Jan. 8-14

It’s been a wild ride since last Friday with three major all-star games in two cities spread over a week-plus. It’s been a pleasure watching the football community work. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve seen and what’s worth noting over the past seven days.

Movin’ on up: As we do every year after polling scouts, the College Gridiron Showcase moved 10-15 players up from the Marshals roster, i.e., the Small College Invitational Showcase, to the Desperadoes roster so teams can get a longer look at them. This year, the 12 who earned a spot on the big stage were Dieuly Aristilde, WO, Bethel; Maurice Brewer, DE, Defiance; Erik Hansen, DE, Upper Iowa; Quentin Harrison, WO, Cal Poly SLO; Ogheneochuko Ighofose, OG, Grambling St.; Phazione McClurge, WO, Indiana St.; Devon Moore, IB, Winona St.; Mason Sikes, TE, Western Illinois; Josh Sokol, OC, Sacred Heart; Rodney Thomas, S, Yale; Robert Washington, OH, Valparaiso; and Vincent Winey, IB, Morehead State. We congratulate them and wish them good luck on their road to an NFL roster later this spring.

Innovations: All three all-star events had something new to make this year special. At the Hula Bowl, staffers sent out a daily, fact-filled email that provided scouts with an update on players who’d arrived or exited, injuries, a look at the day’s practice agenda and more. The College Gridiron Showcase offered CGSU, a chance for 20 aspiring scouts (plus one who had to miss due to Covid) to work with evaluators, hear “origin stories” from scouts and ex-scouts, and otherwise build their networks as they worked to achieve their NFL goals. The Tropical Bowl made a big jump in “weight class” as the game will be played in the storied Citrus Bowl. Hats off to Jose Jefferson and Craig Redd of the CGS, Michael Quartey of the Tropical Bowl and Damond Talbot of the Hula Bowl and their respective staffs, who did phenomenal work in the face of the usual challenges plus the struggles brought on by Covid. 

Speaking of speakers . . . : A special note of thanks goes out to former NFL scouts Marc Lillibridge, Bob Morris, Chris Watts and John Bonaventura, each of whom spent several minutes (and in some cases, hours) speaking to the CGSU team last week. They each brought fascinating stories, valuable insights and often plenty of humor to the experiences they shared with our 20 future NFL evaluators. Everyone benefited from the time they gave and we’re very grateful for their contribution.

Lives well-lived: Since our last edition of the Wrap, the NFL scouting community lost two well-respected men. Ed Lambert spent several years coaching at Vanderbilt and with the USFL’s Los Angeles Express before spending nine years scouting for the Broncos and Texans. He also spoke to us for our Catching Up feature in November. Les Miller scouted for the Dolphins, Chiefs, Chargers, Browns and Rams, plus he was a key player in the development of the World League of American Football and even helped out National Football Scouting with its interview process at the combine until his death. Like Ed, Les was featured in our Catching Up series in September 2020. They were both true gentleman who will be missed by all who knew them, and it was a privilege to get to know each of them for a very short time. 

Best of luck: Two former members of the ITL Interview Prep program will interview for open GM jobs in the coming weeks, according to published reports. Saints Assistant GM Jeff Ireland, who worked with ITL clients ahead of the 2014 draft, will interview in Chicago, as will Colts Director of College Scouting Morocco Brown, who was part of our team ahead of the 2017 draft. Both are shrewd evaluators of talent, experienced and respected in NFL circles, and good guys, and we wish them both the best of luck. 

Voters being heard: After one week, we almost have a third of the responses we normally get for our annual NFL Scouts Survey. We appreciate it. Voting continues for another four weeks (in case you missed last Sunday’s email, a new one is in your inbox right now). This year, the candidates were all so strong that, for one year only, we expanded our list of finalists to six (Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Dolphins, Patriots, Steelers). If you’re an active NFL scout, please help us by letting us know what you think. We take pride in recognizing the teams that do things right, and we love helping you know what the industry pays its evaluators.

We’re just getting started with our travels. Though we’ll take a break next week, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl awaits at the end of the month and the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl just after them. There’s plenty more fun to be had, and we look forward to seeing everyone out on the road, and in person (remember what that’s like?). In the meantime, here’s a look at what else we saw, heard, read and said in the business of college and pro football this week.

Catching Up: Kirk Mee, 82, spent 25 years with Washington, spending all but six or seven of those years in college or pro scouting for the team. We caught up with him last week.

  • Where are you living and what are you doing now?: “I live in Centreville, VA, about 12 miles from (the team facility) and Dulles Airport, and about 30 miles from downtown Washington, D.C. When I retired . . . my mother lived in Ohio, and I actually spent two weeks out of every month with my mother in Ohio. So I drove back and forth every month. During this time, I started playing golf . . . and when I was back in Ohio, and I ended up involved in the Cincinnati chapter of the NFL retired players and the NFL alumni office, so I got involved with a lot of my friends from Ohio that are in athletics. I got involved with lots of golf tournaments, not only in Ohio but back here in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. That’s where I got into golf, and then Wilmington College contacted me about 25 years ago and the president and one of their fundraisers wanted to know if I’d be interested in kinda helping with the golf tournaments, so that’s when we started the golf tournament in Wilmington. I would bring in the celebrities, and these were NFL celebrities, and we had lots of Hall of Famers over the years. We’ve had that tournament for about 24 years now. Only year didn’t have it was we cancelled it during the Covid year.” 

  • Do you miss the job? What do you miss most?: “Let me just say this: I kinda miss it. When I retired, I missed it for the first month after I retired, because I didn’t know what to do with myself for one month, but then it was like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders. I hate to say this, but when I was with the Redskins, we were in four Super Bowls and won three, and almost were in two more, and we won more games in the 80s than any other team except maybe the 49ers -- they had a hot streak and we had a hot streak. To be honest with you, if we wouldn’t have been in those Super Bowls, I’m not so sure it wouldn’t have been worth it for me. It completely consumed my life, day and night, all day, all night. All year, if I wasn’t in the office, I was on the road.” 

  • Do you keep in touch with any of your former colleagues?: “I live in Virginia, which is 30 miles from DC, and the (team) will have golf tournaments and the players and then they have a big alumni event, so mainly my staying in touch with people is from the social gatherings of the Washington football team. I do stay in touch with some of the guys I used to scout with, but they’re all dying (laughs). Miller McCalmon was with the Redskins and the Texans and has been around, but I tell you what, everybody’s dying.” 

  • Do you go to any live games (HS/college/pro)?: “Not really. I may go back to Ohio, may catch a homecoming game at Wilmington or Defiance, or maybe at Miami OH, if I happen to be there on a weekend, I’ll go there. I’d rather sit home and watch. . . I watch every Ohio State game that I can see on TV. I never miss Ohio State football, and I’m more of an Ohio state fan now since I moved out to Virginia. I couldn’t care less about Ohio State when I was back in Ohio. I’ll (also) watch some bowl games, and I’ll watch certain pro games when I want to watch a special player. When I watch, I watch what kind of formations, what are they running out of those formations. With the stuff that I did, would it still work?”

  • Are there any players you love to watch and/or feel close to due to your work in the game?: “I don’t watch the pros much anymore. Well, I do watch individuals. I’ve been fascinated with (WFT QB) Taylor Heinecke. He’s done a good job. He’s struggling a little bit now, but he’s kind of a fascinating guy. That (former WFT QB) Alex Smith, he was kind of a fascinating story, and I was hoping (former WFT and Ohio State QB Dwayne) Haskins could make it. He didn’t pan out so well, though it wasn’t all his fault. But I don’t get carried away with it. I watched more football the past year, for fun, because of Covid.”

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.

Where’s Jerry?: While we return to the home office this week, we’ll still have people on the road. One of them is former Bears GM Jerry Angelo, who will spend part of next week in Dallas working on interview prep with several members of the 2022 draft class at Michael Johnson Performance in McKinney and EXOS in Frisco. He’ll also be in Arizona to work with players at the EXOS facility near Scottsdale. We still have room for a few more players, but don’t delay. Our rates are reasonable and we spread travel expenses across our clients so as to minimize costs. Jerry puts his four decades of experience interviewing prospects to work to make clients ready for anything they will face in Mobile, Las Vegas or Indianapolis. Want more information? Let us know.

ITL Signings Grid: We now have more than 1,000 players listed with their all-star game invitations, agents, training locations and/or NIL agencies. Our big board is the place the industry goes each day to find out who’s where, who’s working with whom, and who’s winning and losing off the field in today’s game. Make sure you’re checking it out regularly. It’s here.

Next week: What? No all-star games next week? It’s a new day on the all-star landscape with three games the first week-and-a-half of January, no games the second, one game the third and two games the last week-plus of the month. Anyway, it means we’ll get a week to rest up and catch up. We’ll use it to tidy up and expand our Signings Grid, adding names, adding agent-player agreements, updating all-star berths and the like. We’ll also get back on our regular schedule for Rep Rumblings, passing out all the buzz on the last big signings of the draft cycle, discussing the coming all-star games and what’s new, taking a look at all the coaching and GM changes (and what they mean) and plenty more. Make sure you’re keeping up here. Speaking of head coach and GM changes, we’ll create our NFL and NCAA coaches-with-agents grids for 2022. There’s plenty of work to do now that so many teams have turned over their coaching staffs, at least at the top. We’ll also recap our week and preview what’s ahead in our weekly blog at Succeed in Football. Also, don’t count out a brief Zoom session late in the week for our first-year agent clients (and any other ITL client who wants to join). We’ll talk about, well, whatever you want to talk about: how to promote your player now that his all-star game is over, how to promote your player who didn’t go to an all-star game, how to deal with obsessive parents, what to do when you find out your client isn’t going to the combine, and anything else. Look for an email later this week if we decide we can fit it in. We’ll also update the Senior Bowl roster, fill in the Hula Bowl rosters, and preview the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl rosters, all with agents, of course. At least, that’s what we have planned; there may be more. As always, we’re open to suggestions. In the meantime, we’re looking forward to getting back on the road soon. But while we have a little time, why not check out what we’ve gathered up so far?