Plankton
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This is a terrific piece about scouting methods and how they developed.
http://www.nfl.com/historyofscouting
THIS WAS ALLsupposed to be a joke.
A group of pup scouts with the Los Angeles Rams had left a note on the desk of general manager Tex Schramm that contained an urgent message just weeks before the 1956 NFL Draft: We gotta get more film on this prospect, Dick Donlin. Unbelievable talent out of Hamline in Minnesota.
Schramm, ever the perfectionist, and his legendary head scout Eddie Kotal started burning through their contacts in the Midwest and word began to leak out from a mouthy assistant coach on the other end of the line. Donlin is the real deal. A diamond in the rough. Everybody wants to get their hands on Donlin.
Gil Brandt, one of those part-time junior scouts in on the joke, had no idea what was about to happen.
The Rams had just made their second-round pick, Leon Clarke, when a contingent from the Baltimore Colts strolled by the table late that afternoon. They were proud of themselves, wearing that look one gets when one finally puts the Rubik's Cube together.
"They come over to our table and they say, 'Haha, you didn't think we knew about him, did you?' " Brandt recalled. "Well, we found out!' "
The Colts had drafted Donlin with the 21st overall selection without even seeing him.
He was cut before the first game.
Donlin, God love him, was not a professional football player. He wasn't fast enough or strong enough. He toiled in obscurity at a small liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he ran some track in addition to playing football, too. But who would think to actually check in on this?
http://www.nfl.com/historyofscouting
THIS WAS ALLsupposed to be a joke.
A group of pup scouts with the Los Angeles Rams had left a note on the desk of general manager Tex Schramm that contained an urgent message just weeks before the 1956 NFL Draft: We gotta get more film on this prospect, Dick Donlin. Unbelievable talent out of Hamline in Minnesota.
Schramm, ever the perfectionist, and his legendary head scout Eddie Kotal started burning through their contacts in the Midwest and word began to leak out from a mouthy assistant coach on the other end of the line. Donlin is the real deal. A diamond in the rough. Everybody wants to get their hands on Donlin.
Gil Brandt, one of those part-time junior scouts in on the joke, had no idea what was about to happen.
The Rams had just made their second-round pick, Leon Clarke, when a contingent from the Baltimore Colts strolled by the table late that afternoon. They were proud of themselves, wearing that look one gets when one finally puts the Rubik's Cube together.
"They come over to our table and they say, 'Haha, you didn't think we knew about him, did you?' " Brandt recalled. "Well, we found out!' "
The Colts had drafted Donlin with the 21st overall selection without even seeing him.
He was cut before the first game.
Donlin, God love him, was not a professional football player. He wasn't fast enough or strong enough. He toiled in obscurity at a small liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he ran some track in addition to playing football, too. But who would think to actually check in on this?
