Learning The NFL Way
February 6th, 2017
Talks NFL transition.
You have to be a man in the NFL and that doesn’t always mean on the field of play.
Bucs cornerback Vernon Hargreaves recently on a podcast called “Big Three Rollup” — Joe wasn’t aware rollups were so popular — and talked about his transition from college player to pro.
In short, Hargreaves explained how in the NFL, each player is pretty much responsible for everything he does, unlike college where each player sort of has a babysitter.
“The amount of space that you have,” Hargreaves said of the biggest difference between college ball and the NFL. “In college, you have someone telling you what to do every day. You get a text about your meetings, your practice schedules, when to go to class, etc.
“Obviously, when you get to the league, nobody gives you a schedule (daily), you get a schedule on your own. Nobody tells you when to show up. You have to get your treatment on your own. You have to manage your time.
“That’s not normal for a lot of guys because you have people helping you out. At big schools, it is easy. I could text someone and find out my whole day and my whole week.”
Hargreaves said he learned the hard way about being punctual with the Bucs. He got stuck in traffic once and was late to One Buc Palace. As a result, he got slapped with a fine.
Live and learn. Since, Hargreaves said he budgets two hours to get to One Buc Palace, just in case.
February 6th, 2017 at 9:29 am
Perhaps what VHIII said about how players are coddled in college says a lot about why Greg Schiano tried to treat NFL players like they were still in college. Perhaps Schiano was the one who had trouble making the transition?
February 6th, 2017 at 10:14 am
Defense Rules, that makes sense. Good point.
I like the fresh insight into this topic. Usually we just hear “the NFL is faster”.
February 6th, 2017 at 10:23 am
I agree Bonzai. Very interesting, I had never thought of this.
February 6th, 2017 at 12:10 pm
I hope the Bucs consider such things when they draft. Specifically how they handle their obligations and priorities. Vernon should have some valuable insight into how most of that works.
February 6th, 2017 at 12:21 pm
Guys, you forget Schiano had prior experience coaching in the NFL before coaching the Bucs.
February 6th, 2017 at 1:09 pm
And again…not be a broken record but money changes everything. A first or second year player may need a little supervision but they have AGENTS for that…dudes are taking 10 freaking %. The agents can text and coddle if their clients need it.
These are grown men doing a job. Sooner or later they have to be treated like men or they rebel…again hard to understand what part of this Schiano missed.
February 6th, 2017 at 3:41 pm
that’s why assessing a player’s love of the game is so important. Many young men with millions in the bank and lots of relative freedom to go fishing, stay out late, play video games, etc, in the many hours of the day when the aren’t scheduled for practice or meetings will lose focus or interest no matter how many future dollars are at stake. We’ve seen it in Tampa all too often. The best antidote is a guy for whom studying film, reinforcing their body, and demolishing people in practice and on sundays brings them the most joy. We seem to have more of those types on the roster than we’ve had at any point since Gruden was fired.