Oregon coach asks recruits about their favorite ice cream, and it actually makes sense

Player evaluation is an inexact science, at best.

For example, we are just over two weeks away from the 2026 NFL Draft, an endeavor where 32 professional teams, with every resource at their disposal, will still make mistakes after months and months of work. While there are many reasons players do not pan out at the next level, they often stem from what cannot always be seen on film, and rather what is inside that player mentally, and emotionally.

Which is why this moment from Oregon quarterback coach Koa Ka’ai stands out.

Ka’ai met the media recently, and was asked a question about evaluating potential recruits. The coach outlined how that evaluation, from his standpoint, often involves a non-football question.

What flavor of ice cream does the recruit prefer, chocolate or vanilla?

Now, Ka’ai does not care what flavor they pick, but he cares that they make a pick at all. He cares that they do not hesitate, and that they show conviction:

And it makes sense.

A quarterback wears many hats on a football team, but one of the ways to think about the position is this way: They need to diagnose and decide. A quarterback as to diagnose what a defense is doing on a particular play and then decide what to do with the football.

Of course, that process happens while some rather large people on the other side of the line of scrimmage are trying to put them in the hospital.

As Ka’ai noted, “right, wrong, or indifferent” you need to have some kind of “conviction.” If a quarterback gets caught thinking between chocolate or vanilla in a meeting room in June, what will happen on 3rd-and-7 with a pair of linebackers walked up in the A-Gaps?

Take what Terry Shea, whose coaching lineage includes Trent Green, Matthew Stafford, and Sam Bradford among others, had to say about the position in his fantastic book Eyes Up:

It can be argued that toughness — mental and physical — is as important as talent of self-confidence. One of the most challenging factors about quarterbacking is adjusting to the mental and emotional pressure. The pressure can be enormous in games at all levels. As the game unfolds, a quarterback’s mental toughness is keenly tested. To hang in there when you are worn down and your body hurts. To possess the nerve to release the ball with anticipation. To keep getting up after each hit. To keep coming back. To refuse to lose. This is how mental toughness is defined. A mentally tough quarterback produces the poise to play well in pressure situations and that is a defining virtue of quarterback play.

Or consider what none other than Bill Walsh wrote about quarterback play in his book Finding the Winning Edge:

A quarterback must have the ability to handle the stress and pressures that occur during the game. He must be able to control his emotions to a point where he can think clearly, evaluate his options, and act rationally, regardless of the situation. Similar to other aspects of quarterbacking, within a reasonable period of time, an athlete will either show that he can deal with his emotions properly within the framework of the game or demonstrate to the coaching staff (by his actions) that further effort in this regard is a waste of time.

Being decisive is a huge part of quarterback play, as is mental toughness.

If it takes a question about ice cream to try and solve that particular riddle in evaluating a player, so be it.