The Life Of A Scout

It's been a while between updates. I'm sure most of you have been getting a chuckle at the "live on location" part of this title. It's only been about a week but I'm getting a pretty good idea what life as a NFL scout entails. I'm also understanding why you don't see scout blogs on the net! This is a 24/7 job. Just when you think your headed one direction your pulled in another, just when you think your doing one thing your doing another and just when you think you can sleep the phone rings.

Shorty after we left Nebraska, landed in Ohio and settled into our hotel David Hinson received a call. Seems we were no longer needed in Ohio (for this day anyways), the scout who was covering the Illinois State Pro Day had a family emergency and we were needed. The replacement was already on the way to cover Akron and our plane leaved for Illinois is 12 hours. I could not get many details as to who or what would be there that would make it so important to change our plans at the time but once there it made perfect sense.

There were by last count representatives from 13 NFL teams on hand. The center piece of the workout that took place indoors was Illinois State WR Laurent Robinson. There were some familiar faces among the scouts who were here to see Robinson put on what turned out to be a pretty good darn show. C.O. Bratco from the Titans was front and center showing most of the young scouts who were probably given this assignment as a learning experience how to do it. We will be meeting up with the Titans later this week so I made sure to take some notes on how they approached these work outs as to know what to expect later. It was pretty clear as to what teams were serious about Robinson. Lead scouts from the Titans, Bills, Patriots and Eagles were all on hand and after Robinson work out I expect more teams will follow their lead.

Robinson stood on his combine numbers where he posted a 4.38 40 but did take part in the positional drills. He looked very fluid running routes and caught the ball well. One knock on Robinson according to scouts is that he lets the ball chew him up and he received some praise as it was something he obviously has been working on as he consistently plucked the ball from the air dropping only 4 of 70+ passes that were thrown this day. We left a little a disappointed that Robinson did not run again, scouts wanted to see if he could duplicate his performance at the combine but from everything I gathered, he did enough to continue his rise up the boards. One scout I talked to who did not want his name or employer released said that his team see's Robinson as mid to late 2nd round prospect. While not everyone I talked to set's his stock that high there is no doubt you will see Robinson taken in day 1.

Before leaving Illinois St and heading BACK to Ohio I had a chance to catch up with the members of the Titans scouting department and get some idea of what to expect when I meet up with them at Clemson on March 13th. It's going to be a busy week as we will be hitting 3 different Pro Day workouts in 3 days. Clemson on the 13th, Michigan State on the 14th and Central Michigan on the 15th. History tells me not to put anything in stone but as of right now, that's the plan.

I still had one more stop with the Bills and David Hinson so we left after a quick meal and boarded a plan for Ohio State. I'll have a complete break down of our day with the Buckeye's later today. Right now, I have to get ready for Clemson. I will be back after I settle into the hotel bringing you all the news from what turned out to be a very busy and action packed day for the prospects from Ohio St.

-till next time
D.B.