HELP SCOUTS SEE AND CHOOSE PLAYERS WITH THE FOLLOWING ATTRIBUTES: EYE-HAND-FOOT COORDINATION, MULTI-DIRECTIONAL MOBILITY, PEDAL DEXTERITY, BALANCE, NIMBLENESS, AGILITY AND PERIPHERAL VISION.
And there's never a rush to come to a conclusion. "I'm slow. I'm real slow," Brocato says. "I may run (the video) back five times to see what he's doing with his feet."
"It's not hard to find a first-round guy, but to get those guys in the middle of the road, you've really got to study them," Brocato says.
"I take a position like defensive back, and I put down everything I'd like to see," Brocato says. "Backpedaling, how he moves his feet, changes directions, can he close? There's about 10 things for each position. If you write down a lot of good things, he's good."
COST EFFCTIVELY DEVELOP HIGH CALIBER PLAYERS WITHIN YOUR OWN CLUB AND SYSTEM
a team that beats salary-cap constraints by finding undrafted free agents and latter-round draft picks who can make the roster
"That's a bonus draft pick; that's the way we look at it," Reese says. "When you can pluck those guys out, instead of having 8-9-10 draft picks, you've got 10-11-12. And we all know that in the salary-cap environment that if you can't draft, you can't survive. We all know that scouting is the backbone of all NFL franchises."
How does a player fit in with your system, your coaching staff? We put a lot of emphasis on that," says Ackerley, 56. "We feel like our coaching staff can get the most out of a player. If the mentality is always to bring in somebody better, you never develop the guys you have."
DEVELOP PLAYERS' ANKLE STRENGTH ROTATION AND REFLEX TO DRASTICALLY REDUCE INCIDENCES THAT CAUSE INJURIES TO THE ANKLE WHICH CASCADE UPWARDS INTO KNEE HIP LOWER BACK SPINE AND SHOULDER INJURIES.
24 years coaching in college. They have had a variety of jobs in college and the pros, a wealth of experience Tennessee gained by putting them together
Early in his career, Brocato traveled with a 16-millimeter projector to watch game tapes. Colleges anxious to show off their NFL prospects now provide multi-angle game videos and film rooms, but Brocato still evaluates players the way he always has.
"The fact he's been going to schools in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for so long, he's like a member of the staff," Brandt says. "I think what happens with these guys is that when they come to a school, they have instant credibility
Tennessee excels at finding talent playing below radar
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But the Titans don't plan to hand Brocato, 74, a gold watch and bid him a happy retirement any time soon because Tennessee has thrived on having old eyes judge prospective talent.
The Titans' seven-man college scouting staff also includes Bo Bollinger, 70, who coached 11 seasons in college and was an All-American on Oklahoma's national champions of 1955; Ellis Rainsberger, 71, whose 20 years of collegiate coaching includes being Kansas State head coach from 1974-78; and Cole Proctor, 61, who spent 24 years coaching in college. They have had a variety of jobs in college and the pros, a wealth of experience Tennessee gained by putting them together.
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All have helped make the Titans — whose 54-24 regular-season record over the last five seasons ranks second in the NFL behind St. Louis — a team that beats salary-cap constraints by finding undrafted free agents and latter-round draft picks who can make the roster.
One of their successes was evident Sunday, when injured Titans quarterback Steve McNair had his regular-season streak of starts end at 43 and was replaced by Billy Volek, who signed in 2000 as an undrafted free agent.
Volek, whose arm strength was questioned by many NFL scouts, completed 26 of 41 passes for 295 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in Tennessee's 28-26 comeback victory against Buffalo.
Proctor scouted Volek and was sold on his 57-to-12 career ratio of touchdowns to interceptions at Fresno State. He also liked that Volek had grown up in a football family; his father, John, had been head coach at Sacramento State.
"It's hard to take a 25-year-old guy that has been scouting for one or two years and put him in a situation where he can compare a tackle at the University of Tennessee with a guy who came out eight years ago," Titans general manager Floyd Reese says of his veteran scouting staff.
"The younger scout doesn't have that bank of knowledge or experience. With a guy like C.O. or the other scouts we have, they can take a tackle from anywhere and compare him not only with guys in the league, but guys who are out of the league."
Brocato, in his 26th season with the Tennessee organization, drives up to 25,000 miles a year, following a path he sets entirely by himself.
"Some guys have to call into the office every day," Brocato says. "As long as I've worked for the Titans, they've never once said you've got to go to this school tomorrow and see this guy. If I want to go home tomorrow, I'm going home. If I want to stay out on the road for two weeks, that's what I do."
Insightful long-range projections
Early in his career, Brocato traveled with a 16-millimeter projector to watch game tapes. Colleges anxious to show off their NFL prospects now provide multi-angle game videos and film rooms, but Brocato still evaluates players the way he always has.
"I take a position like defensive back, and I put down everything I'd like to see," Brocato says. "Backpedaling, how he moves his feet, changes directions, can he close? There's about 10 things for each position. If you write down a lot of good things, he's good."
And there's never a rush to come to a conclusion. "I'm slow. I'm real slow," Brocato says. "I may run (the video) back five times to see what he's doing with his feet."
Gil Brandt, NFL.com's top personnel analyst and the Dallas Cowboys' director of player personnel from 1960-89, says he's certain the Titans have the oldest scouting group.
"They're old-time throwbacks," Brandt says. "They're kind of like shoe cobblers; they've got so much pride in their work."
Brandt says Brocato is known for speaking his mind when he goes to colleges and "telling coaches this is the way you should do it."
"The fact he's been going to schools in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana for so long, he's like a member of the staff," Brandt says. "I think what happens with these guys is that when they come to a school, they have instant credibility."
Brocato takes particular pride in having recommended defensive end Carlos Hall, a seventh-round draft pick in 2002 who last season stepped in and ably replaced injured Pro Bowler Jevon Kearse. Hall readily admits he "probably hurt myself" with a senior season at Arkansas that didn't meet expectations.
"It's not hard to find a first-round guy, but to get those guys in the middle of the road, you've really got to study them," Brocato says.
With Hall, Brocato sold Tennessee on the belief he had been asked to do too much on defense in college and that if Hall were simply assigned to chase the quarterback, his speed would carry him.
"Some people thought he was lazy," Brocato says. "But he was sitting there in the seventh round, and you knew he could run."
Similarly, Brocato backed the sixth-round selection in 2002 of Justin Hartwig, this season's starting center.
"Just about everybody rejected that boy," Brocato says. "The big thing with Hartwig was they didn't think he was a great athlete. OK, so you say he can't play tackle in the NFL, and you move him to center."
Reese's approach on picks like Hall and Hartwig, who need to develop, is, "We bring them in and beat them up for a year. I can't tell you the number of guys on our team that the first time we saw them we said, 'Oh, geez, did we do something wrong here?' "
That openness to trusting head coach Jeff Fisher's staff to develop players instead of always seeking to plug in a finished product is a key part of the Titans' approach, says Mike Ackerley, Tennessee's director of college scouting.
"How does a player fit in with your system, your coaching staff? We put a lot of emphasis on that," says Ackerley, 56. "We feel like our coaching staff can get the most out of a player. If the mentality is always to bring in somebody better, you never develop the guys you have."
That philosophy played into the fourth-round selection in 1997 of Derrick Mason, viewed as a kick returner who could become a receiver. Mason averaged only 16 catches his first three years but has blossomed into quarterback Steve McNair's top target and this month became the franchise's first receiver to post three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
"I don't think a scout just coming in is going to be able to see down the road as far," says Ackerley, whose staff also wasn't dissuaded by Justin McCareins' small-school experience at Northern Illinois. The Titans took McCareins in the fourth round in 2001, and he has become the team's second-leading receiver this season.
No hesitancy to take the plunge
Another Titans' scouting success was wide receiver Drew Bennett, who spent most of his UCLA career as a backup quarterback and had only eight receptions in college.
West Coast scout Proctor spotted the 6-5 Bennett at a UCLA practice in 2000 and, knowing the Titans were anxious to increase height at the receiving position, asked then-Bruins coach Bob Toledo about him. "Bob said, 'Well, he doesn't play; we can't get him on the field,' " Proctor says. "I made a note to check him later."
Proctor learned Bennett had run the Los Angeles Marathon on a whim with no real training and still showed up at practice the next day. He also won a slam-dunk contest at UCLA.
When Proctor met with Reese and the team's other scouts, he began his review of Bennett by saying, "Maybe you guys are going to laugh. I don't have any tapes to show you, but he is an athlete and if you're going to take a chance on a guy, this is the guy."
With younger scouts who are trying to build a reputation and boost their careers, says Proctor, there's a greater reluctance to suggest taking on a project like Bennett, for fear of the player being a bust and making the scout look bad.
"If a guy isn't a starter they'll want to write him off," Proctor says.
But with Tennessee's older scouts, Proctor says, "We're not looking to be the personnel director. That's past us. We like our jobs, and there are no hidden agendas. We're not trying to upstage anybody."
Tennessee was the only team to contact Bennett, who has had 105- and 97-yard games this season and caught 23 passes in a six-game span before getting injured in October.
"That's a bonus draft pick; that's the way we look at it," Reese says. "When you can pluck those guys out, instead of having 8-9-10 draft picks, you've got 10-11-12. And we all know that in the salary-cap environment that if you can't draft, you can't survive. We all know that scouting is the backbone of all NFL franchises."
The one downside is that with four scouts older than 60, the Titans at some point might see their staff turn over all at once.
"I think we're all aware this is something we have to be careful of," says Reese.
"After the draft and before the season, I'll sit down and talk to them. But the unique thing is they all get insulted for me to even mention it. No one has even hinted about retiring."
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