Big Time NFL prospect Josh Chapman, DL, Alabama, signs with Albert Elias of Elias Sports Management! Welcome to the family Josh!

Chapman stated "I decided to sign with Albert because of his impressive negotiation skills and his reputation for being loyal and devoted to his clients best interests. Now it is time for me to focus on my family and hopeful NFL career." Chapman also said, "Due to my decision to forego a routine medical procedure weeks ago hoping to help Alabama win the National Championship, I will now have the procedure done sometime next week and will be unable to play in the Senior Bowl which has been a lifelong goal of mine. Playing in the Senior Bowl is a huge honor and I thank Mr. Hale for his consideration."

Elias Sport's Management client, Brian Stewart, makes a big leap with the Houston Cougars defense. Click Here to read more.

Houston's Defense Makes Big Leap

By CHRIS DUNCAN

AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON -- Houston has become a 3-4 defense kind of town.

The Texans have gone from one of the worst defenses in the NFL to the best in one season with new coordinator Wade Phillips installing the scheme. Across town at Houston, one of his proteges, Brian Stewart, has guided a similarly remarkable turnaround, teaching the 3-4 scheme to the seventh-ranked Cougars (12-0, 8-0 Conference USA).

Stewart worked as Phillips' defensive coordinator in Dallas from 2007-08, and Stewart says his defense is a mirror image of the one his mentor is employing with the Texans.

Houston plays No. 24 Southern Miss (10-2, 6-2) for the Conference USA championship on Saturday. The Cougars have gone from 96th in scoring defense in 2010 (32.2 points per game) to 30th in 2011 (20.9 ppg), the third-best improvement in the country.

"I wouldn't say it's a remarkable turnaround," Stewart said Tuesday. "I just think you keep on laying bricks. The more bricks you lay, you build a foundation, and then you build a house. We just kept laying bricks."

Houston coach Kevin Sumlin hired Stewart in January 2010, after the Cougars ranked 103rd out of 120 teams in total defense (432.83 yards per game) and 96th in scoring defense (32.17 ppg).

Stewart bounced around various college jobs in the 1990s, then worked as a defensive backs coach for the Texans in 2002-03 under Dom Capers, another 3-4 proponent. He first worked under Phillips with the San Diego Chargers from 2004-06.

"I knew right then that he had a really smart, outstanding knowledge of the game," Phillips said.

Now that they live in the same city again, Stewart and Phillips talk frequently, sometimes about football, more often about their personal lives.

The 46-year-old Stewart says Phillips has taught about "90 percent" of what he knows about defenses. But Phillips downplays how much he still helps Stewart.

"He already knows as much as I do," Phillips said. "We've discussed football and stuff before, but he's his own man, he knows what he likes. I know he likes some of the things that we did, but there are also some things he wanted to do on his own, and he's done a good job with that."

Senior linebacker Marcus McGraw, now second in career tackles in school history (489), said Stewart arrived on campus with instant respect among the players because of his NFL experience.

"People started telling me, `He was the Cowboys' coordinator. I saw him on `Hard Knocks," McGraw said. "Once he got here, we were all excited, we all had our notebooks out, and we were ready for learn."

Stewart began implementing his defense at the most basic level in the spring.

"He just really talked to us like little kids," McGraw said, "like we were at zero, and didn't know anything about football, at all."

The process continued to be agonizing last season.

The Cougars gave up 409 yards rushing in a 47-24 loss to Mississippi State, 642 total yards in a 59-41 loss to Southern Miss and 373 yards passing a 35-20 loss to Texas Tech.

"It really wasn't hard to learn," senior outside linebacker Sammy Brown said. "It was just a new defense and everybody was new at playing it, so we really didn't trust one another. Everybody was going out there, trying to make the other person's plays."

While Case Keenum and the offense overpowered opponents early this season, the defense still worked out the kinks. The Cougars improved to 5-0 with a 49-42 win at UTEP, and Brown said the defense had a breakthrough the following week in a 56-3 rout of East Carolina.

"We knew, in that game, that we could trust one another," Brown said. "We knew then that we could be a really good defense."

Brown, playing the position where DeMarcus Ware excels with the NFL's Cowboys, leads the nation in tackles for loss (2.2 per game). Houston ranks 16th in pass efficiency defense and seventh in turnover ratio (plus-1).

Before the season, Sumlin said the two areas where he wanted Houston's defense to improve the most were in points and third down conversions.

The Cougars have allowed fewer than 20 points in each of their last four games, and have given up conversions on only 37.23 percent of third downs. Last year, Houston's defense yielded conversions on 49.43 percent of third downs.

"I don't think surprised is the word," Sumlin said. "I felt like we were improving in two-a-days. You never know how much. It's a combination of a lot of things, but our defensive staff is doing a great job."

Stewart says the defense still hasn't reached its potential, and will get one of the biggest tests of the season against the Golden Eagles, who are averaging 37 points per game.

"We're not where we want to be, we're not the defense we definitely want to be," Stewart said. "But we're a work in progress, and that's good."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

Friday night I made an appearance on Bob Valvano’s “The V Show” on ESPN radio to discuss the controversies surrounding sports agents who - as Alabama coach Nick Saban put it - ‘pimp’ their athlete clients. You can check out the conversation between Bob and I via the YouTube clip or transcript below.

Oh, and by the way... I LOVE how Mr. Valvano was itching to make me seem like a crooked agent at the beginning of his show, yet couldn’t because he soon realized how I, just like himself, don’t care for the shady practices that are becoming all too common in my industry. Anyway, on with the convo...

For those who missed Saban's comments, here they are...

Bob Valvano: Our next guest has a history with Mr. Saban - of course who's now at Alabama. Our next guest is going to talk a little bit on that topic [Saban's comments] as we roll on here on the The V Show. Bob Valvano with you.

Albert Elias is the head of the Elias Sports Management Group, and they are a very successful sports management organization that handles upwards of 20 NFL players, along with some head and assistant coaches at the college level. He joins us now via the Subway Fresh Take Hotline.

I'll let you get into the LSU history, Albert, but I gotta tell you -- I gotta be up front -- I'm not gonna be a guy who's singing the praises of agents. I coached in college long enough to know that the problem comes now 9 times out of 10 in institutions not with, necessarily, the direct relationship of players and coaches, but the ancillary people. They're not always people that truly have the best interest of the program or the kid at heart. That's not to imply [this about you or all agents], but there's a lot of moving parts and it's not easy to manage all of them. Let's get your reply to what Nick said ["I don’t think it’s anything but greed that is creating it right now on behalf of the agents- and I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp?..."] and then put it in a broader context of what really is the problem on college campuses. What do you think?

Albert Elias: First of all, anytime you have that amount of money around, it's gonna draw all walks of people no matter what industry it is. In this case, you got kids making that kind of money, you're gonna draw some good agents and some bad agents.

You know, Coach Saban, he's adamant about it, obviously lost what, I think that player was gonna be a top 10 projected pick. You're gonna be upset about that. I don't do it. I know a lot of good agents that don't do it -- But that kind of stuff does go on. But when Coach [Saban] was at LSU - when I got my start about 10 years ago - something like that went on: a junior player ended up losing his eligibility. He ended up getting a law passed in the state legislature of LA that said if an agent was caught or a recruiter or runner of an agent was caught doing that in the future, they could actually go to jail. So that's got some teeth to it. And I can just tell you, I represent a lot of guys out of LSU, that doesn't happen anymore.

You know, what happened there is a bad situation. And it happened last year with the kid [Dez Bryant, 2010 first round pick of the Dallas Cowboys] from OK State. I have nothing but bad feelings towards agents that do that, and my feelings go out to the players, because they really don't understand what's going on with that. But you know, that's the business I'm in, and as long as you do it the right way [you won’t have to worry about these types of situations].

I've always felt that if you start paying players or doing something, what's gonna happen when that kid becomes a Pro Bowler? He's going to expect something else - he loses respect for the agent. It's not something I get involved in, but, you know, I'm glad to see more colleges at least being aware of it and making the public aware of it. That's a great thing, I think.

Bob Valvano: Albert Elias is the President of Elias Sports Management, Dallas-based sports group. He's got over 20 NFL players, joining us here on The V Show. Bob Valvano with you. Lemme ask you -- What steps can be taken (to combat this problem), because that doesn't help anybody. There's nobody that comes out of this a winner. So I can't imagine an agent saying, 'Please don't reform it.' If you're trying to do a respectable job as you talk about, you'd want a reform that has some meaning. So what kind of things can be done?

Albert Elias: What's happening now, you're starting to see more colleges, major colleges, have legislature passed through the Attorney General. You have to be licensed with the Attorney General. I can promise you this: I've seen more of it this year than ever before. Now people are starting to get caught. And once they get caught and once those agents lose their license or go to jail, it's not the agents giving the kid the money. I guarantee that it's a loosely tied associate of the agent that's paying the money through the agent. Once the agent gets caught, once they put the agent in jail or the agent loses his license for a year or two, you're not gonna see any of that going on, because it's not worth it.

A lot of times you may go after a player that doesn't (get paid) - I can't tell you how many times players got paid that didn't end up getting drafted. Then what have you got? You’ve got agents giving money away for nothing. It's a bad situation. It's bad for the kid, it's bad for the university. It puts a bad light on us. The fact that we're having this conversation about it is something I'm adamant about. And you gotta have like we have in Louisiana: you gotta have some laws that are passed that have some teeth in it and put some agents in jail, terminate their license -- those kind of things. One or two of those, you won't see it anymore.

Bob Valvano: Talking to Albert Elias, Elias Sports Management, LLC, in the Dallas area. He's an agent for NFL players, along with head and assistant coaches at the college level. Let me ask you, as an ex-college coach, I think I can approach it this way. I mean, Pete Carroll, I've never met him and he seems like a wonderful guy, but the fact of the matter is that he left a program now in Southern California in complete shambles. He's a multi-zillionaire, and he's marched on unaffected by what transpired there. How much of the coach accountability should there be? Or how much of this goes on with the, if not active involvement of the head coach, the willing ignoring of it? And how much of it is the coach, who's really powerless to prevent this? Where do you weigh in on that?

Albert Elias: I'm pretty strong on that point. I'm pro-coach. I believe that coaches like Coach Carroll, Coach Saban -- I can tell you enough, it happened at Alabama with Coach Saban - he does not like agents. He has a good agent in the league that represents him and he doesn't let him on campus. He doesn't like agents. So I can promise you that I don't believe Coach Carroll knew about that, to that extent.

Now you can say, "How do you not know cars are being given to athletes?" Sometimes people will do that for free just to get in with Reggie Bush. It doesn't necessarily have to come from an agent. As a coach are you going to worry about where a kid gets a car from if it's just a souped up old car? Or are you more worried about winning games? I think if Coach Carroll had known about that, he would have put a stop to that, because they've got so many talented players at USC. Granted he was a great player, but that one player is not gonna make a national championship, and he's not gonna ruin a program.

Coach Carroll didn't know he was gonna be at the Seahawks two years later when they got caught. That's the point when that happened and when he was getting paid. At that point Carroll didn't know he was going to be in Seattle. He didn't plan for it and intentionally say, 'Well, he's taking money and in two years we're gonna get two years probation. I'm gonna get out then.' He didn’t have some plan for that, so I believe that he knew nothing of it.

And it [regulation of agent association with college athletes] doesn't really need to come from the players, it needs to come from compliance. There's a whole office in each NCAA school that has, like he [Saban] said, they've got seven people now [in Alabama’s compliance office]. Major colleges -- they have compliance departments. I think you're gonna finally start seeing it cleaned up. The reason being that we're talking about it today. When was the last time we talked about something like this?

Bob Valvano: I was gonna ask you, Albert -- That's a great point, because I was gonna ask you: is it just worse (now)? Has it [agent involvement with college players] really gotten worse or is it just the same and we're finally talking about it? It's just one of those things that we give a wink and a nod to that nobody ever really took it head on. Is it a new era out there? As an agent out there, you know that. Do they look like they're taking this thing on more more directly now?

Albert Elias: This has been going on since I entered the business. I've lost top 5 picks to this kind of situation every year, but no one ever brought any light to it. The fact that you're bringing light to it; that we're having this conversation; Coach Saban saying what he did; what has happened with Reggie Bush -- The schools are finally penalizing themselves and taking achievements away from themselves -- This will not continue to go on.

You've got DeMaurice Smith [executive director of National Football League’s Players’ Association] coming out now against agents. You're gonna start seeing whoever this was in these situations, they won't be in the industry anymore. The guy [Llyod Lake] from USC was in jail! I mean, what do you expect an ex-con to do for a player!? That's what they do -- They cheat. You're not gonna see the good agents doing this. There's not enough money to be giving player some. You've got ten agents giving a player money -- they're only gonna pick one -- and they'll always have their hands out. You lose respect from the player. It's the fly by night agents that are getting into the business, and that's the minute that you have an example. And that's just from my situation. The fact that we don't do it - we never have and we never will - is really going to help me. It's going to get rid of the riff-raff and finally bring some light on it.

Bob Valvano: Well, I was going to say 'Joining us now is pimp Albert Elias,' but I guess I can't say that now, Albert. [Laughter]

Albert Elias: No, you can't. You can't call me a pimp -- Not in this area, anyway. [Laughter]

Bob Valvano: I knew we couldn't do that. I appreciate you shedding some light on this for us, and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk again. Continued success with your agency, the Elias Sports Management Group down in Dallas.

Albert Elias: Thanks, Bob. Thanks for the time and have a good night.

For the audio of our interview, check out the following YouTube video...

I gotta reemphasize how neat it was to hang out with Al Woods and his family the other weekend. I was in his hometown of of Elton, Louisiana for what was certainly one of the most amazing days of Al's life: "Al Woods Day" (an entire twenty-four hours devoted to the act of appreciating the town's new hero). Everyone there was celebrating his new status as a New Orleans Saint, and I felt privileged to be a part of the party.

But you know what? This trip was also refreshing for a reason that had nothing to do with the festivities of the day. It simply provided me with an opportunity to casually hang out with Al, who I truly do consider to be a good friend of mine.

As an agent who's fortunate to have a healthy number of clients under my wing, it could be easy for me to fall out of touch with my guys. And to do that would be to lessen the strength of the family bond we all have with each other. And, obviously, I don't wanna see that happen.

Sure, I talk on the phone with my clients all the time, but that kind of interaction lacks the intimacy of a one-on-one visit. I wanna be able to see my guys face-to-face, hug them, tell them I love'em, tell them I'm there for'em, and ask them what their needs are. Phone conversations have this invisible filter that blocks you and your client from really feeling each other. And if this is the only way the two of you ever interact, overtime you'll start to feel emotionally detached from one another, making your long-distance engagements feel like they're only about business, and rarely about brotherhood.

I've always believed in the power of providing personal attention to the clients I service. I don't do it just to seem like I care about them, I do it because I truly do care about them. This is why I legitimately enjoyed driving all those hours last weekend from Dallas to Elton. I was excited to hang out with my good friend, Al Woods; and I could tell he really appreciated me being there for him on his big day. This is just how families operate.

--------------------

It's always nice to visit a client's home town every once in a while, but last weekend's trip to Elton, Louisiana was exceptionally fun. It was "Al Woods Day" in this small town of three to four thousand folks, and I swear each and every one of them came out to celebrate Al's promotion to NFL's New Orleans Saints.

The Coca-Cola distributors of Southwest Louisiana did an amazing job of hosting the event. There was food, drinks, a parade, custom t-shirts made in Al's honor, etc. Coke definitely did their best to make the day one that Al and the city of Elton would never forget.

As I tell you about the day went down, I'm quickly realizing that some stories are better told with pictures. So check out these that came from Al's girlfriend's camera, so you can comprehend just how amazing this day really was.

--------------------

Happy Memorial Day Weekened, everyone. This is Albert Elias, the late Marquise Hill's agent. And I want to share with you a video tribute I put together for this man who, on May 28, 2007, saved the life of his friend, Ashley Blazio, while he - during this heroic moment - was experiencing the final heartbeats of his own life.

I love ya, "Big Dogg!" And I - along with your loving family, friends and fans - will NEVER let our fond memories of you fade away...

--------------------

What's going on, Eagles fans!?! This is Albert Elias, again. I'm Boo Robinson's agent.

As a football fan, first (WHO DAT!?! (Sorry, I had to do that) ;-), and an agent, second, I know how it feels to hear that your team has brought on some new blood that you don't really don't know much about. Well, after my last post about Boo, you guys left me some great questions in the comments section, so I figured I'd throw another post your way to answer some of them.

Scott K. asked... "Does Boo have a preference for the position he will play in the NFL?"

Man, he could probably play defensive end, but he's such a damn good defensive tackle in a 3-4 and 4-3 package. And he plays the zero and three techniques really well.

MidwesternEaglesfan asked... "Do you have some lesser known stats on Boo?"

The best way for you to find out some of his lesser known stats is to take a look at Boo's profile on Wake Forest's site. But, I can tell you these tidbits... After his junior year, he was a Lombardi finalist, and he was on the Lombardi list his senior year. Also (and FYI, I'm not saying this as a biased agent ;-) - the critics claimed this.), he was critically acclaimed as being one of the best defensive tackles in college football.

Finally, d-jackfan10 brought up some concerns about about Boo's health. And, as a fan, you have every reason in the world to have such concerns. But, the current truth of the matter is this...

Boo Robinson is 100% healthy. I'm not throwing any agent B.S. at'cha - I can say he's 100% healthy with 100% certainty. Like, I promise ;-)

Boo is a smart man. He was valedictorian of his high school in Monroe, Louisiana, and the first person in his family to go to college. For a fleeting moment, he thought about throwing his hat into the NFL ring a little early, because they gave him a third round grade, but he decided he wanted to graduate ('atta boy, Boo ;-). Well, as many of you know, a back injury - quite literally - slowed down a lot of his football momentum as his college career came to a close. But, trust me when I say that his injury was, without a doubt, a minor one.

My brother, David Elias, is a great orthopedic surgeon, and my agency is fortunate to have him as our second medical opinion on all issues involving my players. Well, once David got a hold of Boo, he confirmed that the injury was, in fact, a minor one; but the main problem of his situation was that he wasn't doing the proper exercises to heal himself. You see, Boo wasn't stretching every day (not due to laziness, but because he was ill-informed), and this caused him to tighten-up. And when you tighten-up, you lose a lot of your quickness, which - of course - causes your overall performance to slip a bit. This is why Boo had a less-than-stellar senior season that caused many teams to keep him off their draft boards.

So, thanks to David's help and insight, Boo gained a better understanding of his injury and how to heal it. He then took that knowledge, worked out with incredible intensity, and now he's regained his ability to perform at full-strength. And now that he's with the Eagles, who has one of the best athletic staffs in the country, he's going to be able to continue keeping that beast of a body in tip-top shape. My brother (who I'm obviously a big fan of ;-), did a great job with Boo, and has gifted him with new life. He passed his physicals in both Tampa and Philadelphia, so there's no longer any concern about his back, at all.

The Eagles have got themselves a great find in Boo Robinson. I know, I know... As his agent, I'm supposed to say things like that, but I don't mess around recruiting players to Elias Sports Management who I only 99% believe in. Boo is my boy, but he's also my business; and in order for my agency to continue to thrive, I have to bring in guys who I can trust to perform well both on and off the field. And as far as you fans are concerned, you, too, want your Eagles to perfectly represent themselves as the all-around talents that they claim to be. Well, as someone who's proud to say that Boo is a friend of mine, I can assure y'all that you have many, Many, MANY memorable Boo Robinson moments to look forward to ;-)

--------------------

For those who don't know, yesterday I posted an article about my client at Elias Sports Management (and you're newest addition to the Lions), Richard Dickson. If you wanna read it before you read this one, just click on this link:

Richard Dickson Has Something You Can't Coach

Obviously, as an agent, one the most important parts of my job is to sell my client's talents as effectively as possible. And with Richard not being picked up in the draft (like he should have been! ;-), I feel the need to set the record straight on just how good he is. Yesterday, I mentioned some reasons why he's a stud, but here are more thoughts as to why Dickson's definitely gonna be a contender for a spot on the Lion's roster.

Okay -- Get a load of this...

During Richard's junior year at LSU, he asked the NFL where they calculated him being selected in the coming year's Draft (FYI: Richard wasn't really going to leave school before graduating, he was simply curious about where the NFL projected him being selected). He waited around for their answer and, finally, they reported back with a...

THIRD ROUND GRADE!

That's right -- They didn't project him to go undrafted, or in the seventh, sixth, fifth, or fourth round -- They had him being scooped up in the THIRD round!

With that said, I'm willing to bet you feel a little more confident in Richard's ability ...don'tcha? ;-)

So Richard received his boost of confidence from the NFL and marched into his senior season with his head held high. Despite all that confidence he was swimming in, his end of the season numbers didn't exactly portray him as the third-round caliber player the NFL projected him to be. The cause of his slip in stats wasn't his fault, though. It happened because LSU struggled offensively in certain ways, and the ball wasn't thrown in his direction as much as it was during previous seasons. THAT'S why Richard's stats dipped a bit and he ended up not being drafted this year.

Sure... You're not going to be sold on Richard's talents - like I am - until you see him play - I get that. But you may be asking yourself why I'M so sold on him; because, after all, I could have passed on recruiting him for the same reasons NFL teams passed on drafting him. To answer that, let me give you a little insight into how Elias Sports Management operates.

The average lifespan of an NFL career is three years. Well, in my eleven years as an agent, I've recruited twenty-three players; and after ten years, I still have seventeen of them - many of whom went UNdrafted - who are STILL under contract with NFL teams. And the reason so many of my clients who have gone undrafted are enjoying such successful careers is because, when my team and I initially scouted them out, we used a VERY SOPHISTICATED scouting technique that helped us decide to recruit them.

Wanna know what that sophisticated scouting technique is? Well here it is...

We listen to the opinions of the right people.

Pretty innovative, huh? ;-)

I'm proud to say that Elias Sports Management is going nationwide in our recruiting pursuits, but, for roughly the last decade, we've been cherry-picking talent out of LSU (Geaux Tigers! ;-) And because I've grown a lot of my business by staying tight with the folks at my alma mater, I've been able to pick the staff's brains about which players are working the hardest in the training room and which ones are spending the most time in the cold tubs. I represent both the Tigers' strength coach (Tommy Moffit) and trainer (Jack Maruchi), and these guys can determine which players will be successful in the NFL better than anyone else.

So what was Tommy Moffit and Jack Maruchi's opinion of Richard Dickson?

They HIGHLY RECOMMENDED him to me.

So, after some intense scouting, and me taking to heart the wise words of Tommy and Jack (as well as many other trusted sources), I can tell you - with confidence - that Richard Dickson has a bright future to look forward to. Sure, he has an uphill battle to face, because there are so many great players who are ahead of him (on paper), but Richard understands what he's going to have to do in order to make the final cut.

You're not going to hear much talk outta Richard; he comes to work to do just that: work. And I promise you're going to recognize him during the preseason. He's gonna have a lot of fans not only because of his talent on the field, but also because of their strong admiration towards the heart and soul this kid displays. And for those people who wanna be convinced a little more... Google ""Richard Dickson" SEC" and see for yourself the types of records he threw down during his four year career in the toughest conference in college football.

Lions fans should be very proud of their organization for selling me on the fact that Richard fits best in Detroit. They're going to have a really neat offense this year, because they're going to do a lot of different things with their flankers, tight ends, and also their full backs. That team is going to turn things around this year - I promise. And thanks to my realization of that, as well as my faith in Richard, our decision to make him a Lion was a much easier one to make.

I truly do want to see the Lions succeed - not just for the team's sake, but also for the sake of the city. As a Louisiana boy who grew up loving the Saints, I understand what it feels like to see a place you love struggle. And thanks to the recent successes of my home state (WHO DAT!?!), I also know how good it feels to witness a community's rebirth. The last time I visited Detroit, I was there for the Buick Open; and it absolutely broke my heart to see what was going on around there. But, you can take it from me (someone who's experienced, first hand, the beauty of a revival) that I feel an energy building in Detroit that's going to get its heart beating at full-blast again - mark my words ;-)

--------------------

Last week, when I left you a post about my client, Richard Dickson, you guys came at me with some great questions, so I figured I'd stop on by again to give you a couple more posts about your new addition to the Lions - one today, and another tomorrow. ...Yup -- That's right -- TWO posts! After all... Everyone knows how us agents like to talk about our clients for hours on end, right (Hehe ;-)

So -- Without further adeau -- Here I go...

Richard has something that a lot of people DON'T have, and certainly can't be coached: the will to succeed. I know that might sound cliche to say, but it's true. I'll take that statement to my grave and still preach it as truth! You can't coach the degree of ambitious aspiration Richard has; you can't gain it by lifting weights it; you can't time it at the combine; it's simply something you cannot physically package. It's in your heart, and Richard's is beating outta control.

Beyond his will to succeed, here are some other noteworthy points about my machine...I mean client ;-)

• Richard is the type of guy who shows up to work early and leaves late. That quality, alone, says a lot about the man's work ethic.
• The guy is 250 pounds, yet he ran a 4.7 and 4.8 forty yard dash at LSU's Pro Day. I'd say that's pretty dang impressive.
• He runs GREAT routes.
• HE WILL, as a freshman, outwork A LOT of the people around him.
• Because Coach Jim Schwartz is a no-nonsense kind of guy, Richard (who's the same way) is gonna bond perfectly with him.
• Little known fact: At this year's East / West Shrine Game, Richard's team didn't have any full backs on the squad, so they asked him to fill their gap. He had never played full back in his life, yet, during that game, he played it like it was his primary position! Really -- I'm not exageratting.

...I could go on and on about what impresses me about Richard, but I'll go ahead and stop right there with the bullet points ;-)

Lots of scouts said Richard was too small to be playing tight end in college, but - as evidenced by the success he's had, so far - he proved the naysayers wrong. One of my other clients, Kyle Wiliams (Buffalo Bills), was also told by scouts that he was too small to play his position (defensive tackle) in the NFL, but look at what he did last season... Despite missing four games due to an injury, he still managed to lead all defensive linemen in tackles! The NFL recognized how ridiculously impressive that feat was and selected him to be a Pro Bowl alternate! ...You see what I'm getting at? Scouts truly are talented at what they do, but they're not always right. This is why, when I'm recruiting, I'll trust my own judgement, as well as the opinions of others who are especially tight with a prospect, before I'll put a ton of trust in a scout's analysis. Sure, a scout's opinion can be very valuable, but, sometimes, you just gotta go with your gut, ya know.

If there's one thing to learn from all my ramblin' here, as well as all the ramblin' I'll do tomorrow, it's that you shouldn't negatively judge a player just because he went undrafted. Hell... If it weren't for undrafted players, I'd probably be blogging about Richard right now as a fan, instead of as his agent (of course, not that there's anything wrong with simply being fan - I'm one of those, too ;-)

I'll talk with y'all tomorrow!

--------------------

You might have already heard me say this once on my Facebook profile, but I wanna say it again...

Boo Robinson just inked a three year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles!

(I'm proud of ya, Boo! ;-)

I can't reveal the financial terms of the deal, but I do want to share a quote from the big dog, himself, about his NFL dream coming true...

"Ever since I was a little kid, I've dreamed about playing ball in the NFL, and now that dream is coming true. I'm so happy about this that I really can't put my feelings into words. I definitely want to thank the Eagles organization for believing in me enough to give me a chance to succeed at the highest level. I promise I'm gonna make the most of this opportunity."

Boo is SO happy. And seeing him happy makes me happy, too ;-)

As his agent, I gotta show my hand and admit that the Eagles have really gained themselves a true diamond in the rough. There were some teams out there who didn't prioritize picking him up, because of a minor injury he had trouble working out last season that resulted in him having a bit of a down year. But I can assure all you Eagles fans out there that he's regained every bit of the strength and speed (and then some) that he had lost, and he's now in the kind of shape that's going to help him have long and successful career in the NFL.

Boo's gonna fit very well into the Eagles system - I can promise you that. He's not only a physical talent who's going to tear it up on the field, but he's also man of great character that you're going to enjoy watching off the field, as well. This is definitely one of those win/win situations where you can sit back and feel comfortable knowing that there's a lot to look forward to for Boo, the fans, and his new team, the Philadelphia Eagles ;-)

If you guys have any questions about Boo, please don't hesitate to throw them my way. I might not be able to get back to you right away, but I promise I will in due time, either in the comments or a follow-up post.

--------------------

Join My Clients and I On Our Facebook Fan Page...

ELIAS SPORTS MANAGEMENT, LLC (ESM) |