The Cowboys saw something in Eric Scott Jr., something that spurred them to trade up to the first selection of the sixth round on Saturday to make sure they got the Southern Mississippi cornerback.
Maybe it was his 6-foot size and his wingspan of over 80 inches. Or his nearly 40-inch vertical or his 11-foot-plus broad jump at the school’s pro day. Maybe it was his lights-out performance (five tackles, one pick-six) in an upset win over Tulane last September. Perhaps it was the way he impressed coaches and scouts at the Shrine Bowl, going up against Power Five receivers and shutting them down. By all accounts, his 30 visit to The Star certainly didn’t hurt.
Or maybe it was the video he posted to YouTube and then sent to Dan Quinn.
The 24-year-old corner is thankful for the opportunity Dallas has given him, even if he had to go to extreme measures to get it.
After a college career that took him from Illinois State to Butler Community College to Southern Miss, Scott wasn’t invited to either the Senior Bowl or the NFL scouting combine. Things had started to click for him with the Golden Eagles, but following his super-senior season in Hattiesburg, he wasn’t exactly a hot commodity in pre-draft rankings and projections. Dane Brugler of The Athletic spotlighted 46 college corners in his exhaustive draft guide with full-blown profiles; Scott came in 60th and got a one-line entry.
And then during his pro day, he pulled a quad muscle, spoiling his 40 time and taking him out of DB drills.
So after he recovered, he and his agent took matters into their own hands. They hired a videographer, hit Scott’s high school field in the Kansas City area for a full slate of defensive back workouts and drills, and put the video on YouTube.
They also sent it to Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn shortly before draft weekend.
Scott had gotten a good feeling about the Cowboys during his 30 visit, saying he had “fallen in love” as he toured the facility and met with coaches and staff.
“It was amazing. I was able to meet Mr. [Jerry] Jones and go all the way from the top to the bottom and learn about the culture that Dallas has, the one I’m about to buy into and contribute to. It was just all so surreal. I had ideas [about Dallas], but I never knew it’s as great as it is,” he told reporters during his introductory conference call.
“When I was out there for my visits, I was paying attention to how people interacted with each other and when I was at Dallas the interactions even just between the support staff and the coaches and the players, it’s all a family environment. Everybody loves everybody, and I want to be a part of that.”
Scott apparently made a similar impression on the coaching staff. Defensive backs coach Al Harris came away from that visit a big fan of the Kansas native.
“Everybody I talked to,” Harris said, “I’d tell them, ‘I want to coach this guy.'”
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
There’s plenty to like, including that aforementioned height and massive wingspan. But Scott’s film also shows a very physical style of play to go along with ballhawking skills that call to mind a current Cowboys corner with a nose for the football.
“I’ve had coaches that coached me for a long time tell me,” Scott explained, “if the ball was in the air, it’s not a 50/50 ball, it’s our ball.”
That’s the same mentality that Trevon Diggs plays with, and when Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay saw Scott’s YouTube video, it confirmed for him what the scouting department already suspected: Scott might make an excellent complement to Diggs in the back end of the Dallas defense.
Now Scott will have a chance to actually learn behind Diggs, as well as five-time Pro Bowler Stephon Gilmore. Along with Jourdan Lewis, DaRon Bland, Nahshon Wright, and Kelvin Joseph, he’ll look to put those skills to work as part of a Cowboys secondary that’s tied for the league lead in interceptions over the past two seasons.
“You’ve been through the fire,” Quinn told Scott during the phone call to tell him he was about to be drafted, “and you’ve come out the other way as a strong, tough-ass competitor, man. We can’t wait to coach you, bro.”
And so the Cowboys didn’t wait to draft him, dealing a 2024 fifth-round pick to move to No. 178 to get him, possibly before one of the other teams he had visited- Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Minnesota, and New Orleans- did.
Now Scott plans on making that trade worthwhile for the Cowboys.
“I’m just extremely blessed to be in this position,” Scott told 105.3 The Fan shortly after talking with the war room. “I’ve got tears rolling down my face at the moment. I’m just thankful that God has even allowed me to make it this far.”
Just a little farther, and Eric Scott Jr. will have turned being a YouTube star into wearing the Cowboys star.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[mm-video type=video id=01gzefax90bw01dw4p77 playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gzefax90bw01dw4p77/01gzefax90bw01dw4p77-5b6dc2a0d9d9571ccea98449431980ef.jpg]
[lawrence-newsletter]