Motivational Story - Picking Out A Prospect

Every year in every sport, scouts from college to the pro ranks, usually analyze players in these two classifications – a “Tools Camp” and a “Stats Camp”. One of those two could be enough to persuade a school or club to make their decision to draft or offer a scholarship to a prospect? 

I want to highlight in this piece, Buffalo Bills Quarterback Josh Allen, who is enjoying a Pro Bowl season and has his NFL club in position to challenge for a possible run at the Super Bowl. 

Coming out of college at the University of Wyoming in 2018, Allen was viewed as an athletic marvel, a prospect with tremendous size (6’5”), arm strength and with such high upside by the "Tools Camp." Yet, the "Stats Camp" had doubts on his ability to succeed at the NFL level because he did not put up big numbers against what was viewed as subpar Mountain West competition at the time for a prospect considered possible first round material? 

I’ve always been a believer when judging players that human instinct or gut feeling should weigh in and be what tips the scales when building a team? I remember my days working for a Junior Hockey team in Canada and the phone calls I would get at 3 AM in the morning from then Washington Capitals Assistant General Manager Roger Crozier.  It was to get a reaction on a player or two from me after our team maybe lost five games in a row or if this prospect was held pointless for a number of consecutive games as examples? He wanted to see if my feelings changed in any way? He also wanted to know back then how a prospect treated his girlfriend and parents as another example? He kept his eyes on those human qualities. 

When it came time for the Buffalo Bills to size up the quarterbacks in that 2018 NFL Draft Class, here’s what their personnel department liked about Josh Allen that swayed their final decision to move up five spots from 12-to-7 in the first round and choose him as their future franchise signal caller: 

* That he grew up in a small farming town of 7,500 people. 

* His athleticism from playing multiple sports in high school.

* That he faced adversity coming out of high school with no scholarship offers and had to fight his way up through the ranks including a year of play in a Junior College setting. 

* More importantly, what weighed the most came where the Bills organization saw him as an all-weather fit that could adjust to playing in a cold-weather city like Buffalo due to the fact that he'd be tossing a football into high velocity winds and performing on a snowy surface in some of the games. 

Allen even says now that being overlooked throughout most of his career "has kind of been my M.O." He added: "Everything happens for a reason. I take time to preach to the kids who are at smaller schools today or don't have offers from the big schools that it doesn't matter where you come from? It matters how you play and how you apply yourself. If you want something, go get it." 

He concluded: “At the end of the day, it's not where you get drafted. It's not going to set you in stone with how good you're going to be? It's being surrounded by the right people, the right coaches, how you present yourself, how you work hard.” 

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES RELATING TO THIS STORY 

“You say I started out with practically nothing, but that isn’t correct. We all start with all there is. It’s how we use it that makes things possible” – stated by Henry Ford, Founder of the Ford Motor Company in 1906

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements" – stated by Napoleon Hill. American self-help Author

Jim Loria