Heading into Week 3 of College Football, we are joined by a repeat visitor in Carina Hargreaves - Director of On-Campus Recruiting for Georgia Tech!

In her last appearance on Up Close In Personnel for Episode 12 - "Inside The Process Of Coordinating Campus Visits", Carina talked through her personal journey in the world of college football, her football background and how she approaches setting up recruiting visits! This week, we briefly touched on her training camp internship with the Cardinals and honed in on what all goes into a GAMEDAY recruiting visit. It was a fun episode to record, we broke down what coaches and recruiters should be paying attention to during the interactions with recruits and their families, and so much more!

Please be sure to like, share, retweet and respond with what you liked from the show, and stay tuned for more from Up Close In Personnel!

Lastly, you can find and follow Carina on Twitter at @CarinaH_GT!

Week 1 across the country is HERE for college football! This week we're joined by my good friend, Bryan Carrington - Offensive Quality Control Analyst with the USC Fighting Trojans!

Since his last appearance on the show for Episode 1 - "Building Relationships with College Recruiters", Bryan made the move from recruiting at UT to coaching running backs at USC in Los Angeles! We discuss how he made the move, how he's advanced his football knowledge through interning with the Rams and the growth he's experienced along the way! It's a great episode for coaches and recruiters alike, especially when it comes to working cohesively as a staff!

Please be sure to like, share, retweet and respond with what you liked from the show, and stay tuned for more from Up Close In Personnel!

It's fall camp for football teams across the country (and games have started for some high school teams as well)! With that being the case, I decided to bring in my first scouting mentor - Russ Lande to talk about his scouting process!

Notes for the next couple of episodes will be sparse due to the business of this time, but this is one episode you'll need a pen and paper nearby! We talk through Russ' approach to teaching the art of scouting, how he evaluates practices, his thoughts on organizational culture, and much more on the evaluation process!

Please be sure to like, share, retweet and hit me back with what you learned from the show!

Joining the show this week, Zach Brandon with the Diamondbacks breaks down his job as the Mental Skills Coordinator and unpacks what his role is in the team building process.

From the selection process in the MLB Draft to on-boarding and player development, Zach explains why mental skills are more important than ever to identify, train and develop. Physical ability sets the bar of what we can achieve, but mental skills are what allow us to reach peak performance and how consistent we are able to do so!

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording! Please share from whatever platform you're tuning in from, let us know what you took away from Zach & be sure to follow him on Twitter at @MVP_Mindset!

We've all known that NIL rules would be coming into effect for quite some time and now that the time has arrived here in July of 2021, I figured it was time to bring in an expert to weigh in!

For those unfamiliar, NIL (which stands for "name, image and likeness") now allows athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness in ways previously not allowed. Players are able to seek marketing representation or advisory, participate in marketing or branding off their own likeness, open a business, start a camp or clinic, or engage in non-profit activity.

It's a big step in the right direction in allowing athletes to prepare themselves for the real world, but there needs to be education to avoid potential pitfalls.

That's where someone like our guest, Luke Fedlam comes in for support. He's had over 15 years of experience working with professional athletes in representing (or protecting as he says throughout the episode) their marketing interests. On the show, Luke brings valuable insight on defining what the rules are today, trends through the first month of NIL and lessons on what to look for in contracts.

The Timeline:

5:00 - "This is what I wanted" & Luke's Passion for NIL

9:15 - Luke's "Aha" Moment for NIL Education

13:00 - "Without using your job title, who are you?"

19:40 - Branding Advice: Character & Authenticity

25:00 - Defining NIL & What It Means

28:50 - Early Trends in the First Month of NIL

35:34 - The Role of Athletic Departments, Compliance and Advisors in NIL Education

41:46 - Lessons Learned from Zion Williamson's Contract

48:36 - Wanting to be President of the US as a kid

To find and follow Luke Fedlam's work, check him out on Twitter at @LukeFedlam! Also, the interview by Columbus CEO that was referenced in this episode can be found at the following link - "In the new world of NIL, Luke Fedlam guides athletes on money, deals and the future"!

Thank you for taking time to listen, please let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating!

Stepping to the stage this week is one of the most inspiring people you will meet. Jake Langi may appear on the peripheral to just be another recruiting analyst at a blue-blood, power-five program.

That blanket statement could not be further from the truth. Overcoming setbacks after high school, serious health concerns following the birth of his son, to being overlooked while at Texas State, Jake kept his head down and did the lonely work it takes to "make it".

In this episode, you hear how Jake established credibility for himself at Texas State as an undergraduate assistant, working odd jobs throughout his time in school, and how he's navigated the most recent coaching change at the University of Texas.

It's one word - "value". Networking, as he referenced in the interview, is transactional. That is to say, "What can you do for me?"

Without spilling too much of the episode, we talk through the value Jake brings to Texas, to his fellow colleagues, and how important family is to him. Jake truly has a heart of gold and UT is fortunate to have such a genuine person on their front lines of recruiting!

As always, please let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating!

To find and follow Jake, check him out on Instagram and Twitter at @JakeLangi!

Joined by nobody but yours truly, I decided to take a solo venture for my return episode in recapping a busy, wild and fun month of June recruiting!

Now on episode 50 of the show, eclipsing 10,000 downloads and heading into a brief summer break, this was my way of letting you all inside my mind for once. From talking through the context of how unique and rare this time period has been, to the inner workings of unofficial visits, official visits, camps and more, I hope that this week's edition gives you insight to develop as a coach/-0pppppsewascout/recruiter or learn more about the process as a prospective recruit!

Moving forward, we will return to our traditional format of bringing guests onto the show but this is my way of giving back to you all and I hope you enjoy listening! Send me any and all questions you had while listening, and I look forward to continuing to push out content on evaluation, recruiting and team building topics!!! You can find me on twitter at @alexm_brown or email the show at UpCloseInPersonnel@gmail.com!

Joined this week by one of my former players - Brandon Wilson, a kick returner extraordinaire and defensive back for the Cincinnati Bengals - we talk through his football career to date and walks through pivotal moments along his journey.

Becoming a father during the pandemic and fighting to prove his worth to the Bengals in the final year of his rookie contract, we started out by discussing the challenges and stresses that the 2020 season brought.

More than anything, Brandon simply cares about other people. Whether that's being close to his family and keeping them healthy, or looking out for his teammates, the conversation always deflected praise to others. I really have a ton of respect for this young man and it was a blast to talk through his early days in the game, high school recruiting process, college experience and current NFL day-to-day grind.

Something I wanted to harp on was Brandon's overall character and getting a glimpse into his mindset, as it's important to be able to recognize high character, high performers when you see them.

Here are some key qualities of Brandon that I wanted to highlight from our conversation:

1. Be coachable

• "I never talked back to a coach." Always the first in line and attentive to detail, Brandon takes pride in how coachable he is as a player.

2. Put the team first

• No matter what position he was put in, Brandon only wanted to be the best teammate he could be and help his team succeed.

3. Do the right things off the field

• "We all know what's right. Just make the right decision." This one is self-explanatory, but as a collegiate athlete (and now NFL athlete) the spotlight shines brightest on you. The same can be applied for coaches and scouts alike.

4. Commit to recovery

• That looks like long contrast baths, eating healthy (no fried food or pork for B-Wil) and 8 hours of sleep. To perform at a high level, you've got to focus on keeping yourself healthy and rejuvenated (both as an athlete and as a coach)

With camp season right around the corner and recruits getting ready to step foot on college campuses, I felt it would be timely to have someone with an elite mindset like B-Wil to talk shop with! Let me know what you thought of the show and don't forget to leave a review after you drop that 5-star rating!

To find and follow Brandon Wilson, check him out on Instagram and Twitter at @ItsBWilson_!