After completing another season of scouting the top talent in college football, Scott Campbell discusses the next steps in the draft process along with previous Senior Bowl evaluations.
Each fall, Washington Redskins director of college scouting Scott Campbell and the scouting staff set out to find the best talent that the team will look to draft.
They spread out throughout the country evaluating the senior class along with the best underclassmen talent that will seek to leave school early.
"I go coast to coast trying to see as many of the top players as I can," Campbell told Redskins.com. "And the area guys go to their top schools two or three times. We have six area scouts and they all cover their areas and they alert me of any changes of guys that may be transferred. I can then adjust my plans and go there, so that really keeps us busy from once they start two a day practices which is mid-August to Thanksgiving, typically the end of the college season. Were just trying to accumulate as much information and get our eyes on as many guys as we can."
At the conclusion of the college football season, there's three different all-star games: the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. While all three provide talent evaluators the opportunity to see how top prospects compete against other NFL hopefuls, the Senior Bowl remains the best of the three games.
"This one is the premier one mainly because its NFL coaching staffs coaching and using drills that we are familiar with," Campbell said. "You're really getting the cream of the crop of the players. It's just the next step after evaluating the guys out on their campuses and now seeing them here and it's the first time we get to start the interview process with them."
Following the conclusion of Saturday's game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., the scouting staff will return to the Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Va., for pre-NFL Combine meetings.
"It is just the first stages of setting the board but still at this point it's a little loose because we don't have a lot of verified information yet in terms of their height and weight just their size," Campbell said. "And then we would have been able to talk to a lot of kid's further research their background and get to know then better. That is all done before the combine."
Previous Senior Bowl EvaluationsAmong the current Redskins that played in previous Senior Bowls include quarterback Kirk Cousins, wide receiver Jamison Crowder and linebackers Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith.
With the 2016 NFL Combine set to start next week, Redskins.com will look back at past Redskins that attended. Today, it's Ryan Kerrigan.
During the 2011 Senior Bowl, Kerrigan was perhaps the most impressive defensive player on the field, but the Redskins – who were transferring to a 3-4 defensive scheme – wanted to see how the college defensive end performed at outside linebacker.
"To see him athletically in-person, trying to see him move -- he started to convince us he can make that transition," Campbell said. "Getting to know the guy as a person and know what quality person Ryan is and seeing him at the combine workout as well enhanced status on our board."
Cousins, meanwhile, participated in the 2012 Senior Bowl on the North Team (the Redskins' coaching staff guided the South Team).
He showed similar traits to his successful career at Michigan State while down in Mobile.
"I saw Kirk play his last game in college against Georgia, and then to see him work here you could still see the consistency and the skill set that he had to be a quality NFL starter," Campbell said.
