Getting the scoop: NFL scouts race from school to school finishing draft evaluations—exciting, exacting, exhausting work. Let's go on the road with the Ravens', a grandfather of 10 who loves his job, woodworking … and an occasional trip to Dairy Queen

Sporting News, The, March 25, 2002 by Dennis Dillon

Another day. Another town. Another call to make.

He emerges from his hotel room towing three suitcases--one for his clothes, one for his computer and one for his notebooks, media guides and other resource materials. A black, nylon cord hangs around his neck. At the end of the string is a stopwatch, tucked in the pocket of his blue, button-down shirt.

It is 7:45 a.m. and Ron Marciniak, an area scout for the Ravens, is headed to another college campus. This week, he is touring Big 12 country, making stops at Kansas State, Nebraska and Kansas. His itinerary for the following week is more daunting: Houston, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas, Rice and TCU on consecutive days, a Lone Star State odyssey that will necessitate five flights, the use of three rental cars (he'll also use his own vehicle from his Garland, Texas, home) and nights in five different hotels.

This is the NFL's version of March madness.

Myriad scouts and coaches from the league's 32 clubs blanket the nation in a final phase of preparation for the April 20-21 draft. They attend college "pro days" to time and test players who either declined to work out at or were not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine a few weeks ago. They also recheck players they already have graded and get an early peek at next season's seniors.

This draft will be critical for the Ravens--the most significant in their seven years in Baltimore. The free-agent market, the salary cap and retirements have preyed on their roster. The team likely will go to training camp in July with only eight starters (five on offense, three on defense) left from their Super Bowl championship team of 14 months ago.

"We need help everywhere, so no one position is more important than another," says Phil Savage, the Ravens' director of college scouting. "Hopefully, everybody we pick up will have a chance to come in and compete and add something to the team."

That is Marciniak's mission: to find potential contributors. It is a search that is exciting, exacting and exhausting.

MONDAY: Manhattan, Kan.

After flying from Dallas to Kansas City, driving two hours on the Kansas Turnpike and then checking into a hotel late the night before, Marciniak arrives just before 8 a.m. at Kansas State.

Today is a homecoming of sorts. Marciniak started 40 consecutive games as a guard for Kansas State from 1951-54. A painting of him in a purple No. 70 jersey hangs on the wall of the football office building.

He walks in and hands Teresa Alexander, the assistant coaches' secretary, a Native American blanket he bought in Texas. Alexander gives him a hug. Marciniak usually brings a token of gratitude--sometimes it's a box of candy or doughnuts--to members of the support staffs at colleges, which provide him with press guides, statistical packets, schedules and other assistance. "You have to give something to show people you appreciate what they've done for you," he says.

Marciniak's first task is to study tape of KSU's juniors, players who could be prospects for the 2003 draft. He walks into a large meeting room where a handful of scouts already are seated. With the partitions opened, there are eight separate screens. A football cineplex. By 9:30 a.m., 20 different scouts and position coaches are watching tapes and taking notes.

At 11:45, everyone walks over to a weight room to measure and test players eligible for this year's draft. There are 21 in all, including some late additions not on the original list.

One by one, players are summoned to be sized. One scout measures their height. Another weighs them. A third, acting somewhat like a tailor, uses a tape measure to get the length of their arms (from shoulder to tip of middle finger) and width of their hands (from thumb to little finger). Each number is called out and noted by the scouts.

Next is the 225-pound bench press, which tests a player's upper-body strength, chest definition and biceps size. As each player lifts, his teammates holler encouragement. Brandon Clark does 25 reps--impressive for a wide receiver.

Scouts and players then move next door to the indoor practice facility for a series of tests to measure the players' speed, endurance, agility, explosion, change of direction, balance and flexibility. Players are measured or timed in the vertical jump, broad jump, 40-yard dash, 20- and 60-yard shuttles, and the three-cone drill--the most unusual test--in which a player must run outside, inside and then make a square corner around three orange cones set up five yards apart in the shape of an "L."

There are simultaneous squeaks when the stopwatch buttons are pushed. A stopwatch is as indispensable to a scout as a cell phone is to a traveling salesman. Marciniak carries two of them, and changes the batteries in both every six months.

The scouts are sticklers for precision. When one player fails to touch one of the yardline stripes during his 20-yard shuttle, a collective "Whoa!" is heard. "Missed the line by three inches," says C.O. Brocato of the Titans.

Just like there's no crying in baseball, there's no skimping in football tests.