Today's Tidbit... The AFL's 1965 Redshirt Draft

Leafing through the 1967 Official American Football League Guide, I found information regarding their 1965 draft, including some elements I had not considered. Unlike today when the draft occurs at the end of April, the NFL and AFL held separate 1965 drafts on Saturday, November 28, 1964, two days after Thanksgiving. The drafts occurred as Army-Navy, Clemson-South Carolina, Notre Dame-USC, Georgia Tech-Georgia, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, and others played rivalry games. The scheduling seems odd today, but it ensured neither league got a jump on signing graduating seniors.

They occurred without the benefit of The Combine, the first of which was almost twenty years in the future. However, the first step in that direction came in 1964 with the formation of the Lions, Eagles, Steelers Talent Organization (LESTO) to "combine" scouting resources and information.