Last week, when I left you a post about my client, Richard Dickson, you guys came at me with some great questions, so I figured I'd stop on by again to give you a couple more posts about your new addition to the Lions - one today, and another tomorrow. ...Yup -- That's right -- TWO posts!  After all... Everyone knows how us agents like to talk about our clients for hours on end, right (Hehe ;-)

So -- Without further adeau -- Here I go...

Richard has something that a lot of people DON'T have, and certainly can't be coached: the will to succeed.  I know that might sound cliche to say, but it's true.  I'll take that statement to my grave and still preach it as truth!  You can't coach the degree of ambitious aspiration Richard has; you can't gain it by lifting weights it; you can't time it at the combine; it's simply something you cannot physically package.  It's in your heart, and Richard's is beating outta control.

Beyond his will to succeed, here are some other noteworthy points about my boy, Dickson...

• Richard is the type of guy who shows up to work early and leaves late.  That quality, alone, says a lot about the man's work ethic.
• The guy is 250 pounds, yet he ran a 4.7 and 4.8 forty yard dash at LSU's Pro Day.  I'd say that's pretty dang impressive.
• He runs GREAT routes.
• HE WILL, as a freshman, outwork A LOT of the people around him.
• Because Coach Jim Schwartz is a no-nonsense kind of guy, Richard (who's the same way) is gonna bond perfectly with him.  
• Little known fact: At this year's East / West Shrine Game, Richard's team didn't have any full backs on the squad, so they asked him to fill their gap.  He had never played full back in his life, yet, during that game, he played it like it was his primary position!  Really -- I'm not exageratting.
...I could go on and on about what impresses me about Richard, but I'll go ahead and stop right there with the bullet points ;-)

 

Lots of scouts said Richard was too small to be playing tight end in college, but - as evidenced by the success he's had, so far - he proved the naysayers wrong.  One of my other clients, Kyle Wiliams (Buffalo Bills), was also told by scouts that he was too small to play his position (defensive tackle) in the NFL, but look at what he did last season... Despite missing four games due to an injury, he still managed to lead all defensive linemen in tackles!  The NFL recognized how ridiculously impressive that feat was and selected him to be a Pro Bowl alternate! ...You see what I'm getting at?  Scouts truly are talented at what they do, but they're not always right.  This is why, when I'm recruiting, I'll trust my own judgement, as well as the opinions of others who are especially tight with a prospect, before I'll put a ton of trust in a scout's analysis.  Sure, a scout's opinion can be very valuable, but, sometimes, you just gotta go with your gut, ya know.

If there's one thing to learn from all my ramblin' here, as well as all the ramblin' I'll do tomorrow, it's that you shouldn't negatively judge a player just because he went undrafted.  Hell... If it weren't for undrafted players, I'd probably be blogging about Richard right now as a fan, instead of as his agent (of course, not that there's anything wrong with simply being fan - I'm one of those, too ;-)

I'll talk with y'all tomorrow!

UPDATE: I know I said I'd get back to you with Part 2 on Friday, but I gotta hold off till Monday.  Thanks for understanding ;-)

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