From WMU stardom to NFL scouting, Bronco alum thriving with Detroit Lions
DETROIT—The Detroit Lions are building something special. With a culture-changing head coach and one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, the goal for the 2025-26 season is simple: Deliver the franchise and fanbase its first-ever Super Bowl victory. The time is now, and the place is Detroit.
Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It takes moves, both small and large, that incrementally add up to something real. For Brad Holmes, Lions executive vice president and general manager, the journey began in 2021 with the hiring of head coach Dan Campbell and continued with a string of excellent drafts. But great drafts require great scouting, which means having people who are bought into the mission and willing to put in the work. People like Midwest area scout Steve Neal.
“You wake up early, get to the school and try to get with coaches, academics, anybody that can let you know about these players to get as much background as possible. Then you go out and watch practice. You're looking for a certain body type in a kid; it's kind of hard. You can watch them on tape, but you’ve got to actually get eyes on the guy because they want everything. We've got to describe them from the neck down. You try to tie in what you see in person to what you saw on tape,” Neal says, describing a typical day scouting for the Lions.
Neal, B.S.’00, now in his 11th season with the team, is one of many who have played a role in the Lions’ rise. Working alongside a game-changing head coach, a gutsy GM and a roster full of hard-nosed players, Neal’s expertise has helped harness homegrown talent to thrive in recent years.
But long before he was scouting players for a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, Neal was an accomplished Bronco student-athlete, making plays on and off the field that would shape the rest of his career.
Onward for the brown and gold
Neal was a highly touted high school football prospect with offers from University of Iowa and Indiana University. But after an injury derailed his senior year, the star quarterback saw those scholarship offers disappear.
“I had just had ACL surgery and was going through rehab, trying to get back to walking normally. Then I got a call from assistant coach Larry Edlund. He was friends with my doctor, who also went to Western. My doctor told him about me, and he asked if I’d be interested in walking on,” Neal says.
With plenty to prove, Neal joined the Broncos. But there was one catch: He would have to switch positions from quarterback to wide receiver.
Neal knew he had much to learn, leaning on those around him for guidance and support. With the help of coach Darrell Hazell and veteran receiver Tony Knox, he regained his confidence and flourished on the gridiron, finding immediate success.
“My first college game was against Temple, a night game. All three receivers were freshmen. I didn’t know what I could do. The first two times I touched the football, I scored touchdowns, and from there it was just like, ‘Wow, I can actually do this.’”
It was the start of what would be a record-setting career, eventually leading to Neal’s induction into the Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024. During his four seasons at WMU, Neal was a three-time all conference selection and recorded the team’s first-ever 1,000-yard season for a receiver.
Mentorship and making moves
When he wasn’t setting receiver records at Waldo Stadium, Neal was intent on exploring football opportunities off the field. In his second year at Western, new head coach Gary Darnell brought a different perspective to life after football.
“Coach Darnell always talked about the bigger picture and understanding that this game doesn’t last forever. When he started talking about that stuff, it made me start thinking about other things,” Neal says.
When scouts came to campus, Neal made a point to introduce himself and ask for their business cards. He knew his knee injury might limit the possibility of a long playing career, but scouting could offer him a chance to build a livelihood out of the game he loved.
After graduating from Western with a degree in criminal justice in 2000, Neal launched into coaching, with stops at Savannah State University and Wayne State University. Then, a Bronco-to-Bronco connection with a fellow alum set the stage for something greater.
“Man, I got lucky. I was at the combine one year, and as I walked off stage, a guy tapped me and said, ‘Hey, I'm John Morton. I'm a Western alum.’ He was working for the Oakland Raiders at the time. He gave me his card, and we kept in touch a lot.”
Years later, the phone rang. It was Morton, B.B.A.’97, offering Neal an internship with the San Francisco 49ers. Neal accepted the position and never looked back.
These days, the Broncos-Lions bond is even stronger. Ahead of the 2025-26 season, Morton was named the Lions’ new offensive coordinator, reuniting with Neal. And in 2024, Western announced a three-year collaboration with the Lions, serving as the team's official educational partner.
Guts and glory
After more than a decade with the Lions, Neal is as committed as ever to his craft. His goal is the same as that of his team: Get over the proverbial hump and into the history books as Super Bowl champs.
Reflecting on his time with the team, Neal says, “It’s been a dream, honestly. Just waking up every day and getting the chance to do something I actually love. I haven’t had a bad day yet.”
With the season just around the corner, the Midwest area scout is preparing to hit the road again, looking for the next Brian Branch or Amon-Ra St. Brown. Neal is out there searching for the right type of player: Someone with grit, determination and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win. He’ll rely on instincts shaped by his days as a student-athlete at Western, where every snap, every route run and every second that ticked away on the scoreboard helped prepare him for this moment.
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