{"id":2939,"date":"2010-08-19T11:54:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T18:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2939"},"modified":"2010-08-19T11:54:46","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T18:54:46","slug":"from-blue-and-gold-to-%e2%80%9cgang-green%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2939","title":{"rendered":"From blue and gold to \u201cGang Green\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"brendan
Former Lions\u2019 wide receiver Brendan Prophett is the director of pro personnel for the New York Jets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When former TCNJ wide receiver Brendan Prophett \u201998<\/strong> used to pore over scouting reports detailing the Lions\u2019 upcoming opponents, he never imagined he\u2019d one day provide similar advice and strategies to NFL players. But thanks in part to connections he made as a student at TCNJ, Prophett does just that as the New York Jets\u2019 director of pro personnel.<\/p>\n

Prophett is responsible for evaluating Gang Green\u2019s upcoming adversaries and preparing scouting reports for players and coaches, maintaining emergency lists in case a player is injured and a replacement is needed, tracking other leagues for potential prospects, and assisting with the NFL draft.<\/p>\n

His day-to-day responsibilities often translate into many late nights at the office, but Prophett said he wouldn\u2019t trade the job for anything in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with a bunch of great people,\u201d said the former Lion. \u201cAlthough I wasn\u2019t good enough to play at this level, [scouting is] still a very competitive environment. I love coming to work each day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former economics major credits his classroom experiences with providing the \u201cproblem solving, critical thinking, [and] strategic planning\u201d skills that \u201ccome into play every day,\u201d he said. Yet he is also quick to acknowledge that his Lions football connections helped him get a foot in the door with the NFL.<\/p>\n

After Prophett graduated, Coach Eric Hamilton \u201975<\/strong> put him in touch with Terry Bradway \u201975<\/strong>, who at the time was the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 general manager. \u201cTerry and Coach Hamilton played football together at Trenton State,\u201d explained Prophett. \u201cThat was the TCNJ hookup that got me into the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bradway recommended Prophett talk with Dave Gettleman, the director of pro personnel for the New York Giants. For nearly six months Prophett hounded Gettleman trying to get an interview. \u201cI called weekly and kind of broke him down,\u201d Prophett recalled. Finally, Gettleman brought Prophett in for an interview\u2014\u201cmaybe to make me stop calling him,\u201d Prophett joked.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes into that meeting Gettleman was ready to hire the enthusiastic jobseeker. Prophett started as an intern in the Giants\u2019 college scouting department before moving into an internship with the League Office, where he worked with the NFL Management Council. In July 2000, Prophett nabbed a full-time position with the Jets.<\/p>\n

He still maintains a connection with the College, and heads back to his old stomping grounds whenever the opportunity arises, most recently for a one-day football camp last spring. \u201cI talk to coach Hamilton fairly regularly, and I try to follow the team as closely as I can through the computer and reading the papers,\u201d Prophett said.<\/p>\n

Looking back at his time here, Prophett is thankful for the opportunities that arose from his many contacts and relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Hamilton, the team, they all played a role in making me who I am today and the success I\u2019ve been able to attain,\u201d Prophett said. \u201cAll those guys were pivotal in that. I really value the time I spent there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brendan Prophett’s TCNJ connections helped him get his foot in the door with the NFL. These days, he is the New York Jets\u2019 director of pro personnel. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":2940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-september-2010"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}