The Super Bowl is now two days away. As the nation gathers around their television sets, there will be many football coaches and scouts who watch Brock Purdy slingshot completions and wonder, “What did I miss?” But not Dave Boller.
To get the inside story on Purdy’s rise, the “Go Long Show” welcomes on the longtime football scout who most certainly was a believer from Day 1.
Boller knew the Purdy family as an Arizona guy himself and he tried to tell schools that the kid had it. Now, the lightning-fast processor has the San Francisco 49ers on the doorstep of Ring No. 6.
Our personnel man, co-host Jim Monos, worked with Boller on the Philadelphia Eagles personnel staff. Boller is a well-traveled man. He spent two decades in the NFL, scouting for the Buccaneers (1995- ‘98), Eagles (1998- ‘04) and Rams (2004- ‘07), before working as the Lions’ assistant pro director (2007- ‘09), consulting NFC teams (2010- ‘12) and joining the Jets as an area scout (2012- ‘14). From there, he headed to the college ranks. Boller spent the 2015 and 2016 seasons in Louisville. First as director of on-campus recruiting, then as director of high school relations. He had a front-row seat to Lamar Jackson’s ascent.
Then, it was off to Syracuse where Boller was the director of player personnel 2007- ‘22.
Boller is the head of personnel for the St. Louis Battlehawks of the UFL today.
He tried to convince Dino Babers to give Purdy a shot, but the Syracuse coach didn’t believe. (Babers wasn’t alone, either.)
The revisionist history on Purdy gives Boller a chuckle.
We get into everything and I swear that ‘Cuse crew you see on camera was at the top of the pile, a total coincidence.
Boller, an open book, details why he had such conviction on Purdy, shares Jackson stories from Louisville — what did colleges miss here, too? — and takes you all the way back to the Philadelphia Eagles’ draft meetings ahead of selecting Donovan McNabb over Ricky Williams in 1999. They knew they’d be crucified by fans, and warned McNabb accordingly.
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Still to come:
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Super Bowl Predictions
Go Long Show: Meet the man who believed in Brock Purdy