CARMEL — The reports kept trickling in to Austin Pfenninger’s family home in Carmel, a steady stream of good news coming out of a rookie minicamp in progress 300 miles away in Berea, Ohio.

Pfenninger’s client, Jhavonte Dean, made one interception on the first day of the Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp. Then he made another. Broke up three throws. Reporters started calling, looking for an introduction to the little-known former Miami cornerback in Berea, one of more than 30 undrafted rookies trying out for a chance at the contract they hadn’t been able to land after the draft ended the weekend before.

Draft weekend had been tough on Pfenninger.

A 24-year-old rookie agent trying to get an independent agency off the ground, Pfenninger had gotten the rug ripped out from under him Saturday. An NFL team called him during the sixth round to say they intended to take one of his clients, Purdue tight end Cole Herdman, in the seventh, only to select somebody else when the turn finally came around.

Herdman signed a deal with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent a few hours later, but the fact that he’d come so close to getting drafted, that a team had told Pfenninger to call Herdman and tell him to get ready, took the euphoria out of the first contract Pfenninger negotiated as an NFL agent.

Dean was different.

Pfenninger liked the Browns for the former Miami cornerback, liked the depth chart and the organization’s history with Miami players — Cleveland already has six on the roster — possibly a product of former Hurricanes legend Alonzo Highsmith’s place as the Browns’ vice president of player personnel.

But a tryout is still only a tryout.

Then Pfenninger got a call from Phil Dangerfield, Cleveland’s vice president of operations. Dean, Dangerfield said, had been the best player in the rookie minicamp. The Browns wanted to sign him right away, before Dean could try out for the Dolphins at another rookie minicamp the next week.

This time Pfenninger realized the significance of his accomplishment.

“I think that was much more surreal for me,” Pfenninger said. “I was ecstatic.”

'Harder than it's ever been'

What Pfenninger is trying to do, build a career and a company as an independent NFL agent with no ties to a major agency like CAA or Athletes First, is beat the odds.

“I think it’s probably as hard or harder than it’s ever been,” said Neil Stratton, president of Inside the League, an organization that covers the business side of the NFL, serving as a resource for agents, scouts and front offices.

The obstacles to life as an NFL agent are seemingly endless.

A prospective agent must have a post-graduate degree to sit for the NFLPA’s certification exam, a test that costs $2,500 to take and is administered just once a year, at a two-day seminar held each July in Washington, D.C.

Only 40 to 45 percent of the people who take the test each year pass, and once agents have received their certification, the costs to recruit players and develop them for the draft are exorbitant.

Agents must register in every state where they want to recruit, and each state charges a fee; failure to register can result in prosecution. The NFLPA requires agents to carry liability insurance, adding more costs up-front. Recruiting requires extensive travel, sending agents all over the country to talk to potential clients.

The costs keep coming after a player has signed on the dotted line. Prospects now expect their agency to pay for the costs of Combine-specific training, a necessity that runs from $5,000 to $15,000 for most prospects, according to Stratton, and an agent’s travel costs keep rising with trips to all-star games, the Combine and pro days.

All of those costs must be paid long before agents start earning a return on their investment. NFL agents are not allowed to charge more than 3 percent of a player’s salary, less than the NBA (4 percent) or MLB (an average of 5 percent), and some agents charge as little as 1.5 percent. Making matters more difficult, the NFLPA has discussed lowering the fee further.

An agent is not allowed to collect a fee on training camp per diem, and if an agent decides not to charge on a signing bonus — Pfenninger did not ask for a cut of Herdman’s bonus — he or she doesn’t start getting paid until a player makes it onto a roster or practice squad during the regular season.

Then there’s the competition.

'Do the math'

“I think there’s about 800 registered agents now, and at the beginning of every week, there’s about 1,600 active players,” Pfenninger said. “Do the math. There’s two players for every agent, and I want to say about half the agents don’t even have an active NFL client. It’s super-competitive, very cutthroat, not very easy to break in.”

Pfenninger was one of 86 agents who earned their certification for the first time last year. Of those 86, just 48 were able to sign a player in the 2019 draft class, and only 38 of the 100 players signed by independent rookie agents played at FBS schools, according to Inside the League.

“Bottom line, you have about a 10 percent chance of getting a player on a 90-man roster if you’re a first-year contract advisor,” Stratton said. “The number probably drops to around 3 to 4 percent whose clients go on to make a 53-man roster or practice squad.”

At 5-6, he beat long odds at Miami

Pfenninger knows all of the numbers, knows he’s trying to beat a stacked deck.

That’s never stopped him before.

When Pfenninger was seven years old, the 2001 Miami Hurricanes won a national championship, staked a claim to the title of best college football team of all time and captured the imagination of a kid growing up in Carmel. Pfenninger decided, right then and there, that he was going to play football at Miami.

A lot of kids hold dreams like Pfenninger’s in elementary school, then adjust their expectations as they get older. Pfenninger could have been one of those kids. He was a heck of a football player, a receiver on Carmel’s 2011 state title team, but at 5-6, a shot with the Hurricanes seemed out of reach. Pfenninger spent his first season of college football at Division III Hanover.

Pfenninger spent the next three years as a walk-on at Miami, earning Scout Team Player of the Year in 2016 and lettering, a remarkable achievement for somebody his size.

“I could’ve played more if I went to other schools, but I’m content with my decision,” Pfenninger said. “I got to live out my dream and get on the field for Miami. It’s a great education, opened up a lot of doors. I might not be doing what I’m doing now if I didn’t go to a big school like that.”

Becoming an agent wasn’t Pfenninger’s plan. Not at first. A political science major and business science minor at Miami, Pfenninger thought he wanted a career as a lawyer, maybe a lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

Football’s pull was too strong. By the time he was a junior at Miami, Pfenninger found himself wondering if he was OK with leaving the game he loved behind. The nomadic life of a young football coach didn’t fit; a career path as an agent would allow him to blend his love of law and his love of the game.

Pfenninger spent the 2017 season as a graduate transfer at Drake, earning the post-graduate law degree he needed to sit for the NFLPA’s agent’s exam. He spent a year interning with EPIC agents in Miami, learning the ins and outs of the business, and then he passed the exam last summer.

“I reached out to every big agency there was,” Pfenninger said. “Either I didn’t get a response, or they didn’t want to bring in someone who didn’t already have existing clients.”

Pfenninger headed out on his own.

A pipeline of talent and a game plan

An entrepreneurial streak runs through the Pfenninger family.

Pfenninger’s father, David, formerly a professor of behavioral science at the IU School of Medicine, founded Performance Assessment Network Inc., a human resources and psychological testing company, in 2000 and sold it in 2006, then invested in BubbleUp, a digital marketing and technology company that has become an important player in the music industry.

The son wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, and his father’s success gave Pfenninger the financial backing and partnerships he needed to get Pfenninger Representation Group off the ground. David Pfenninger admits he had a little trepidation about the risks of the business, but he could also see the advantages his son holds over other first-time agents.

David Pfenninger’s background gave PRG something to offer prospects besides financial backing. His history in psychiatry and psychological testing makes him an expert at preparing prospects for the NFL’s rigorous interviewing process; BubbleUp’s digital marketing background started in music, but the company’s success applies to sports stars, too. For years, Pfenninger has trained with former NFL quarterback Anthony Morelli, who owns X-Factor Sports Performance in Westfield and can offer players an insider’s knowledge of how the draft process works.

“It wasn’t something I thought was a fantasy, because he’s so well-connected,” David Pfenninger said. “He had access to a pipeline of talent because of personal relationships. … He’s very achievement-oriented, had a game plan. I thought it was plausible.”

As soon as he got his certification last October, Pfenninger hit the road, knowing full well he was months behind the rest of the field in terms of recruiting players for the 2019 draft cycle.

But he also had his own advantages.

Pfenninger’s time as a player at Carmel and Miami meant he had a long list of connections to get his foot in the door with prospects at FBS schools across the country.

When a player’s parents balked at his age — at 24, Pfenninger believes he was the youngest certified agent in the country last year — Pfenninger responded by saying he’d still be there for his client long after football was over, into his second and third career. When a prospect worried about his lack of experience — players want to see a track record of landing players in the league — Pfenninger countered by saying he had experience few other agents can offer: a career as a player. All of that time spent in practice, team meetings and watching film means Pfenninger can pitch players to scouts with a detailed, insider’s knowledge of the game.

Pfenninger landed six clients: Herdman and running back D.J. Knox from Purdue, Dean and linebacker Mike Smith from Miami, Bethune-Cookman guard Dwayne Brown and Northern Iowa pass rusher Rickey Neal.

Of the 38 FBS players landed by independent rookie agents, Pfenninger signed four of them. Knox, Smith and Neal earned tryout spots at rookie minicamps, and Neal spent time with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders before being released at the end of training camp.

When Herdman signed with the Ravens and Dean landed with the Browns this spring, it put Pfenninger ahead of the curve.

“Austin is a classic go-getter,” Stratton said. “A lot of guys come into this game, fail and never really even figure out what the hell went wrong. Austin has given himself a chance to succeed.”

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Pfenninger is already hard at work on next year’s draft class, has been for months.

Although PRG’s headquarters are in Miami, Pfenninger splits his time between South Beach and the Midwest, using his parent’s house in Carmel as a central location to make recruiting trips to places like Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue and other schools within driving distance.

Herndon and Dean have given him skins on the wall, the ammunition he needed.

“I know I’ve still got a long way to go compared to more established people, and nothing’s guaranteed, but I think it’s good groundwork laid,” Pfenninger said. “It’s made recruiting for next year a little bit easier. I think I could have a potentially more talented class next year.”

This year’s work isn’t even over yet.

When Herndon and Dean report to training camp at the end of the month, they’ll have a chance to put Pfenninger into the handful of first-year agents who land a player on a team’s roster past the start of the season, potentially giving PRG some return on investment right out of the gate.

If not, Pfenninger has already bucked the odds simply by landing two players in NFL training camps.

“I wasn’t expecting to make a profit year one,” Pfenninger said. “Having seen my dad run a business, knowing that most businesses fail in year one, it takes a couple of years to get up and running. If you make it past that, you’re probably going to make it.”

The first year isn’t even over yet.

But Pfenninger’s fledgling career as an agent is off to a good start.