When NFL fans want the scoop, they turn to Adam Schefter. Whether it’s a blockbuster trade or a last-minute injury update, Schefter is the guy with the answers. And those answers often come before anyone else. Schefter has been ESPN’s senior NFL insider since 2009 and has become a staple across “NFL Live,” “Monday Night Countdown,” “SportsCenter” and beyond.
But before Schefter became the man he is today, he was a college kid with no frat to join and no clue that his next step would change everything.
Big House to the Big Leagues: How Michigan and Medill Shaped Adam Schefter’s Insider Game
Adam Schefter entered the journalism world with a press pass in hand, and interestingly, he stumbled into it. Raised in Bellmore, New York, Schefter is a graduate of John F. Kennedy High School.
Soon after, he made his way to the University of Michigan in the late 1980s. He tried to rush a fraternity. No dice. Tried landing gigs with the football and basketball teams. Also did not happen. But rejection led him somewhere better.
That somewhere happened to be The Michigan Daily. Desperate to find his place, Schefter gave student journalism a shot. And no doubt, he was hooked. He learned all about reporting, editing and the crux of storytelling. In the process, he found not just a campus activity but a calling.
Schefter’s time at the Daily became his training ground. After finishing his undergrad in 1989, he decided to pursue that calling. He joined Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he freelanced for the Chicago Tribune while juggling coursework and real-world bylines.
After graduation, he interned at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, then quickly moved to Denver, where his professional journey really began. Adam Schefter became the name to know at Rocky Mountain News, and by 1996, he was writing for The Denver Post. He eventually served as president of the Pro Football Writers of America.
Denver became his proving ground, and the NFL his beat. He covered everything from locker room bust-ups to Super Bowl wins, and people began to take notice. That work ethic and nose for news landed him on national TV.
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Schefter started with NFL Network in 2004. Then came the big one: ESPN in 2009. The rest, as they say, is history. Or in Schefter’s case, headline after headline after headline. His story is proof that even the most prolific insiders often start as outsiders, until they find the story worth telling.
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