So, the other day I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole looking into Calvin Bell III. Don’t ask me exactly why, sometimes you just see a name or a clip and think, “Huh, let me check this guy out a bit more.”
Fired up the laptop, obviously. Started with the basic searches, you know, the usual stuff. Pulled up stats pages, read a few short bios. Standard procedure. Then I thought, okay, let’s see some action. Went looking for game footage.
Found plenty of highlights, of course. The big plays always make the reels. Fast guy, definitely saw that. But I wanted to get a better feel for the regular plays, the stuff between the highlights. That’s where it got a bit tricky.
Finding consistent, uncut footage of specific players, especially if they aren’t superstars, is tougher than you’d think.
I spent a good chunk of time trying to piece things together from broadcast replays and whatever fan-uploaded clips I could find. Trying to see routes, blocking, how he moved off the ball. It wasn’t exactly scientific, more like squinting at the screen and rewinding a lot.
My Little Investigation Log
- Okay, speed is evident. That jumps out right away.
- Tried to watch his blocking on run plays. Honestly, the camera angles make it hard to tell consistently what his assignment was or how well he executed it.
- Stats give you numbers, sure. But watching, you see things that don’t show up there. Little hesitations, maybe, or good positioning that didn’t result in a catch.
It kind of made me realize how much we don’t see just watching games on TV or looking at a box score. You think you know what a player does, but getting the full picture? That takes serious effort, probably access to All-22 footage which I definitely don’t have just sitting here.
Spent way more time on it than I initially planned. Didn’t exactly come away with some earth-shattering analysis, more just an appreciation for how hard it is to truly evaluate players from the outside. It’s mostly guesswork based on fragments. A good reminder that there’s always more going on than meets the eye, I suppose. Anyway, that was my little project for the afternoon.
