those guys that we also had to coach, I think were also really beneficial for Jordan, right? Like Lane Johnson and Jason Kelsey, Brandon Brooks, and Jason Peters. Like if you're a guy who's never known football and that's all you're exposed to, like, holy cow, like that's that's pretty good. Right. So you're learning how to work and prepare and carry yourself by watching those guys, which is a great example. And I think like what he's evolved into, I think everybody would be kind of crazy to say, we saw that coming. But he was so uniquely talented and gifted at as an athlete that you just you knew it was gonna be something if it hit. And and I remembered later that year John Howard, who I worked with in in New England, and he's now in Kansas City. Called and asked me about him. And I said, I don't know how it's going to end up, but like he could end up out of the league or he could end up an all-pro. Like it's probably going to go one of two ways. Like, and he's an all pro. Like he's he's a great player. And and it's a real feather in the cap of Howie and his group for for sticking with him and and sticking through that process. And like, how lucky am I? Like to, you know, working with Stout. Like Stout and I did the the cross checks together. So like I would talk to Stout. And it was before COVID. So it was before Zooms. So he would literally call me every time he watched a player and would be like, What did you think of this guy? And like just to hear his thoughts on offensive line play was so beneficial to me, developing as an evaluator. And then in in New England we had Scar. So like between those two guys, my first thirteen years in the league probably had Hall of Fame offensive line coaches to learn from, like so lucky, amongst many other things I was lucky for. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. When it was Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: That's amazing. Those have gotta be two top five offensive line coaches that you had that that kind of exposure to Pat Stewart: Yeah, just insane. Insane. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, it was it was fun. Jordan worked out at the it was a pro free agent workout at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers facility back in, I guess it was twenty seventeen. I had just become a pro scout and you know, Adonis looked great at looked awful going backwards. You could tell he had never gone done backwards, Pat Stewart: Right. Never done it. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: but the thing that stood out again, one, the body type was like again, just a rare human being, but how big this guy's smile was. Loving every minute. And again, there were a bunch of coaches, bunch of personnel people start all right, we want to see some outside zone stuff. We want to see you do this. And I think somebody made him run out for a pass. And the guy smiled. And again, you still see that in you know a lot of the stuff he does. The guy embraced it, loved it. The character was right. And again, for for a spot, again, you think about guys that he went to the right spot to get the most out of them. Philly, without question, was was the right spot to get it get the most out of him. Pat Stewart: No doubt. No doubt. It was great. He's it's such a great thing to watch happen, you Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Pat Stewart: know, like it's it's really cool. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Well, as we as we start to wrap, Pat again, if ever anybody out there wants to follow Pat, he is on Instagram. again, that just tells you he's cooler than Neil and I. He's at P Stu underscore GBR. That is go big red for those that don't know Nebraska football. Again, Neil and I are on Pat Stewart: That's right. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Twitter at right step A D B at inside the league. Pat, let's jump back to college football because again, the state of college football is in flux. We don't know. We've got injunctions. We got maybe again now some conferences are stepping up, pro guys going back to college, but we've seen the Big Ten, Nebraska's conference, really they have been pretty quick to step up and try to make some decisions, to try to kind of lead and help the conference. That way it's not just a bunch of institutions. From your standpoint as the GM of one of these programs, do you appreciate, do you like the fact that a conference is out in front doing everything, trying to make decisions that don't fall back on a bunch of GMs to try to decide what to do, or do you think there's still a better way to do it, we'll say? Pat Stewart: of eluded question, but yeah, I Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Pat Stewart: I think look, I think anytime we can get guidance on issues that face us and there's a definitive answer on yes or no, if you can do it, I think that's always beneficial. Like all we want to know is the terms of engagement. Like if you told me like, hey, it's up to you, like then we'll decide what's best for our team. If everybody's gonna abide by this and do it the same way, then great. We're part of it too. Like we'll do it that way. We're not gonna fight it and we're not gonna do anything nefarious. Like I love my family too much to get fired. Right. So I think I think it that, you know, whatever the decision is or whatever the topic is or issue is I I'm just I'm just looking for someone to give me an answer, yes or no. Like what are we doing? So yes, I I I do think it's beneficial when the the conference steps in and and does things like that because it it it's very helpful. I do think that there are more issues facing us that we need to address. And however we have to address them, whether that's through legislation, whether that's just through the what just happened just now, right? Like where conferences kind of decide what's best for them, then then we need to to figure it out. Like there's just beyond everything that's in the PCSA, like I just I think there's just some fundamental things that should be pretty easy. to do that we just haven't got there yet. And I don't know if it's 'cause we're focused on the wrong things or focused on too many things at once, but just the issue of eligibility, right? Like there's not one place that you can go to and get this information to find out how many years a guy has left. Right. Like you kind of have to go to their bio and put it together yourself. And he had that junior college year there. He only played three games this season. So he probably has two years, but he might only have one. Like I I just, you know I I don't want to get on my high horse, but like we we have to attest to all that information and submit all that information. It has to go somewhere. So like I would like to have that information on the back end. Once everybody does this, here's where everybody stands. And you know who's where. Like you kind of have to wait for schools to update their website to know which players ended up with them in the portal. There's no transaction wire. And look like it's new to everybody, right? And we We had a lot of build up time in the NFL to get it into a fine-tuned thing when the wire comes out at four PM every day and you find out who's available and you know whose contracts are up and when they re-sign a contract, that gets submitted as well and you get updated on that. Like that would be, I think, a step in the right direction for all of us if we could just get organized with that stuff. I think a a lot of people might look at that and say it's not important, but I think it's just a fundamental issue of what we have going on that if we can't get that right and organized, like, how do we get anything right and organized? 'Cause we have that information already. So that's that's my two cents. I think like Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. Yeah. Pat Stewart: there's just some infrastructure things that need to be improved at this level and we're we're going in the right direction. And I think, you know, we've built out some tools AI wise that help us find that information faster than you might have previously, but it's still an inexact science, you know. So Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah. I mean that goes back to our scouting days where you're calculating red shirts and again it takes some time as a scout to get to hey who's absolutely coming out, who could come out, who could go back, who's gonna be a declared underclassman, who Pat Stewart: Yeah, and Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: are we waiting on? It's Pat Stewart: And everybody would c and everybody categorizes, you know, eligibility differently on their website. You know, some guys are just listed as juniors when they're really redshirt juniors, but we don't put the R on there because we don't want to waste the character of in that column 'cause it'll make it wrap text or something. I don't know. But like there's Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah. Pat Stewart: just some things that we need to we need to get situated for sure. Rodrik David @RightStepAdv: Yeah, yeah, certainly, certainly. Well, again, I think we're headed in the right direction. And one of the things, Pat, that's going to help it get right is Nebraska getting back to the conference championship. We'll start there. Conference championship. Let's talk college football playoff. I am excited for what you guys are gonna be doing this year. Again, opening up with Ohio University, got the Bobcats, got Bowling Green, got North Dakota before you step into Big Ten play at Michigan State and it'll be somewhat of a familiar face there with with Coach Fitzgerald taking over and everything. So again, you know they're gonna bring be bringing their lunch pail, but we really appreciate you being on. Good luck this year. you know, appreciate you being on with with Neil and I. Pat Stewart: No, I really appreciate having you guys. Appreciate all you do for the industry and thanks for having me. Neil Stratton @InsidetheLeague: Thanks, sir. Thanks, Pat.