Sept. 14-20

You know football. You work in football. You watch football. But do you know who Dartanyan Tinsley is? 

He’s more than just a college football player with a cool name. He’s a second-year starter for the Cincinnati Bearcats (he lists at 6-4, 320) who started out at NAIA Kentucky Christian. He transferred to UC in 2022, mostly serving as a backup that season, before stepping into the starting lineup in 2023. You won’t find him on any of the major early mock drafts, and though he’s earned one important fan, you won’t see his name all over Draft Twitter. However, Tinsley is “a big man with a wide frame” who “looks like an NFL guard.” What’s more, he “moves well for his size” and is a “very strong player that has an upside. He’s just now coming into his own.” 

These are the words of former Titans Director of College Scouting Blake Beddingfield, who debuted five (or more) sleepers he’ll be contributing weekly to ITL’s Rep Rumblings. Blake, who’s written the scouting reports ordered from ITL by NFL agents for the past four-plus years, still watches film regularly as part of his work withX3 Performance and Physical Therapy’s Nashville location. For the rest of the fall, the players that “pop” in his regular evaluations will be featured in the pages of ITL. And best of all, ITL clients can keep up with all his sleepers for no extra charge beyond the regular subscription price of $29.95/month, cancel any time. 

It's all part of our recognition of where the game is going. The top 100 players in the draft are mostly spoken for in these days of name, image and likeness (NIL) representation, so our focus will be on the prospects who are still “in play” and climbing. Though Blake will especially search out offensive and defensive linemen, he’ll cast a wide net for anyone whose on-field performance exceeds the attention he’s gotten so far. Tuesday’s report was one of the most popular of the month, and we’re confident that as word spreads, Blake’s unique look at the 2025 draft class will only gain in favor. You’ll have to wait for each prospect’s height, weight and speed, and at this point, he’s not even giving a round projection. However, if Blake says the players he spotlights are on NFL radar screens, you can believe it. 

Incidentally, if five aren’t enough, Blake provided 50 off-the-radar prospects entering the 2024 season this summer, and the XL list (as well as the video in which he gives his scouting report on each player) is still available. It’s $40 plus tax, and you can order it here.

Who else did Blake like this week? Here are three more of the seven names he provided.

• Teddye Buchanan, IB, California: “A transfer from UC-Davis, Buchanan is productive and instinctive. Plays all three downs. Works off blocks well, and can dip and slip around them. Possesses solid zone coverage ability. The step up in competition didn’t slow him down, and actually made him better.”
• Bilhal Kone, DC, Western Michigan: “Good size and frame, with man cover skills. Good feet and transition ability. Has outside or inside corner skills, along with special teams qualities. Can elevate his status this fall.”
• Joe Royer, TE, Cincinnati: “A transfer from Ohio State, he has the size and frame for the position with good hands and good strength, though only average speed. He’s a good blocker who can line up in-line or flexed. He’s an emerging player at an NFL need position.” 

In all, Blake lists seven players in his first report, all of whom you can review here.

For years, we’ve mostly steered clear of player evaluation, but we see a need for players who are solid Day 3 types and we want to help. We hope this new feature (which will be published mid-week through the rest of the season) will help ITL clients have new insights on rising players all over the country. Not an ITL client yet? Remedy that here.

There’s a lot more going on at ITL, as well as all over the country, football-wise. Here’s a look at what else we saw and heard about the business of college and pro football this week.

Player Representation 101: This week, we launched our first-ever NFL Agent Basics Zoom series, and we’re pretty excited about it. We kicked things off Tuesday, covering all things money and finance-related. The business of player representation is exciting and can be very gratifying, but there are some basic lessons that no one teaches – or at least, never before this week – and those who don’t know them may see their agent dreams die prematurely. 

Chris Turnage of UA Sports joined ITL’s Neil Stratton for a Zoom session that was supposed to go just an hour, but which turned into a 90-minute affair. Among topics:

• First-year goals
• How to manage your “day job” and your agent job
• What you should be doing while waiting for Oct. 1
• The fundamentals of player costs – training, all-star, signing bonuses, stipends and more
• The factors that determine what a player expects, money-wise
• The importance of three percent
• How to recover costs if your client didn’t make a roster
• State registration (and which states matter most)
• How and when to get hired by a bigger firm

Turnage had plenty of warnings about pitfalls to avoid when you’re trying to keep a handle on costs, such as signing street free agents who call with a persuasive tale of what might have been. “It’s like, ‘hey man, I ran a 4.3 for the Bears, they really like me,’” Turnage said. “‘Well, why didn’t they sign you?’ ‘Well, they said they’re gonna bring me back later.’ But yet, you’re at home playing PlayStation. So they’re gonna have every story in the world. They’re gonna tell you they run a 4.3, and this and that, and the Rams talked to ‘em during the draft process. News flash: teams talk to everybody during the draft process. . . there was a lot of that volume, too.”

On Wednesday, the topic was recruiting, and guest Aston Wilson of Agency1 Management Group told his story of going from an independent agent in 2012 (his plans of certifying in 2011 were thwarted due to negotiations on a new CBA) to co-representing the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft. Among topics covered were: 

• Aston’s story, including all the ups and downs of his journey
• The importance of knowing positional scarcity
• Which players are most volatile, and how to avoid them
• Where to “mine” prospects with less competition
• The basics of contacting a player – what to do, what not to do
• The role of the all-star game
• Why you shouldn’t take Year 1 “off”
• The people in your way, and what to expect from them

At the same time, even if you do everything right during the recruiting process, sometimes, things go wrong. That’s when it’s important to have taken good notes. “Document everything you do during the process to protect yourself,” Wilson said. “Everything you pay for, you keep a receipt. Every hour you spend talking to a team about your guy, or when you go to a bowl game . . . I mean, like, lawyer-time it to the 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, because if you send an invoice to the new agent . . . document everything you have. That’s how you’re going to be able to recoup your money if you have to go through the grievance process.” 

If you’ve been waffling about whether or not to join our sessions, there’s good news. Both of last week’s sessions were recorded, and there’s still time for you to join us Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (both start at 8 p.m. ET). Cost is $350, and topics next week are:

• Everything you need to know about combine prep (Tuesday with Dave Spitz of California Strength) 
• How to build a network of scouting contacts (with former Falcons scout Rodrik David)

As always, Stratton will cover all the topics with input from his guests. Both sessions should last about an hour (though Tuesday’s session went 90 minutes and Wednesday’s went a full two hours), and they’ll both be information-packed so you’re ready to hit the ground running on Oct. 1.

Still not sold? Maybe you need more information on what took place Tuesday and Wednesday. If so, check out this week’s post at Succeed in Football, which is full of notes on both sessions as well as other tips on player representation for new agents.

Notes from the nest: Fran Duffy spent more than 13 years as part of the Eagles organization, handling a variety of roles before taking on a job as on-air talent for most of the last 10 years there. In this assignment, he provided analysis online, via broadcast and via podcast, watching the team closely as it had some very successful seasons, including a Super Bowl victory in the 2017 season. He brought his insights on how and why Philadelphia has become one of the NFL’s model franchises to the Scouting the League podcast this week (listen here or watch here). As part of his discussion with co-hosts Rodrik David and Neil Stratton, Fran (whose analysis of the Eagles on YouTube you can check out here) had the following observations.

• On when he developed his passion for the NFL Draft (6:18): “(The Athletic draft analyst) Dane (Brugler) and I have talked about this in the past, but it was that same draft that Dane and I got hooked on the  process. It was that 1999 NFL Draft. Dane growing up in the Cleveland area, they take (Kentucky QB) Tim Couch, and I, growing up in the Philly area, and they take (Syracuse QB) Donovan McNabb. It was the whole McNabb vs. (Texas OH) Ricky Williams debate in Philadelphia that spring."
• On the late-night football baptism provided by the late George DeLeone, a longtime college and NFL coach (10:15): “It was a Wednesday, like 10 at night, and he goes, ‘Fran, are you a football guy?’ And I had never heard this term before. I was like, ‘uh, yeah, what do you mean, coach?’ ‘No, are you a FOOTBALL GUY?! I was like, ‘yeah, I think so.’ He said, ‘all right, come with me.’ It was game week, a Wednesday night, and we go through all the aspects of zone blocking, how he teaches it, why he teaches it, showing practice clips, how it transitions to the game, and we did that until 2 in the morning. And then he pulled out the air mattress and said, ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’”
• On the selection of Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts in 2020 (26:32): “We’re live as the draft is going on, and I get tipped on the pick probably 30 seconds before it goes on TV, and I remember, in my ear, they said, ‘the pick is Jalen Hurts. You’re live in 30 seconds.’ And thinking like, how am I going to do this, because we had just extended (starting QB) Carson Wentz 10 months earlier, something like that, and to try and sell that, to me, the big thing was, this organization is always going to put that value on the backup quarterback position.”
• On the Eagles’ patience when developing players, specifically OT Jordan Maliata (44:00): “When he showed up, he didn’t know how to put his pads on . . . His first two years in camp, he was not one of the 53 best players in camp, but you couldn’t expose him to the practice squad and let other teams try and poach him.”

If you’re a football guy, you’ll enjoy Fran’s 59 minutes spent with Rodrik and Neil. Check it out here on YouTube or here on Spotify. To give a listen to all of the Scouting the League podcasts, click here.

Tales from the road: We’re far enough along in the season that scouts are starting to get a sense of which visits are good, which are bad, and which have changed (for better or worse) so far this season. We reached out to a few on their experiences at various schools so far, and this is what they told us.

• “Just wanted to second whoever initially said something about the new day at Boise (State), because feel like they deserve it. (GM) Brandon Jones is great. Super accommodating and really has become an enjoyable visit.”
• “Texas, LSU, Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State have been exceptional for years. Texas A&M looks like it will be in that mix as far as early returns. . . UNLV, UTSA, Texas State, Colorado State, Wyoming are exceptional GO5 visits as of recent.”
• “Haven’t had any bad ones yet. New visits for me this year that have been above and beyond awesome: Nebraska, Colorado, Boise State (heard it was bad in the past), Colorado State, Iowa State, Iowa.” 
• “Rutgers (has) nice people, (but) give you no information. Clearly, (the) HC has them scared to talk. Can’t talk to coaches (and) they have a zoom where they say the same thing about every kid. (I) wouldn’t feel comfortable signing guys as free agents because you know nothing about them when you leave . . . Anyone you talk to who goes to Rutgers will say the same thing. I guarantee it.”
• “Michigan staff is respectful, but they give you very limited access to coaches. Very good practice view, but you can’t get much in terms of information on players.”
• “Great: LSU, Oklahoma State, Oregon, UTSA, USC.” 

We’ll continue to get school feedback throughout the fall with an eye toward nominating the best pro liaisons for our annual reward, which has been won by Georgia’s Matt Godwin (2023) and D.D. Hoggard (NC State) and Illinois’ Jay Kaiser, who shared the award in 2024. We’ll also use feedback to determine nominees for Strength Coach of the Year, which was won by Duke’s David Feeley in 2024. Got a school that’s outstanding (or outstandingly bad)? Respond to this email with your thoughts, which will be anonymous, of course. We hope to honor the best schools and offer constructive criticism to those who aren’t at the same level.

Catching Up: Kadar Hamilton, 48, scouted for the Jaguars from 2004 to 2008 after a brief NFL and NFL Europe career in the early 2000s. We caught up with him this week. 

• Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I live in Tucson, Ariz., now and currently work for Raytheon, an RTX Company, from 2008 until present.” 
• Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “I do miss the interaction with players, coaches, other player personnel peers. I miss access to, and the prestige that comes with, being an NFL scout. I do not miss the travel, which was my main motivation for leaving the profession.” 
• Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I do stay in touch with some of my former colleagues. Mainly the road warriors who traveled with me from campus to campus.” 
• Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “I typically do not attend games. If someone invites me, perhaps I’ll consider, but my response is usually, ‘no thank you.’”

Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “Everyone I knew has retired. I know players who are now coaches (like Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans), but that is to say I know who they are. He may not remember me as a scout. I do stay connected to coaches who either coached me or (whom) I have networked with over the years. I’m in a semi-unique situation. My dad, Ray ‘Sugar Bear’ Hamilton played, in the league for nine years, coached for 27, and then consulted and still consults with various leagues and coaches. Through his network, I have broadened my own. I felt close to Megatron (former Lions WO Calvin Johnson) as I was the first person to actually measure his dimensions at Georgia Tech. I recall my boss’ jaw, Gene Smith, hitting the ground, along with other BLESTO directors of player personnel when I reported out actual measurements instead of estimated. I felt close to Tim Hightower out of Richmond; because of my reports, he was put on the map and had a solid career. I also felt close to (former Titans DC) Cortland Finnegan from Samford, another player who I wrote up and who had a good career, despite the (former Texans WO) Andre Johnson confrontation. The last person I liked to watch was (former Cowboys and Saints DE) Anthony Spenser from Purdue. He was not listed as a viable player in the NFL, (but) I cross-checked him and gave him a second-round grade (I should have given him a first-round grade). As you know, he was a first-round draft pick in 2007.”

Review the latest from other former NFL scouts and executives by accessing our Catching Up archive here. Want to hear from a former scout, or know someone who may be interested in being interviewed? Let us know.

Next week: Fall doesn’t start till Sunday, but things are moving quickly. Though the NFL season is still in its infancy, believe it or not, we’re getting close to the halfway point of the college season and we’re also about two months from the Grey Cup. Time flies. Here’s what we’ll be doing with our time next week.

• In our Rep Rumblings, we’ll track all the top prospects and their NIL activities and reps; a few last front office moves; the coaching changes that are right around the corner at some schools; and the latest in agent movement and agency changes. 
• We’ll have agent changes for the August-to-September phase as well as the first Agents by Total Clients list since cutdowns. 
• Our Succeed in Football blog will focus on the final two Zoom sessions in our NFL Agent Basics course. We’ll have stories and input from Dave Spitz of California Strength (Tuesday) and Rodrik David of the Scouting the League Podcast (Wednesday). 
• By the way, it’s not too late to join the new contract advisors as they get all the need-to-know information before everything goes live on Oct. 1 in the NFL Agent Basics Zoom sessions. Cost is $350. Sessions start at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday and Wednesday, and all participants get recordings of all four Zooms. 
• We’ll have an update on the NCAA head coaches and agents list as well as the updated NFL head coaches and agents list. 
• We hope to get the Scouts by Area Grid completed next week, as well. Here’s last year’s edition.
• We’ll have UTEP, Toledo, Troy, Tulane and Tulsa (at least) as we wind toward the end of the Profile Reports series. There are 10 days left in the month and we have 28 reports to publish. We’ll get going. 

Fall and football are in the air. It’s the best time of the year. Let’s enjoy it together.