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I know you are supportive of the guy who ended up in the job but labeling him as the "3rd choice" when essentially only Kelly and Lea know is empty speculation. He may have been the 1st choice or the 8th choice.

I have worked in HR for 40 years and there have been lots of "team" interviews when the staff of the potential hire is involved in the process. So the fact that a candidate may have met the players doesn't mean much to me. Or it could have just been a happenstance interaction as opposed to a planned one. It also could have been a case where Mickens put the brakes on pending earlier in the process pending signing day. The fact that Kelly was interviewing pro candidates may have indicated that the college guys didn't want their name out there until after signing day. We really don't know.