Kendall Futrell, East Carolina Football News: Draft Scout Player News

05/15/20 - OLB Kendall Futrell, Sr/2020, East Carolina

Kendall Futrell spent most of his East Carolina football career studying an actual physical playbook and having to physically be in the Ward Sports Medicine Building to watch game film. He entered the National Football League a few weeks ago as a Cincinnati Bengals rookie not only in a typical high-tech environment, but one that was amped up even more into a completely virtual professional lifestyle during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bengals held a full-team Zoom meeting on Monday. Futrell soaked in that experience and everything else that has followed this week while living in Greenville. "It's all on the iPad, so I'm able to watch film and see the playbook and pretty much do everything I need," said Futrell, a 6-foot-2, 226-pound pass rusher projected as an outside linebacker at the pro level, who was signed by Cincinnati as an undrafted free agent the same night the NFL draft was completed on April 25.

"That has been really cool, because it's my first time with that type of thing. At ECU, we had paper playbooks and you actually had to come in the building to watch film until like last year. It's definitely cool to have everything on an iPad right there when you need it." The entire experience already has been unique for Futrell, who also graduated from South Central High School in 2016 and made one start as a freshman for the Pirates that same year. "It's definitely different and kind of hard to explain," he said. "It definitely feels real, but it just doesn't feel all the way real yet. I'm ready to get up there physically and start practicing and really meeting people face-to-face and that kind of thing. That's when I'll feel like it's 100 percent real." - Daily Reflector

Sr/2020