The Nebraska Huskers Player Development Program

I interviewed Gus Felder about Husker Player Development and so much more.

May 29, 2024

February 2022, I went to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.

I spent 11 days there, shoutout to George Midgett for hosting me and letting me crash. You need real relationships like this in this space, but that’s another newsletter for another day. RELATIONSIPS!

You may ask why I was in Indy for that long. Well, here’s the story, I had recently transitioned from being the Assistant AD for Player Development for the Baylor Football team and when I was calling NFL scouts to let them know, many of them told me I should come to the combine and try my shot at possibly getting a position on a NFL staff. Well, I did exactly that. S/o to the Dallas Cowboys who got me access to the combine as a guest. RELATIONSHIPS!

So, before I got to Indy, I made a spreadsheet of every NFL scout, coach, and staff member I knew. I reached out to them and let them know I was coming. Then after that I made a chart of every club player engagement staff member. I reached out on LinkedIn and messaged as many as I could to see if I could meet them.

When I got to Indy, I set up shop in a few strategic locations and started to see the people I knew. During my time there I was able to sit down with and spend time with some of my people in this space: Dr. Lori Robinson, Alexander Martin, Jess Gray, Sean Pugh, Josh Marriner, RELATIONSHIPS!

I also got to spend time with others I know in the space as well with some quick catch-up conversations. Which I appreciated.

As I enjoyed the conversations with those in the space, I noticed those who may not have known me were more guarded and honestly, I can’t blame them. As Jess Gray and Alexander Martin said there are only 32 Directors of Player Engagement in the league and if they get an additional staff member that keeps the roles slim, so you’re looking at MAYBE MAYBE MAYBE (for clarification purposes) 70-80 player engagement roles. So, I can understand how someone could say, “Oh I aint gonna let this brotha take my spot.”

With that said, there was one person who didn’t know me who took the most intentional amount of time to meet with me. Gus Felder. I still remember it to this day. He messaged me, hey I have a 25-minute break I’ll answer whatever you need. I was not near him when he sent this, but you would’ve thought I was Carl Lewis the way I zoomed through that hotel. We sat down and Gus answered all questions I had and then we had a conversation just about life and other things. I thanked him and he mentioned to me my notions of people being guarded were correct. He then invited me to a cigar bar that night and went back into his meeting.

That night I met him and others at the cigar bar that night, the conversation between me and Gus lasted a couple hours. With laughs, ideas, stories, and processes flowing freely in the communication. Trust was built between us, and we have been locked in ever since. RELATIONSHIPS!

I am grateful for Gus taking the time to meet with me at the NFL Combine and thankful for all the support he has provided me since. I was honored when he reached out to me about speaking at the 2024 Husker Football Business Seminar. And I was even more excited to interview him in person. Check out the interview here: