Up Close In Personnel with Alex Brown

Heading into Week 3 of College Football, we are joined by a repeat visitor in Carina Hargreaves - Director of On-Campus Recruiting for Georgia Tech! In her last appearance on Up Close In Personnel for Episode 12 - "Inside The Process Of Coordinating Campus Visits", Carina talked through her personal journey in the world of college football, her football background and how she approaches setting up recruiting visits! This week, we briefly touched on her training camp internship with the Cardinals and honed in on what all goes into a GAMEDAY recruiting visit. It was a fun episode to record, we broke down what coaches and recruiters should be paying attention to during the interactions with recruits and their families, and so much more! Please be sure to like, share, retweet and respond with what you liked from the show, and stay tuned for more from Up Close In Personnel! Lastly, you can find and follow Carina on Twitter at @CarinaH_GT!

Week 1 across the country is HERE for college football! This week we're joined by my good friend, Bryan Carrington - Offensive Quality Control Analyst with the USC Fighting Trojans! Since his last appearance on the show for Episode 1 - "Building Relationships with College Recruiters", Bryan made the move from recruiting at UT to coaching running backs at USC in Los Angeles! We discuss how he made the move, how he's advanced his football knowledge through interning with the Rams and the growth he's experienced along the way! It's a great episode for coaches and recruiters alike, especially when it comes to working cohesively as a staff! Please be sure to like, share, retweet and respond with what you liked from the show, and stay tuned for more from Up Close In Personnel!

It's fall camp for football teams across the country (and games have started for some high school teams as well)! With that being the case, I decided to bring in my first scouting mentor - Russ Lande to talk about his scouting process! Notes for the next couple of episodes will be sparse due to the business of this time, but this is one episode you'll need a pen and paper nearby! We talk through Russ' approach to teaching the art of scouting, how he evaluates practices, his thoughts on organizational culture, and much more on the evaluation process! Please be sure to like, share, retweet and hit me back with what you learned from the show!

Joining the show this week, Zach Brandon with the Diamondbacks breaks down his job as the Mental Skills Coordinator and unpacks what his role is in the team building process. From the selection process in the MLB Draft to on-boarding and player development, Zach explains why mental skills are more important than ever to identify, train and develop. Physical ability sets the bar of what we can achieve, but mental skills are what allow us to reach peak performance and how consistent we are able to do so! I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording! Please share from whatever platform you're tuning in from, let us know what you took away from Zach & be sure to follow him on Twitter at @MVP_Mindset!

We've all known that NIL rules would be coming into effect for quite some time and now that the time has arrived here in July of 2021, I figured it was time to bring in an expert to weigh in! For those unfamiliar, NIL (which stands for "name, image and likeness") now allows athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness in ways previously not allowed. Players are able to seek marketing representation or advisory, participate in marketing or branding off their own likeness, open a business, start a camp or clinic, or engage in non-profit activity. It's a big step in the right direction in allowing athletes to prepare themselves for the real world, but there needs to be education to avoid potential pitfalls. That's where someone like our guest, Luke Fedlam comes in for support. He's had over 15 years of experience working with professional athletes in representing (or protecting as he says throughout the episode) their marketing interests. On the show, Luke brings valuable insight on defining what the rules are today, trends through the first month of NIL and lessons on what to look for in contracts. The Timeline: 5:00 - "This is what I wanted" & Luke's Passion for NIL 9:15 - Luke's "Aha" Moment for NIL Education 13:00 - "Without using your job title, who are you?" 19:40 - Branding Advice: Character & Authenticity 25:00 - Defining NIL & What It Means 28:50 - Early Trends in the First Month of NIL 35:34 - The Role of Athletic Departments, Compliance and Advisors in NIL Education 41:46 - Lessons Learned from Zion Williamson's Contract 48:36 - Wanting to be President of the US as a kid To find and follow Luke Fedlam's work, check him out on Twitter at @LukeFedlam! Also, the interview by Columbus CEO that was referenced in this episode can be found at the following link - "In the new world of NIL, Luke Fedlam guides athletes on money, deals and the future"! Thank you for taking time to listen, please let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating!

Stepping to the stage this week is one of the most inspiring people you will meet. Jake Langi may appear on the peripheral to just be another recruiting analyst at a blue-blood, power-five program. That blanket statement could not be further from the truth. Overcoming setbacks after high school, serious health concerns following the birth of his son, to being overlooked while at Texas State, Jake kept his head down and did the lonely work it takes to "make it". In this episode, you hear how Jake established credibility for himself at Texas State as an undergraduate assistant, working odd jobs throughout his time in school, and how he's navigated the most recent coaching change at the University of Texas. It's one word - "value". Networking, as he referenced in the interview, is transactional. That is to say, "What can you do for me?" Without spilling too much of the episode, we talk through the value Jake brings to Texas, to his fellow colleagues, and how important family is to him. Jake truly has a heart of gold and UT is fortunate to have such a genuine person on their front lines of recruiting! As always, please let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating! To find and follow Jake, check him out on Instagram and Twitter at @JakeLangi!

Joined by nobody but yours truly, I decided to take a solo venture for my return episode in recapping a busy, wild and fun month of June recruiting! Now on episode 50 of the show, eclipsing 10,000 downloads and heading into a brief summer break, this was my way of letting you all inside my mind for once. From talking through the context of how unique and rare this time period has been, to the inner workings of unofficial visits, official visits, camps and more, I hope that this week's edition gives you insight to develop as a coach/-0pppppsewascout/recruiter or learn more about the process as a prospective recruit! Moving forward, we will return to our traditional format of bringing guests onto the show but this is my way of giving back to you all and I hope you enjoy listening! Send me any and all questions you had while listening, and I look forward to continuing to push out content on evaluation, recruiting and team building topics!!! You can find me on twitter at @alexm_brown or email the show at UpCloseInPersonnel@gmail.com!

Joined this week by one of my former players - Brandon Wilson, a kick returner extraordinaire and defensive back for the Cincinnati Bengals - we talk through his football career to date and walks through pivotal moments along his journey. Becoming a father during the pandemic and fighting to prove his worth to the Bengals in the final year of his rookie contract, we started out by discussing the challenges and stresses that the 2020 season brought. More than anything, Brandon simply cares about other people. Whether that's being close to his family and keeping them healthy, or looking out for his teammates, the conversation always deflected praise to others. I really have a ton of respect for this young man and it was a blast to talk through his early days in the game, high school recruiting process, college experience and current NFL day-to-day grind. Something I wanted to harp on was Brandon's overall character and getting a glimpse into his mindset, as it's important to be able to recognize high character, high performers when you see them. Here are some key qualities of Brandon that I wanted to highlight from our conversation: 1. Be coachable 2. Put the team first 3. Do the right things off the field 4. Commit to recovery With camp season right around the corner and recruits getting ready to step foot on college campuses, I felt it would be timely to have someone with an elite mindset like B-Wil to talk shop with! Let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating! To find and follow Brandon Wilson, check him out on Instagram and Twitter at @ItsBWilson_!

As we head into a new year on the show, I've decided to circle back with previous guests of the show that have risen to new roles since their last appearance. Last week we checked up on Eric Galko and his new gig with the Shrine Bowl (click here to listen to that episode), and now we shift gears back to college recruiting and Gaizka Crowley! Gaizka, who last appeared on the episode 8 to talk about the differences between FCS and FBS Recruiting, now is the Director of Player Personnel at UNLV and as real influencer in the college football personnel space. Teaming up with a host of sponsors (including Up Close In Personnel's OFFICIAL SPONSOR - War Room) and Nevada-Reno's Director of Recruiting - Lucas Gauthier (you can follow him on Twitter at @Lgauthier_), Gaizka is spearheading the first ever, DPP Spring Clinic. This professional development opportunity is a big topic of discussion on this show, and will be commencing May 27-May 28 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, NV! The format of the clinic will be panel-based, roundtable discussions led by thought leaders in the industry and recruiting/personnel members from across the country. Gaizka's main focus was to create an engaging, networking opportunity for people in the industry as we currently lack the connectivity that the coaching industry seems to have. During the episode, there were some great nuggets on how Gaizka is approaching his new position at UNLV and also how he attacks job interview opportunities. Here are some key takeaways from the show: On preparing for the interview, Gaizka works off a portfolio template that covers many things on the program he's interested in but two things stood out to me: In addition to more insight into how to prepare for the interview, Gaizka closed with stressing the importance of hitting home three key points. Know your strengths, know the language the team is speaking and their vision for the program, and don't try to do too much. To give an example of Gaizka's three main things, he brings up three traits that he will bring to the building every single day: And before you ask someone for a job or toss out your resume, ask yourself one question - "How can I provide value to this person?" "What problem can I solve for them?" Then go out and execute! It was another awesome episode with a great friend and impressive individual in the industry; to find and follow Gaizka, head over to Twitter @Gaizka_UNLV! To sign up for the DPP Spring Clinic and get more information, also be sure to follow @FBPersonnel on Twitter!

In an encore performance, Eric Galko (previously featured on Ep. 26 of the show) breaks down his new exciting position as Director of Football Operations and Player Personnel with the East-West Shrine Game! Getting the shrine game was always a target of Eric's for more than just the football aspect, as a premiere all-star event for NFL scouts but primarily for its impact on the community and the Shriner's Hospital. As Eric details his job responsibilities, you can see that putting an all-star game together is much more than fielding a team of draft-eligible studs from across the country. Eric broke it down by simply stating he has 7 days or 168 hours to work with, so he's focused on three main things: 1. Players and teams will be able to meet in a very organized and professional manner (for interviews) 2. Players will be receiving first class treatment with meals, recovery technologies, etc. 3. Creating time and space for community events, specifically the Shriner's Hospital visit Moving onto the picking of players and building his boards, it's amazing to hear that Eric and his crew are already finishing up with the 2023 NFL Draft class. His focus, echoed throughout the show, has been and will continue to be eliminating bias in the process. How do you do that? Be detailed, thorough and accurate with the background profiling of prospects, knowing who they are, where they're from and objectively assessing the athletic measurables. In talking through how he and his staff at Optimum Scouting are able to work so far ahead on underclassman, Eric repeated a mantra that earned the show its title and that is "know which question to ask next". You can have too much information as a scout and it's important to know when to put the book down. After you've fully evaluated the prospect, know what is your next question to answer and monitor that question or the development you're waiting to see. From there, we touched on the fundamentals he teaches his scouts when evaluating players, what a "Demar Derozan-jumper" is in the scouting world, and how Eric stays up to speed on what is winning in the NFL today! It was a blast to record, as always with someone like Eric, and you can follow him on Twitter at @EricGalko! Thanks for tuning in, be sure to check out UpCloseInPersonnel.com for show notes/updates and have a blessed weekend!

With the 2021 NFL Draft in the books, I decided to get my good friend - Matt Waldman on the show to discuss his process as an evaluator and how he's developed his craft in scouting. Whether you're working at the high school, college or pro levels of football, we all must be able to identify, evaluate and project talent to an extent. Matt, a former aspiring musician, writer and call center director, put the lessons he learned in the real world into practice and taught himself over the past 20+ years on how to assess NFL Draft talent. Creator of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Matt turns out the most comprehensive publication of NFL prospect analysis at all skill positions. Targeting fantasy footballers at the start, Matt's grown into one of the more respected evaluators in the NFL Draft sphere and I have a ton of respect for the work he does. If you have interest in checking out this year's post-draft edition of the RSP, click here for details. As for the episode, we went deep into the weeds on developing a personal process for film watching, how we take notes, writing reports on players, self-evaluating previous misses, what compensating factors look like for prospects, defining the "IT Factor" and so much more in the episode. What jumped out to me on this conversation was Matt's desire to accomplish two things in his scouting process: Ask the right questions: Also in the episode, you get a glimpse into Matt's personal growth and how he was able to teach himself over time how to scout. The quick bullet points for anyone wanting to grow as a talent evaluator: The inflection point of missing on Dak Prescott's evaluation, might have been my favorite part of the show as Matt detailed his process, what he saw initially in Dak, how he grades traits in draft prospects and where he went wrong. The sign of a good scout is the awareness to know when you missed and learning from that mistake, and Matt breaks it all down for us. Another great nugget of scouting wisdom, was Matt's description of compensatory factors and what he calls "winning combinations". There's more than one way to skin a cat, whereas one player may have a "breadth of talent" (wide range of solid skills) and another may have a "depth of talent" (limited range of excellent skill). This part of the show really goes to show that scouting is not an "inexact science", but rather a craft that includes a blend of both art and science. In detailing that art and science, Matt uses the analogies of a chef and baker to breakdown two types of athletes: task oriented and creative. A baker locks into a process, follows every step to the "T" and requires the right environment, while a chef has the ability to work off schedule and improvise. Listen to this one and I'm sure you'll have even more notes from this conversation. If you're obsessed with learning about the player evaluation process, this episode will be right down your alley. Hope you enjoyed it and see you all next week! Be sure to follow Matt on Twitter at @MattWaldman, and don't forget to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com for full show notes on all of our previous recordings!

Draft weekend is finally here and this was a phenomenal episode with insights from longtime NFL coach, Wade Phillips on the draft process! From career advice, to team building, evaluating and war room stories, there's so much to take away from this episode. From a topic standpoint, we talked about how Coach sustained success for such a long period of time, how he approaches players and scheme, his University of Houston playing days, why he got into coaching, and the involvement of coaches in the NFL Draft process. In discussing the right mix of scouts and coaches in the draft process, Wade emphasized alignment. No matter what the decision is (or who it's made by), the entire staff and front office must be all-in and committed to moving forward in alignment. He also brought up the importance of knowing your staff, who is a good evaluator and who is a good coach. As it pertains to the predraft process for NFL coaches, we also take a deep dive into the high volume of responsibility and catching up that needs to be done. The end of season review, free agency, players reporting and draft prospect film watching all come to a head during this time of the year. Coach Phillips broke down how he approaches his evaluations and weighting the different pieces of information -most important being the film, followed by football knowledge and practice habits. All this and draft day favorites were discussed, so enjoy the show and enjoy the NFL Draft this weekend!

For Episode 44, the second in our NFL Draft series for season #3, it was an honor and privilege to have a former NFL General Manager on the other end of the call! Mike Tannenbaum, former NFL executive, current NFL Front Office insider for ESPN and founder of The 33rd Team joined the show to share his insights on team building and the NFL Draft! Boiling down his former role behind the wheel of a couple NFL franchises, Mike dropped this gem of a quote in saying that a GM is "The point guard of information." Phrases like organizational alignment, value and team needs peppered a conversation that zoomed in and zoomed out on the lessons Mike's learned from his experiences in the league. Topics Covered in This Week's Show: The 33rd Team If you're not already subscribed to The 33rd team, click the link above and do it for your own football knowledge. To find and follow Mike's work, check him out on Twitter and Instagram under the handle @RealTannenbaum, visit The33rdTeam.com or tune into ESPN's NFL Draft coverage this coming week! Last but not least, Up Close In Personnel is brought to you by Warroom! Used by teams in every P5 conference, all the way down to the high school level, they have packages that will take your program to the next level! For more information, as mentioned in the show, reach out to Moose Bingham at (801) 808-7754 or go to www.collegewarroom.com for more information! For full show notes and links, head over to the official website of Up Close In Personnel with Alex Brown & I'll see you all next week!

In a repeat appearance, we are fortunate to have the likes of Dane Brugler jump on air with us to talk through a STACKED 2021 NFL Draft class of quarterbacks! This episode will kick off season 3 for "Up Close In Personnel with Alex Brown," and the goal is to spotlight evaluating and scouting around the NFL Draft from a variety of bright minds and perspectives across the league! Stay tuned for more draft-centric content as we near the 2021 NFL Draft and enjoy this week's material! Topics covered in this week's show: Dane's Annual NFL Draft guide, aka "The Beast" It was a fun episode to record, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I want to thank our first sponsor of the show - Warroom for backing us at Up Close In Personnel! Used by teams in every P5 conference, all the way down to the high school level, they have packages that will take your program to the next level! For more information, as mentioned in the show, reach out to Moose Bingham at (801) 808-7754 or go to www.collegewarroom.com for more information! To find and follow Dane's work, check him out on Twitter at @dpbrugler, and be sure to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com for complete show notes and listening links!

In this episode with returning guest - Ed Jones, we take a deep dive into what player development looks like from the structure and programming, all the way down to specific examples and success stories of former student athletes he's worked with! Generational impact is the foundation of the "Beyond The Field" Program, and we start things off with what inspired Ed to launch the program publicly and help so many player development professionals in the process. As mentioned in the show, Ed made the jump from Kansas to Baylor since our last recorded conversation and we discuss what his new role as Assistant AD for Player Development looks like! His responsibilities include mentoring student athletes, working lockstep with Head Coach Dave Aranda to establish Baylor's culture, and being the glue between staff and players. The first main takeaway for this episode, is the importance of EDUCATING student athletes in their first year on campus - aka "Newcomer Orientation" Continuing on that path of development, Ed broke down the three PILLARS OF DEVELOPMENT Within each of these pillars, we break down different aspects of what Ed describes as the "Learning Process" for student athletes. That is, what the progression of development should look like from freshman year to senior year. I really enjoyed recording this one, not only because Ed is one of my best friends, but also because of his deep knowledge of this field. No matter what route we took, he had experiences, examples and stories to draw upon. If you're interested in purchasing the "Beyond The Field" eBook, please visit Ed's website - BTFProgram.com - and follow him on Twitter at @EdJones2! Lastly, check back with UpCloseInPersonnel.com each week for updates, notes and links! Enjoy!

As I thought about this week's podcast, I realized we hadn't yet covered the wide world of special teams and recruiting specialists! Quoting the great Rich Eisen, "Punters are people too!" and we intend to cover all things related to recruiting on this show. Breaking down the recruiting process and more specifically what college recruiters look for in kickers, we are joined by Rice's Special Teams Graduate Assistant - Brett Arkelian. During this episode we talked through Brett's unique experience of going through the recruiting process as a high school, junior college and graduate transfer prospect. We covered a lot of topics that will help recruits and recruiters alike throughout the episode, starting with the importance of mental training: When it comes to emailing, researching and reaching out to colleges, here are three quick tips for recruits out there (and this also applies to coaches or recruiters seeking employment from colleges): Also, here are five things that college recruiters need to assess when evaluating kickers: This was an awesome episode to record, and I hope you learned as much as I did about kicking after listening through! To find and follow Brett's work, be sure to visit his website The Kicker's Bible | Iceman Kicking! Check out his podcast, the "Iceman Kicking Podcast" and pick up his ebook - "The Kicker's Bible!" Thanks for listening and you can always visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com for complete show notes and listening links!

The first person to give me a shot in college football recruiting, Adrian Mayes to this day is one of closest friends and mentors in the industry! In this week's show, we take a deep dive into the mindset Adrian had when he took over the recruiting department at the University of Houston and peel back the layers of his approach to recruiting! Starting off the show, we discussed what Adrian looked for when hiring interns. As he prepared for the role of director, he mentions that he studied the Ohio State and Alabama recruiting models for guidance. What he looks for, is pretty simple and boils down to two points: As you will notice through the rest of the show, Adrian takes pride in entrusting role and responsibility to his interns in order to create ownership within the department. That brings us to the next big topic covered, which is how to create a team atmosphere in the recruiting department: Accountability, which is covered throughout this episode, is obviously enforced by the superior but needs to be reinforced by the individuals within the department. No different than a player-led team, you need your front line workers to hold each other to standards set by the supervisor. When it comes to recruiting, there were a lot of takeaways as it pertains to the evaluation side of the business as well. For Adrian, he is adamant about watching every player that high school coaches send your way. There are no such things as diamonds in the rough anymore with the proliferation of film and exposure, but you can miss out on players if you don't take the time to sit down and watch them. Also covered was the topic of intangibles and evaluating the learning capabilities of a given recruit. You can't take all exceptions with less than prototypical measurables, but it is extremely important to keep an open mind for the really good football players that love the game. If you like the player, be thorough about what he can and can't do, and see if he has traits to overcome those limitations. In the words of Cincinnati Bengals DPP Duke Tobin, "The art of scouting is what deficiencies do you accept? Everybody is looking for the same positives…" With regards to assessing a recruit's ability to learn ball and pick up concepts, Adrian does a great job of explaining how he teaches a recruit a specific concept, asks the recruit to teach the concept back to him and watches closely how the recruit executes those actions. Is he taking notes? After listening and taking notes, how does he retain and regurgitate the information? How was he taught by his coaches? What concepts can he articulate back to the coach? Etc. All this and more is covered on the show, and it was a ton of fun to hit that record button! You can follow Adrian on Twitter at @CoachAMayes, and be sure to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com for complete show notes and listening links!

Joined by my good friend and former colleague, Vincent Marshall, this episode is as good as it gets in terms of recruiting knowledge! A big takeaway from the show is Vincent's genuine approach to life and football. Starting off the day with a positive tweet, getting into the office at 4:30am and being authentic in building relationships with players and coaches, his approach is one we all can learn from. To kick the show off, he discussed what lessons in recruiting he's taken from his own personal journey as a dual sport athlete. For the potential walk-on recruit: When it comes to the recruiting process, Vincent's step-by-step advice will be applicable to recruit and recruiter alike. After building his list through highlight tapes, it's important to determine how a player is built mentally. Here are the questions that Vincent is asking high school coaches? Next, we talked through "Profile Tapes" and what those are in recruiting departments. Highlights are supposed to look good, just like filters on social media. Here are some quick tips on creating these hit tapes: Lastly, Vincent went through how he evaluates a prospect's social media: All in all, this was a great episode to learn about a person I look up to, respect and appreciate for how much he has helped me in my own journey as a college recruiter. You can follow Vincent on Twitter at @CoachMarshall, and be sure to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com for complete show notes and listening links!

This is a show I've wanted to record ever since the middle of the pandemic! Due to NCAA rules, I am unable to record with current high school coaches (that are associated with recruits) BUT.... now that Marco Regalado has been named a Recruiting Analyst with Washington State University, we now are graced by his presence! Jumping on the show after driving nearly 2,000 miles from the DFW to Pullman, Washington, Marco made time this weekend to talk about his amazing path from high school coach to college football recruiter. In this episode, we cover everything from how Marco makes his viral TikTok videos to his love for the game of football and desire to help other people. What I enjoyed most about the conversation is how genuine Coach Regalado is as a person, how he embraces all of his past experiences and plans to put those lessons to use at the next level! When giving advice to college football recruiters in dealing with high school coaches, here are two main points made my Marco: 1. Follow up with everyone! 2. Don't Ask Who's Offered! As far as presenting yourself on social media as a college recruiter, Marco also gave great advice for how to put your best foot forward: I know Marco is going to do great things at the college level and I hope you took something away from this episode! You can follow him on Twitter at @CoachRegalado, and easily find him on TikTok! For show notes and links, be sure to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com, and thanks again for tuning in!

In this episode, we take a deep dive into Joan Ryan's new book "Intangibles" and break down what team chemistry truly is. Chemistry isn't simply defined or contained, but there are two distinct types of chemistry -social and task chemistry. Social chemistry is what we commonly think of, in terms of social and emotional connectivity. Task chemistry is all about the job and having complete trust in your teammate on the field. Complete task chemistry is that "foxhole" mentality and pride in playing for one another. And to create true chemistry, there are three stages that Joan outlines from the military model: Within teams, there's also a variety of roles that leaders must be aware of so that they can communicate and lead at a high level. In "Intangibles", Joan lists seven archetypes that we detail on the show but it's not as simple as selecting a set number of archetypes. Team chemistry is not like actual chemistry in that there's a specific formula for success. As stated in the book, "His role on the field is prescribed… His role in the clubhouse is not. He has to discover it. He gathers signals from teammates about what they value in him. They don't know they're filling a role. They just do it." I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did in recording it, and encourage you as the listener to pick up her book "Intangibles" and follow Joan on Twitter at @JoanRyan. For show notes and links, be sure to visit UpCloseInPersonnel.com, and thanks again for tuning in!