I've always been fascinated by the process of how coaches become experts, teaching kids an element of a sport that they may have had minimal experience actually playing themselves. For instance, one of the coaches who has a huge rep as a QB "guru" played offensive line in college (Norm Chow); another didn't play in college at all (Charlie Weis). Tennessee's Jim Chaney, who helped groom Drew Brees and has a very specific technical checklist he considers when evaluating QBs, was a college nose guard. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, regarded as one of the game's top O-line coaches, played linebacker at UConn. Obviously their wisdom wasn't developed overnight or even in weeks or months -- but sometimes, for coaches, it has to be.
To read more about the unique path of Jason Eck, as well as tons of news and notes from around college football, you must be an ESPN Insider.
Bruce Feldman | email
College FootballABOUT THIS BLOG
Bruce Feldman
Bruce Feldman is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He started at ESPN in 1994. He spent a good portion of two years in the South working on his book, "Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting."
His first book, "Cane Mutiny: How the Miami Hurricanes Overturned the Football Establishment," made it to No. 1 among sports titles in the fall of 2004.
Bruce can be reached via Twitter at @BFeldmanESPN. and his full ESPN.Com archives are located here.
