Tuesday's With Bryan

Well most of you know that my favorite sport is college football.  If you know that then you also probably know that I'm also a fan of the BYU Cougars too.  Well this past week I was able to catch up with Bryan Kehl who was a former cougar.  Here is his bio from the BYU website to all of his stats.  He is revered in the eyes of many cougar fans as one of the best to play at BYU.  It was a great honor and privilege of mine to catch up with one of my heroes.  After his time at BYU Bryan went on and was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2008 NFL draft going in the 4th round.  He played with them for 2 seasons before being released by them in his third.  He would be picked up by the St. Louis Rams where he has found a comfortable home for now and hopefully for a long time.

I was able to catch up with the 4 year NFL pro and talk to him about his recruitment process and how things have changed.  I asked him about his recruitment process and what teams tried to recruit him.  He told me that the only teams that really showed any interest were the University of Utah, Harvard, and BYU, but that BYU was the only one that he ever really wanted to go to.  I asked him how things have changed over the years for recruiting with the implementing of social media.  Bryan told me that its changed it a ton.  The biggest thing is that it gives kids a lot more exposure in getting their film out to coaches.  It was harder for kids like him to get noticed by some of the big name programs, the local ones heard about him but not some of the bigger ones.  The internet age has changed how coaches and players do the recruiting process.  It makes it possible for more schools to see you but if you're not careful (i.e. Facebook and Twitter comments) they can also hurt you really fast.

When asked about the rules that the Rams have for using social media he referred me to the NFL policy which states:

"The growth of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has created important new ways for the NFL and clubs to communicate and connect with fans.  The NFL has been at the forefront of the use of new media and will continue to emphasize innovative and appropriate use of these new forms of communication."

"League policy allows for the use of social media or networking sites (including Twitter and Facebook) by players, coaches and football operations personnel up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game following media interviews.

The use of these sites by these individuals is not permitted during the game, including halftime.  No updates are permitted to be posted by the individual himself or anyone representing him during this prohibited time on his personal Twitter, Facebook or any other social media account."

Bryan summed it up by saying "Just be smart with it, don't put anything offensive out there for people to read."


I guess that being in the NFL is just like every other job.  You have to be careful with what you post on  the internet or it could get you fired.