It.
It’s what all sports teams look for when contemplating potential draft choices.
Sure, skill and talent and intelligence and experience all matter, but what seems to separate the elite from the rest is the “it” factor.
Well, what exactly is it?
A quality that’s not tangible. A characteristic that’s not describable. A desirable that’s not definable.
It is the unseen – a trait that cannot be measured with a stop watch or scale.
It is a blanket term used when something we cannot explain is in the air surrounding an athlete.
It, simply, is reserved for those who perform at a special level for reasons that nobody can quite grasp.
A player needs something beyond mere skill. Something that draws scouts and general managers and coaches to a player. Something that tells decision makers “those players are good, but this one is special.”
Last year when current Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson was entering the NFL Draft, he was not an elite prospect. He didn’t make anyone drool while projecting his potential. He had talent, but not enough to wow you; athleticism that was on the charts and not off it. And he was deemed too short for the NFL game.
But guess what he did have? He had it.
Former NFL coach and current Monday Night Football announcer Jon Gruden said “I think last year Russell Wilson had the ‘it’ factor unlike any quarterback I’ve met. His intangibles weren’t excellent; they were off-the-chart excellent.”
The it in Wilson’s case meant he had won in college, played at two universities, played minor league baseball, and overcome the obstacle of his pedestrian height. And he won on the big NFL stage despite all doubters.
Funny that nobody talked about Tom Brady having the it factor when he came into the NFL as the 199th draft pick in 2000. Nobody noticed his intangibles then. But when he got a chance to play in the NFL (only because of an injury to starter Drew Bledsoe), Brady showed he was great. When he won a few Super Bowls, critics saw that he had that it factor.
Well, when did it show up? Did he acquire it out of nowhere? A deal with the devil, perhaps?
No. All he had done was perform surprisingly well given that he was universally deemed a blah prospect. How can we explain this? He probably learned a lot while on the bench, practiced hard, and, oh yeah, he must have had that it thing that allows for such greatness.
The key attribute that appears in all of those players deemed to have the it factor is winning, preferably through some sort of adversity. Wilson won despite his height. Brady won despite being a mediocre prospect.
These it people need enough skill to perform well, that’s for sure. They need to be able to lead a team. Most importantly, however, they need to have that special it aura around them that says that they will win no matter what.
It’s hard to project and predict because usually it’s only discernible once a player wins on the grandest stage, but that certainly won’t stop scouts from trying to discover it in a player before anyone else.
We don’t know exactly what it is, but we certainly know it when we see it.
The one thing we can be sure of is when the NFL Draft starts at 8 p.m., the eyes of coaches, owners, general managers, and fans will all be looking for it.