By John RittenhouseMonti Ossenfort is not a superstitious man, but he now believes there’s a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time.In Ossenfort’s case, the right place for him to be was serving an internship with the Personnel Department for the National Football League’s New England Patriots last year.It was the Patriots who defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in an exciting Super Bowl last February.And Ossenfort, who was at Houston’s Reliant Stadium when New England kicker Adam Vinitari kicked the winning field goal late in the game, became a part of the celebration that goes along with winning a world championship."It was a great game," Ossenfort said. "We (Monti, and some other members of the New England Personnel Department) were sitting 10 rows off the field, right in the same end zone the winning field goal was kicked. I guess you could say it was a great time and a great year to be a member of the Patriots."Although Ossenfort’s position with the club would be unnoticed by the most avid Patriot fans, he was not overlooked by the organization when it became time to pass out football’s most meaningful symbol of success.When he returned home to Luverne for a short vacation July 13-18, Ossenfort brought his Super Bowl ring with him.The way things turned out, Ossenfort’s stint with the Patriots (his third internship with three different NFL teams), was a short one.He got the job in June of 2003, and he left the organization to accept a Pro and College Scouting Assistant with the Houston Texans shortly after the annual NFL draft in April."Scott Pioli (New England’s General Manager), the NFL’s Executive of the Year, was my boss," Ossenfort said. "My job was to keep track of player movements throughout the league, making cut up tapes of the players in case we wanted to sign them. I also worked on breaking down tapes of college players, getting ready for the draft in April."The final decisions were made by Pioli and the coaching staff, but the work of Ossenfort played a role in New England selecting defensive tackle Vince Wilfork (University of Miami) and tight end Ben Watson (University of Georgia) with its two first round selections in the April draft.Shortly after the draft, Ossenfort ironically opted to take a new job with the Texans, an organization he worked as an intern for during the franchise’s inaugural season in 2002."Two days after the draft I got an offer to back to the Texans as a College Scout and a Pro and College Scouting Assistant," he said. "I basically will be scouting 25-30 schools from the states of Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. We’ll be responsible for scouting all senior football players from those schools who will be draft-eligible next April.""I’ll be in an office part of the time, helping coordinate some guys who are doing basically what I’ve been doing as an intern the past two years," he added.Ossenfort will be working for Charley Casserly, the only General Manager Houston has had in its two years of existence. Monti says he consults with Casserly, who won some Super Bowls as a GM for the Washington Redskins, on a daily basis."I started work (for the Texans) May 1. We’ve been setting up traveling schedules and looking at tapes of players who were college juniors last year," Ossenfort said."We’re scouting some good schools like Louisiana State University, Texas and Oaklahoma, who have a lot of good prospects. We’ll start traveling to the schools once their practices begin. We scout their practices and their games." With the exception of the couple weeks before training camp begins (Houston begins camp July 30), Ossenfort said a scout’s job runs from professional draft to the next professional draft. They study hundreds of players and compile countless numbers of videotapes. Their work includes attending the annual College Scouting Combine, with the coaching staff and GM, staged every February."We do a lot of interviewing at the Scouting Combine, which really is a site to see. Every NFL team and their GMs are at the Combine, where the top college prospects work out and are mentally tested."Ossenfort says his new job with the Texans requires more responsibility on his part, but he’s happy with his decision to return to Houston, a city he loves."It was a tough decision to make," he said. "Leaving a team in good shape like New England, which probably will contend for Super Bowl championships the next couple of years, was hard to do. But, I thought it was a good time to make a career decision. I liked the position that was available in Houston, and I decided to make a move."The Houston Texans, who will play their third NFL season in 2004, appears to be a franchise on the rise.After sporting a surprising 4-12 record in 2002, Houston took another step forward by going 5-11 last season."A lot of those 11 losses were less than one touchdown, so we could have had a better record than 5-11. Some of the so-called experts are saying we could contend for a playoff spot this season. Others are saying that if we push for a .500 record, it would be a positive step," he said.A date Ossenfort has circled on Houston’s 2004 schedule is Sunday, Oct. 10, when the Texans host the Minnesota Vikings for a noon game at Reliant Stadium.As one would expect, Minnesota is the team Ossenfort grew up rooting for. His bond with the club grew even stronger in 2001,when he received his first scouting internship with Vikings.Don’t expect Ossenfort to experience divided loyalties come Oct. 10."I’ll cheer for the Vikings 15 games this season, but not when they come to Houston to play us. That’s when the alliance will end," he concluded.
