When Scott Tolzien joined the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted rookie in 2011, John Ramsdell, the team’s quarterbacks coach at the time, gave him his usual new-player talk.
The gist was that not a lot of players get a shot at the NFL, and though he wasn’t advising Tolzien to have no life outside of football, he emphasized that every minute spent doing something else would do nothing to help him play in the NFL.
Ramsdell probably could have skipped his spiel. Though the ’11 undrafted rookies couldn’t sign with their teams until late July after the NFL lockout, Tolzien by the end of camp had won over most of his coaches and teammates with his boundless appetite for work on and off the field.
...
Pete Dougherty  wrote: