MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The Senior Bowl is known for helping college football’s top prospects prepare for the NFL. This week, it’s helping former NFL players prepare for life after their playing careers.
The Senior Bowl’s Scout School welcomed 15 former NFL players to Mobile for an immersive look at scouting, player evaluation, and personnel operations. The participants were selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants through a partnership with the NFL Players Association.
Senior Bowl Executive Director Drew Fabianich said the goal is to expose former players to the growing opportunities available in both professional and college football personnel departments.
Senior Bowl Executive Director Drew Fabianich
Senior Bowl Executive Director Drew Fabianich(Emily Cochran/WALA)
“We’re trying to show them what opportunities can come from being in the NFL personnel side, the pro personnel side, and also now the college personnel side because it’s grown by leaps and bounds,” Fabianich said. “We’re giving them kind of a taste of all three and taking them everywhere from where a report starts to how to evaluate a player to the opportunities that exist in all three areas.”
The weeklong program gives participants a behind-the-scenes look at every aspect of talent evaluation, from film study and report writing to school visits and roster construction.
Fabianich said one of the biggest misconceptions about scouting is that it’s simply attending football games.
“People don’t understand scouting is a job, and it’s not glamorous,” Fabianich said. “Everybody thinks you’re just going to games. No, you’re going to school visits, you’re writing reports, you’re in airports, you’re in your car. There are so many things that people don’t understand, and I think the realism of this course helps them understand that if you really want to get into this, you better be sure you want to be in it.”
Helping lead the class is Dallas Cowboys Assistant Director of College Scouting Chris Vaughn, who spent nearly two decades coaching at the college level before transitioning into NFL personnel.
Vaughn and Fabianich worked together for years in the Cowboys organization and remain close friends. Coming back together for Scout School felt natural for the longtime colleagues.
“Really, really fun,” Vaughn said. “We’ve got a lot of memories. We’re finishing each other’s sentences. Drew really helped me when I made the transition from coaching to scouting, and I’ve always appreciated him pouring into me.”
Dallas Cowboys Assistant Director of College Scouting Chris Vaughn
Dallas Cowboys Assistant Director of College Scouting Chris Vaughn(Emily Cochran/WALA)
Vaughn said one of the biggest learning curves for former players entering the scouting profession is learning how to communicate evaluations in a structured way.
“A lot of these guys understand football at a high level and they love it,” Vaughn said. “But it’s kind of getting them a structure of how it’s done in the league. It’s one thing for you to know it. It’s another thing to be able to convey it to the person reading your report and explain why you believe a player can be successful.”
When it comes to evaluating talent, Vaughn said there is much more to the process than physical measurements and statistics.
“There’s three parts of evaluating a player: Can he do it? Will he do it? And does he fit?” Vaughn said. “A lot of people can watch tape and say, ‘Can he do it?’ But we’re projecting players, so the biggest question is, ‘Will he do it?’ A lot of that comes from learning who the player is, what drives them, how they handle adversity, how they handle success and what their background is.”
Among the participants is former Alabama wide receiver Kevin Norwood, a Biloxi, Mississippi native who won three national championships with the Crimson Tide before spending four seasons in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers and New York Giants.
Former Alabama wide receiver and NFL player Kevin Norwood
Former Alabama wide receiver and NFL player Kevin Norwood(Emily Cochran/WALA)
Norwood said being selected for the program was a significant opportunity.
“It’s very special,” Norwood said. “I thank God for this opportunity. It’s really important that I get all the information that I can and use it to project my career and kind of figure out if this is what I want to do.”
After his playing career ended, Norwood spent time coaching but discovered that his passion was more aligned with recruiting and personnel work.
“I’ve been coaching, and I didn’t enjoy that as much, but I did enjoy the recruiting side and getting to know people’s families,” Norwood said. “I know with college football nowadays they have general managers and player personnel positions, so when they sent me this email, I thought this might be a career in this profession.”
Norwood said one of the most valuable lessons from Scout School has been learning about the realities of working in football while maintaining a healthy family life.
“I’m a big family guy,” Norwood said. “I want to make sure I’m able to do something where I can still get family time and watch my kids grow. Learning from these guys that it’s possible to have a career in this profession and still have that balance has been important.”
The Senior Bowl has long been considered one of the NFL’s premier scouting events, giving evaluators a chance to study top draft prospects against elite competition. Vaughn said the event remains an invaluable part of the evaluation process.
“The Senior Bowl has always been the cream of the crop when it comes to all-star games,” Vaughn said. “It’s been king for a long time for good reason. It gives us an opportunity to see really good players competing against really good players, and it helps us tremendously in our evaluation process.”
For Fabianich, Scout School represents another way the Senior Bowl can impact the future of football.
“We want them to have a realistic view of what they can possibly become,” Fabianich said.
As the week comes to a close, participants leave Mobile with a better understanding of what it takes to evaluate talent at the highest levels of football and a clearer picture of what their future in the game could look like.
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