By the time most San Diegans were finishing their work day Wednesday, Chargers Director of College Scouting John Spanos was just getting to the second portion of his.
Around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, Spanos met a couple Chargers assistant coaches at Chargers Park and headed to Los Angeles to observe USC’s pro day workout. The trio returned to San Diego just before 5 p.m., which was when Spanos popped open his laptop and went to work entering information he’d gathered while at the Los Angeles campus.
Welcome to the life of an NFL scout in the month of April.
“It’s a very busy month but a very exciting one as well,” Spanos said. “You work hard all year to prepare for that last weekend in April. It’s almost here, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Over the past month, Spanos personally attended roughly 10 pro days, which are on-campus workouts that allow each school’s prospects a chance to showcase their skills to NFL scouts.
As the pro day period wraps up this week, another phase of the draft process begins. Teams are allowed to bring 30 prospects to their facility for visits for physical examinations. In addition to the 30 players brought in from around the country, teams are allowed to schedule visits with players in their local area. Visits with University of San Diego and San Diego State players don’t count against the 30.
Once the majority of the visits wrap up, the Chargers’ personnel staff will gather for two weeks of intense meetings. The team’s scouts will fly in from around the country on April 12 for “pre-draft readings” in which Chargers coaches and scouts discuss hundreds of prospects.
“Every scout is going to read every report they’ve written on a draftable player,” Spanos said. “We get a lot out of the meetings, especially with the coaches being involved. It’s the first time we get their feed back on the guys. We do it by position and everybody gets to chime in on the player if they’ve seen him. They’re pretty long days, but they’re very productive and very helpful.”
The readings conclude on Thursday, April 23, which is two days before the draft. On Friday, the scouts will physically stack their board by ordering magnetic nametags on a wall in the team’s draft room.
For Spanos and the scouting staff, the next three weeks marks the culmination of 11 months of work.
“It’s exciting,” Spanos said. “You’re already starting to put scenarios in your head for how the draft may play out. Even though you may have been doing that for a while, this is the point where it becomes a little more tangible.”
Minicamp closed
A week after the draft, the Chargers will hold their annual minicamp. The Chargers team always enjoys having their fans at Chargers Park for minicamp, but unfortunately fans won’t be able to attend this year’s practices.
In mid-February, Chargers Park suffered significant flood damage when a large storm drainage pipe located just off the practice fields burst and sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of water racing across the field and into the building.
The damage left a sink hole roughly 10 feet in diameter and 30 feet deep at the back of the property. The City of San Diego is in the process of replacing a large portion of the pipe, and their work will flow into the area where fans gather to watch practice.
The Chargers are hopeful that the extensive project, which includes the replacement of hundreds of yards of drainage pipe, will be complete in time for training camp, which begins in late July.
Over the last few weeks, the flooring and carpet has been replaced in the weight room, locker room and athletic training rooms at Chargers Park. The sod on the south practice field was completely replaced as well.
Good News
With bad news always grabbing the headlines, good news is too often overlooked. That’s the case with Jamal Williams
.
Back in February, the 32-year-old team leader and captain was thrust into the spotlight when he was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. Now Chargers.com has learned that no charges are being filed against Williams based on the fact that his blood alcohol level at the time was below the legal limit of .08%.
Charger Girl tryouts Sunday
Women ages 18 and up interesting in experiencing the thrill of performing in front of over 70,000 fans each Sunday are invited to audition for the 2009 Charger Girls. The preliminary audition will be held Sunday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on campus of the University of San Diego.
Those interested in auditioning should complete an application, which is available (link to site) here. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Sunday and the preliminary audition will start at promptly at 10.
