Matt McGloin returns to Napa’s wine country in three weeks.
It will be the start of vintage year No. 3 as an NFL quarterback for the former Nittany Lion QB.
Napa, Calif., is the headquarters of the Oakland Raiders’ summer training camp. And like a fine wine, the 25-year-old McGloin feels he is getting better with age.
“I thought OTAs went really well. I thought mini-camp went pretty well, too,” McGloin said on Tuesday from Scranton, where he’s home a short while visiting family and friends. “I feel like I’m throwing the ball well, my timing is right on, my mechanics are good. I’m picking up the new system fairly quickly.
“Now I’m just trying to go over some of the mistakes I made in the camps and correct them, and look through the playbook each and every day. I need to make sure I am at the top of my game coming into training camp.”
McGloin has a whole new set of coaches to impress. Again. The Raiders have a new head coach in Jack Del Rio, a new offensive coordinator (Bill Musgrave) and a new quarterback coach (Todd Downing).
Dating back to when he was fighting for a starting job with Rob Bolden at Penn State in 2010, the only thing constant around McGloin has been change. But there have been many constants with McGloin – unshaken confidence, great focus, a strong work ethic and continued improvement. And, these days, maturity. By the McBuckets full.
25 COACHES AND QBs
Over the past six seasons – his last three at Penn State, where he threw for over 3,200 yards with 24 TD passes and just five picks in a historic 2012 season under Bill O’Brien, and now beginning his third in the NFL – McGloin has played for six head coaches, four offensive coordinators and five quarterback coaches. And he’s occupied the roster with 10 other quarterbacks who’ve tried to take his starting job and/or his spot on a pro roster.
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was that many,” McGloin laughed. “That’s crazy. I am the player I am today and that’s why I am entering my third (NFL) season because I’ve had so many coaches and I’ve learned so much from so many different types of people.”
McGloin’s stability in a college program rocked by scandal and a pro football team known for instability is not surprising – at least to him. The formula is simple, but anything but easy.
“The game of football is about making adjustments,” McGloin said. “As long as you’re willing to show up each and every day, and be ready and willing to make adjustments, you’ll do OK.
“Whether it’s playing with new receivers, having a new offensive line, working with a new quarterback coach or learning a whole new system under another offensive coordinator, you have to be willing to adapt and adjust – and you have to want to.”
McGloin clearly has the want to. His long and occasionally up-and-down rise at Penn State is well-chronicled. Now, still against some odds, he enters his third season of a three-year deal with the Raiders after signing with them on May 15, 2013, as an undrafted free agent. Since that time, he has seen Raider quarterbacks like Terrelle Pryor, Matt Flynn, Matt Schaub, Tyler Wilson and Trent Edwards come. And go.
Derek Carr, a rookie in 2014, is entrenched as the Raiders starter in 2015. McGloin will be battling fifth-year veteran Christian Ponder for the primary back-up spot. Nevada rookie Cody Najardo is the No. 4 quarterback on the roster. McGloin only played in one game in 2014, but performed pretty well, going 12 of 19 (62%) for 129 yards, a TD and two interceptions as he fought to bring the Raiders back from a large deficit against Miami.
In 2013, McGloin played well as an NFL rookie. In a six-game stretch over 36 days, McGloin averaged over 18 completions, 240 yards and 1.5 touchdowns per game. If there was any early doubt about McGloin’s ability to make it in the NFL, the consistency he showed in those half-dozen games erased it.
Now that he’s back to being a backup, there are no sour grapes or wrath. McGloin has taken the challenge as an opportunity.
“Look, at the end of the day I’m not 6-5, 235. I’m 6-1, 210 pounds,” McGloin said. “My thing has been that I always need to find some other kind of way to elevate my game. And the mental game has always been a strong point for me – focusing each and every day, showing up each and every day. Ready and willing to outwork anyone who is in my way. And I’ve never lost sight of that. You can’t have a day where you don’t want to practice, you don’t want to lift weights, you don’t want to watch film.”
BAY WATCH
Other than Kerry Collins, a 17-year under-rated veteran of the NFL, Penn State has had just two quarterbacks play a regular season NFL game at QB over the past 25 years – Wally Richardson (1997-99) and Kevin Thompson (2000-05). Rare company, indeed, for McGloin.
And, at a tick under a half-million dollars a year with some bona fide NFL success, McGloin is a true bargain in the rarefied NFL air. His name frequently comes up in trade rumors, as they did earlier this week in reports by FOX and ESPN. He’s used to it.
“There’s nothing I can say or do about it,” he said. “I know that today I’m an Oakland Raider and that’s where I am going to focus all of my attention. I like Oakland. I like being there, working there. The fans are great fans.”
McGloin truly has made the Bay Area his home. He is a huge Golden State Warriors fan and has been to a number of the NBA champion’s home games. “The support they get,” he says, “is unbelievable.” McGloin lives just an hour south of Napa and enjoys the wine country – in the offseason. But in three weeks, he heads over the Golden Gate Bridge for another reason. To go to work.
“I’m excited by the new staff we have – they’re making a lot of changes,” he said. Musgrave coached the Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks last season, while Downing coached the Buffalo QBs. “I’m very fortunate to have Musgrave around and to learn from him each and very day. His resume speaks for itself. I’m excited about it. You have to be excited about what you do. I love playing football, I love competing. That’s what gets me up in the morning, that’s what motivates me.
“It’s awesome. I didn’t take it for granted from the moment I stepped into the league. This is a very small window and a short time in my life where I have the opportunity to do this.”
ALL ABOUT THE REPS
McGloin will head to training camp with an offseason of workouts under his belt, as well as the fun opportunity he had to be the color analyst for the Big Ten Network’s coverage of the Blue-White Game in Beaver Stadium. In the press box, McGloin dressed a bit like Beckham and sounded a bit like Aikman. And he’d like to do it again.
“It was one of the more difficult things I’ve ever done,” he said. “You have to talk about something every second, which can be difficult. But it was a great experience. I enjoyed it. It got easier as it went along. It’s like playing the quarterback position. You get better with reps.”
And for McGloin, it’s been 779 days of reps as an NFL quarterback. And counting.
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