'Pick up the phone': Ex-coach has tips to get players noticed by NFL
Frank McCrystal retired after 40 years, most as head coach, with Regina Rams
The former coach of the Regina Rams says the key to getting Canadian university football players noticed by teams in the NFL is to actively promote those with talent.
"Pick up the phone and talk to them," Frank McCrystal said Thursday, talking about how a number of Rams players have joined the ranks of American football teams.
Among them are Jon Ryan with the Seattle Seahawks, Akiem Hicks of the Chicago Bears, Stefan Charles of the Detroit Lions, and, most recently, Brett Jones who will play for the New York Giants.
McCrystal, who retired in 2014 after 31 years as head coach of the Rams, said he felt comfortable contacting NFL teams and telling them about his players.
"What you need to do is build relationships with these people," he said, adding that he took care to never oversell a player's talent.
"You have to be credible," McCrystal said. "If a guy is only six feet [tall], don't say that he's six-four."
McCrystal also endeavoured to get his players into an all-star college game, the East-West Shrine Game. That game features top collegiate players from across the U.S. and includes two spots for Canadian players.
"We've been able to get some guys in there," McCrystal said, noting that Jason Clermont — who went on to a successful professional career in the CFL, including the Saskatchewan Roughriders — played in an East-West Shrine Game.
Competition for players
After years of experience talking with Americans, McCrystal discovered that if he could get one NFL team interested in a Regina Rams player, other teams would follow.
"It's so competitive that those other people, once they find out a guy from the [Minnesota] Vikings is talking to this kid, you're going to have a guy from the [Chicago] Bears, and then a guy from the [Green Bay] Packers and all those types of things," he said. "It's important to get them noticed."
McCrystal said the very top Canadian players, who enter the NFL, are every bit as talented as their American counterparts.
"They'd be the cream of the crop," he said of Canadians in the NFL. "Canadian guys are very, very special … most of the guys in the NFL are."
With files from CBC Radio's The Afternoon Edition