re: What gets a guy to the NFL? (Nature vs Nurture)

Coaching only gets you so far, imo. Same with nature, honestly. If you look at NFL players they all have the genetic potential to develop the kind of bodies the NFL requires. Of all the guys with this DNA, of the ones who actually play in HS, excel, work out, and get enough exposure to get into football schools that is your pool of possibles. Coaching certainly helps at that point, but if you have ever seen anyone associated with the NFL talk about what it takes to make the next step, whether it's players, coaches, scouts, management, whatever, all of them say the same things. The guys in the league are not the most gifted athletes, they are the hardest workers at every level. That's character, not nature or nurture. The one exception is probably QB's, I believe a great quarterback is born, not made. They have arm talent, vision, an ability to focus and think under high stress and most importantly the great ones are wired as pure predators. They see the whole field as their property, the guys on their team and the opposing defense as pawns to be dominated and used, and when the opening is there they consider it theirs by right and take it without hesitation. You can't really coach that attitude. Mechanics, reading defenses, conditioning, you can coach that but not the attitude.