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

When his contract runs out in July 2003, Marciniak could be offered another two-year contract or a part-time position. Eventually, he'll retire from football. What will he do then?

"I'll probably work on conditioning--a lot of walking and running," he says. "Follow my grandchildren. Go to a lot of high school football games."

He'll also have more time to work on his hobby. During his spare time, Marciniak is a woodworker who has made various crafts, including birdhouses, barn clocks and miniature country stores. This summer, he plans to build Christmas mangers for each of his children.

THURSDAY: Lawrence, Kan.

The Kansas players have just completed the first round of the three-cone drill when Marciniak hands me his stopwatch. "You try timing some of them," he says.

Algie Atkinson, an outside linebacker who is considered to be the Jayhawks' top draft prospect, is my first man. Atkinson gets into his stance. When his hand moves, I hit the watch's trigger. I close one eye and focus on the finish line. I see a blur flash and I hit the button again.

The stopwatch reads 7.56 seconds. I look at Marciniak's first time for Atkinson. It also was a 7.56. "Your concentration was good at the finish," Marciniak tells me. "You must have a quick reflex."

I clock defensive tackle Marquis Hayes in 8.09. Marciniak had him in 8.03. "It's about a blink-of-the-eye difference," Marciniak says. "You might have timed his chest and head, and I might have timed his hand coming across."

Nothing to this business of scouting--as long as you can study hours of tape, drive hundreds of miles, check into another hotel, fill out numerous reports late into the night and get up early the next morning to do it all over again. It's an endless cycle that seldom leaves time for personal indulgences. Today, however, Marciniak finishes up early.

"We may have time for a Dairy Queen," he says, looking at his watch.

E-mail senior writer Dennis Dillon at ddillon@sportingnews.com.