To go to the next level, you have to be special, and I look for those special qualities in those players, those qualities that I think will translate to the NFL.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think to be a great quarterback, you have to have a great leadership, great attention to detail, and a relentless competitive nature. And that's what I try to bring to the table, and I have a long way to go. I'm still learning, and I'm still on a constant quest for knowledge.
All of us that have teams want to pick the right people. I've thought a lot about that. In the NFL, we've got 13 scouts traveling the country. We're trying to pick 22 year-olds coming out of college who will be successful in the NFL. It's very hard to do. What I've learned is it's always character first.
I have always been an outstanding football player, I have always had uncanny abilities, great arm strength, an immense ability to play the game from a quarterback standpoint. The problem was that I wasn't given the liberty to do certain things when I was young.
If you're the quarterback and want to be the best on the field, you've got to act like it.
If you can have a really good coaching staff, and you can have a really good young quarterback and do a really good job in player personnel and string together multiple successful drafts, your window is not small in the NFL because of the quarterback.
I think if you're a good high school player that you have the ability to be a good college football player. If you're a good college football then you have the ability to be a great NFL player.
It's not about talent once you get to the NFL because everyone's got it. It's about being willing to go that extra mile to be the best and that's something that I've always done.
I look at the NFL and see how the transition has gone at quarterback. I might be coming along at a good time. For me personally, this is about doing the same thing I've been doing at USF - just smile, have fun, enjoy the experience, keep a positive attitude and encourage my teammates. I like to feed off the people around me.
I've been around enough to know what it takes to get a team to reach its potential, and I want players who want to reach their potential.
You have to be able to do everything as a quarterback, and that's not necessarily taking care of your job but making sure you're preparing everyone else to go out and play well. And make sure you have them in the right mindset when they step on the field.
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