Ep. 31 - Bobby Merritt - Assessing Value & Defining Roles in Personnel

Joined by my good friend and mentor, Bob Merritt - Assistant GM for the Edmonton Eskimos, this week's edition of Up Close In Personnel is basically a tutorial on how to successfully assemble a recruiting department and construct a roster in college football!

  

Having coached, scouted, and recruited at all levels of football, Bobby details his career path and lessons he's learned along the way.

 

We really dialed in on the roster management and construction aspect of personnel, so this week I decided to drop all of the notes I took away from the conversation in bullet form below!

 

Topics Covered:

• Bobby's Current Role in the CFL
  • Assistant General Manager
  • Evaluating US College, Canadian College, CFL and NFL players

 

• Diverse Experiences in Football
  • Success comes down to the ability to communicate and collaborate at a high level with the various personalities involved in the profession
  • Must be able to connect with people around you and work effectively; a more diverse background helps with the ability to relate and connect

 

• The Impact of the Air Force and Military

 

• Making the move from Coaching to Personnel

 

• Roster Construction 101
  • Identifying MUSTS, NEEDS and WANTS
  • Assessing the value of your roster and incoming players
  • Defining a clear role and vision for new players

 

• The Head Coach-General Manager Relationship

 

• Advice for Interviewing and Hiring Interns

 

• Building and Growing a pro-styled Personnel Department
  • 3 Core Values
    • Be a great teammate
    • Compete to be your best
    • Build relationships
  • Developing as an evaluator
    • Cannot be afraid of being wrong
    • Say what you see with conviction
    • Be a great listener and hear the traits
    • Understand what your team values
  • Parameter vs Skill Set
    • Depends on level of ball
    • Certain positions require parameters
      • Ex: Perimeter players must have length and speed
    • Some positions don't require as stringent parameters
      • Ex: Height doesn't matter as much for linebackers

 

• Evaluating speed without verified times
  • Assess the player's play speed on game film
    • 3 key components to look for:
      • Stride length (gait)
      • Stride frequency (turnover)
      • Hip mobility (fluidity and knee drive)

 

• Predicting the draft vs projecting the player
  • Remember to always define the role a player will play on your team prior to him joining the program; if you don't, then there's no way of reviewing the success or failure of the acquisition.

 

Let me know what you took away from the show and be sure to give Bobby a follow on Twitter at @BobbyMerritt8!

 

For listening links and notes from previous shows, please visit the show's official website UpCloseInPersonnel.com and comment with whatever notes and takeaways you had from our conversation! Thanks again and see you all next week!