My biggest concern with Matt Corral is not his play but more of a character question….

I have studied Ole Miss quarterback (QB) Matt Corral and if I am an NFL general manager who is considering him, this is my number one question. 

Corral absolutely has the skill set to be a successful franchise QB at the next level. I love the kid on game film and I do not love many of these players. I am perhaps the hardest grader in football. Corral is the best QB I have seen in this draft class out of Malik Willis, Sam Howell, Kenny Pickett, Tyler Shough, Kedon Slovis, JT Daniels and Spencer Rattler. I also think he is far more pro-ready than QB’s Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson or Trey Lance in this past draft class. 

My question circles around his background and what is going on with him from the neck up. 

While film study is ultra important, there is more that goes into the overall evaluating process of a prospect.  Background research has just as much to do with it when a team is considering making a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment into a player. 

A lot more goes into it before making someone the face of your franchise. 

In the day we are living in, the Internet and social media are an investigator’s best friend and being a scout is like being a investigator. Every play on game film serves as a clue, as does everything on the Internet and social media. Agents and prospect’s families do their best to clean that up as we get closer to the draft (by deleting stuff), but it is still out there if you go looking for it. All you have to do is type in, “Matt Corral background,” in Google and begin. 

I looked into Matt Corral’s background and this is what I found:

I found a story that TMZ broke about when Corral got into a fight with Wayne Gretsky’s kid, Tristian while attending a prestigious upscale $30,000 a year tuition high school. 

“We’re told there was tension brewing between the two for a while and it came to a head at the basketball game. Corral transferred out of Oaks Christian (where Wayne Gretsky is said to be a big financial supporter) days after the incident and posted on Twitter that the school was ‘biased towards money,'” TMZ reported. 

It also said in the article by Corral’s mother that Matt “wanted to leave for a while.” 

Then I stumbled upon another article where Corral was doing a Q&A (click here to read) 

Q: Favorite Superhero?

A: I’d have to go with Superman because he actually has super powers. Unlike the smart, rich kids.  

Q: What’s your favorite thing about Long Beach?

A: The diversity. There’s a lot of down to earth people here. Being around those type of people is good for me. 

Q: If you could live in any city in the world, which would it be? 

A: New York. I’ve never been there and I want to live in a penthouse overlooking the city. That’s my dream. 

So, based on these documented statements, it does not sound like Corral has an issue with having money, but he does have an issue with those who have it around him.  

I also did background work on Corral on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook was a lot more revealing than his Twitter account that only goes back to 2019. His Facebook goes back to to 2011. 

Twice within three months in 2017, Corral posted a video about “privilege.”

This is not just one-off slip of the tongue or something that came out in the heat of the moment. This is a clear and consistent demonstrated pattern of behavior by Corral. This is a red-flag in scouting. 

Does Corral have a problem with those who are just given wealth (by rich parents) and/or does he have a problem with those who earn it? 

Can Corral get along with people who are rich? 

This is a critical question to answer before the 2022 NFL Draft, because everyone is wealthy in the NFL.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated Detroit Lions and he is a contributing evaluator for Draft Diamonds. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @danielkellybook and his Facebook page is WHATEVER IT TAKES NFL TALK.