2021 Scouting Staff Announced
REESE’S SENIOR BOWL ANNOUNCES 2021 SCOUTING STAFF
Veteran staff brings 120 years of NFL experience to nation’s premiere all-star game
Mobile, AL – The Reese’s Senior Bowl, the nation’s premiere college all-star game that showcased 41 percent of the 2021 NFL draft, is excited to announce player personnel staff additions in preparation for the 73rd annual game that kicks off at 1:30 p.m. CT at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama on Saturday February 5, 2022.
The veteran scouting staff assembled for this year’s game cycle, which has a collective 120 years of NFL front office, coaching, and playing experience, will consist of Andy Dengler, Mark Ellenz, Ryan Jones, Steve Kazor, Terrance Metcalf, Chris Watts, and Brian Zeches.
“We are extremely excited about adding this group of proven talent evaluators to our Reese’s Senior Bowl team. It is hard to imagine there is a more experienced group of college scouts in the NFL than this one,” says Jim Nagy, Reese’s Senior Bowl Executive Director. “Among our top priorities each year is to bring credibility and transparency to the player selection process and adding another well-connected group of scouts helps us accomplish that for our 2022 game. The pandemic restricted our overall scouting process last year, so we look forward to getting back on the road this fall for live game evaluations each week during the college season.”
- Andy Dengler- Dengler spent all 23 of his NFL seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, including the past eight years as assistant director of player personnel. Since his appointment to national scout in 2009, Dengler was responsible for scouting the top collegiate players throughout the country and he also served as a key member of the NFL Combine selection committee. Previously, he served as an assistant head coach, offensive line coach and defensive backfield coach at St. Joseph’s College (Ind.) from 1992-95 and was the offensive coordinator, interim head coach and offensive line coach at Tiffin University from 1990-92. Dengler graduated with a degree in history from Heidelberg College and received his master’s in secondary education from Bowling Green University.
- Mark Ellenz- Ellenz has 20 years of NFL scouting experience, including the past eight seasons as director of college scouting for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Previously, he served as the Jaguars eastern regional cross-check scout after joining the team in May 2013. Ellenz spent the previous 12 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. He joined the Colts in January 2001 and served five seasons as a scouting asssistant and the final seven seasons as the team’s southeast area scout. Before joining Indianapolis, he was an assistant DB coach at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2000. He graduated from Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2001 with a master’s degree in sports administration. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas in 1998, where he was a three-year letterman at strong safety.
- Ryan Jones- Jones has 16 years of NFL experience as an area and regional scout for the New York Football Giants, including being a part of two Super Bowl Championships. Before joining the Giants, he served as a graduate assistant coach at Minnesota and went on to coach defensive backs at the University of New Hampshire and College of the Holy Cross. As a player, he was a captain and all-conference selection at New Hampshire and finished his career with 15 interceptions. Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and holds a master’s in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
- Steve Kazor- Kazor brings a 50-year football resume to this year’s Reese’s Senior Bowl staff, including 30 seasons in the National Football League. He spent the past 14 years as a member of the Los Angeles Rams scouting staff, where he scouted 35 rookie free agents that made the active roster. His previous NFL experience came on the coaching side, where he coached the Detroit Lions (1994-1996) and Chicago Bears (1982-1992). During his time with the Bears, Kazor served as ST coach for one of the most dominant teams in league history, the Super Bowl XX champion ’85 Bears. At the college level, he served in a variety of roles, including head coaching stops at Iowa Wesleyan (1993), McPherson (1998-1999), and Wayne State (2000-2003). Kazor was a four-year letterman at Westminster College, where is received his bachelor’s degree, and he later earned a master’s degree from Kansas State.
- Terrence Metcalf- Metcalf had a productive 7-year NFL playing career with the Chicago Bears, who selected him in the third round of the 2002 draft after a stellar collegiate career at Ole Miss. The 2002 Senior Bowl alum was twice named first-team All-SEC and earned first-team All-American honors as a senior. After his playing days were over, Metcalf coached at both Oxford HS and Pearl River Community College in his home state of Mississippi. Metcalf was a part of the Senior Bowl Scout School program in 2019 and had game week responsibilities as a position group leader the past two years.
- Chris Watts- Watts spent the past 16 years in the National Football League as a member of the New York Giants scouting staff. His time with the Giants included three years as a college scouting intern, nine years as the club’s BLESTO combine scout, and the final five years as southwest area scout. Before joining the Giants, Watts spent two years as an offensive line graduate assistant at his alma mater, Langston University. He earned four letters in football and one in track at Langston, where he earned both his undergraduate degree in business administration-management in 1998 and master’s in education in 2006. Watts is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
- Brian Zeches- Zeches worked eight years in the NFL, including the past seven as the personnel coordinator/pro scout for the Washington Football Team. In his role with WFT, Zeches handled responsibilities on both the pro and college sides of the football operation. His other NFL experience came as a scouting assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012. Zeches’ background also includes two years as the running backs coach at Weber State, as well as graduate assistant positions at University of New Mexico and UTEP. Zeches began his college playing career at Illinois before transferring to Idaho State, where he played quarterback for three years.
Media Contact: Dave Rogers (251) 445-6260 or dave@seniorbowl.com
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