Hits to the Head on Special Teams

Scott, Jennifer Cobb, and Coach Bono talk about the Impact that Hits to the Head have on Special Teams Players. #teamgatewaytoacure #specialteams #xfl #nfl #equipment #helmets #collisions #football #headinjuries #johnbonamego #puntreturns #kickoffs #jennifercobb #targeting #artificialintelligenceai #rulesexperts #broadcasters #education #tomhouse #tombrady

Episode Transcript

(00:25):
Good evening everybody. I'll welcome toanother edition of No lott and my loud
enough. I don't know who knows, but anyways, have a great show
on hand today and let everybody know. It's Hits to the head on special
teams. We're gonna specialize gens broadcast, but before we do that, just
let everybody know and No Limits isbeing broadcast around the world. The audio

(00:47):
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(01:07):
four nine for one. We broadcastlive on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,
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Tribute South Candyembling is behind the scenes. And yes, my new book,
as I mentioned in our warm uphere is Lessons from the Microphone. It
is out on Amazon. Tuning intothe enduring wisdom of visionary leaders. Okay,

(01:33):
but that said, let's set thetable as to what we're going to
do. Obviously, you bring back, we bring our special guests tonight.
Who is coach John Bonhamago. He'sbeen an assistant everywhere and a head coach
at Central Michigan University. Welcome back, Coach. Thanks Scott, great to
be here. And no, andnone other than Jennifer Cobb. Thanks for

(01:55):
having me. Scott. Oh,yes, glad to have you always,
don coach, you know how youknow where you're staying with me? All
right, So what we're going togive the audience? Coach, why don't
you give everybody an overview on yourbackground through your numerous coaching stops, because
I know that some people are seeingyou for the first time, and we
know that I don't know whether ornot you've had to hire a mover,

(02:16):
whether you had storage units or allthat, but I know one thing buying
the house there obviously was probably aninteresting situation, buying and selling. So
go ahead, give it the audiencean overview. Yeah, that could probably
take up the whole show, Scott. Ye, honestly, I mean we've
moved just in the NFL had theprivilege of working for six franchises, and

(02:42):
three of those twice, so reallynine jobs and call it twenty years.
Jaguars twice, Green Bay, theSaints twice, Miami Detroit twice, and
then and then the Rams and thencollege really started off at University of Maine,

(03:04):
went from there to Lehigh, fromLehigh to West Point and then into
the NFL, and then my timeat Central Michigan really was you know,
in between the nfls took after sixteenyears, went back to Central Michigan,
which was my alma mater, andthen when after four years, then back

(03:25):
in the NFL. So it's beenan incredible journey. I have a very
very patient, supportive and loving familyled by my wife, who, you
know, because when these things happen, you mentioned it is the movers,
you know, like moving kind ofgives it gives us hives now just the

(03:46):
word of it or the thought ofit, because let's face it, you
know, as the coach, youtake a new job, you know they
want you there within you know,a week usually, and you know my
wife would be the one that wouldbe left behind to put the house on
the market, you know, geteverything packed up for the movers and and

(04:06):
that sort of thing. So it'sjust one of the necessary, you know,
parts of the job. Some guysget luckier where they maybe don't have
to move as much. But inin the uh, in the game of
football, being able to stay stayemployed is uh, it's huge. So
very grateful and you know, veryyou know, very grateful to have a

(04:30):
very patient wife and family. Also, I know that you collected the Super
Bowl ring with the L A Rams. Yes, yeah, yeah, I
was waiting for Jennifer to give methat that great laugh of hers. Yeah,
the L A Rams. I toldJennifer I'm too cheap to ever say
that she was a cheerleader for theL A Rams because I know it's a
Saint Louis Rams. Because I overa dinner. I don't mind giving her

(04:53):
a dinner, but not because itwas stupidness. Well, you know,
Scott, but will always forever bea super Bowl city. I mean,
you got to give us that.And actually, little little trivia. I
don't know if you know this,coach, but Saint Louis is the only
city out of all the cities inthe country that have had all sports soccer,

(05:19):
basketball, football, baseball, hockey. Wow, years ago. I
remember the Saint Louis Hawks, Jennifer, Yes, yes, they're pretty interesting
though. Yeah so I mean KansasCity mahomes is, you know, our

(05:42):
closest go to. But you know, I forever will all love football.
I love I love the game offootball. I love everything about it from
pee wee side all the way toprofessional. What it does to the young
men and how they are raised inthis sport, and the wonderful things from
time management to strategy and being coachableand being a leader on and off the

(06:08):
field, and just all the wonderfulthings that this sport teaches. I can
watch any team really, you know, so, but it is great to
cheer for your own team that's winning. All right, So let's talk about
the fact that we know football asa violence sport. Boat. What have

(06:28):
you seen coach on special teams,especially since those plays on kickoffs and punt
returns could be dangerous. Well,the biggest thing I think is the awareness
and then the willingness to work togetherto make the game safer. And I
think that comes from you know,coaches as far as how techniques are taught,

(06:49):
you know, the advancement of theequipment, and then most importantly the
rules changes. I mean, Ithink you know, every the major rule
changes that have been made made youknow, to the special teams have all
been with the idea or the hopesthat it would increase the safety of the
players. So we've seen a lotof uh, you know, rule changes

(07:11):
in the last you know, tenyears, and I think they've all had
a positive effect on that. Ithink the nature of the game. I
think, you know, eliminating theinjugeries I think is you know, it's
a it's an admirable goal. Idon't know how realistic that is, but
I think there's also you know,I think when you when you when you

(07:32):
decide to play the game, andif you've played it for a while and
you you make it to the professionallevel, I think there's I think there's
an inherent risk that you know thatthe players, you know, they they
they accept you know, they it'sit's it's part of you know, it's

(07:55):
one of the things that they haveto put on the line in order to
make the money. And so Ithink, uh, you know, and
that doesn't excuse it by any means, but you know, I think that
players are aware of what they're gettinginto and a lot of the safety you
know, measures that have been taken, it's caused, you know, it's

(08:18):
demanded that the players really change,take a look at how they're playing and
change it and change the way andstyle that they play. And of course
part of that's coaching, but alot of it, you know, you
know, especially when those rules firstcame in. I'm speaking particularly like the
targeting penalties and stuff like that.I mean, there was an adjustment period

(08:41):
where you know, players had tolearn how to play within the rules.
Right. So, Jennifer, anythingyou want to ask coach h that what
a great topic to talk about.Coach, I want to get your perspective
on the big flavor of the monthright now that's going on, and that's

(09:03):
AI, and you just touched about, you know, increasing safety and the
technique and decreasing injuries. My questionfor you would be, how has the
NFL, in terms of coaching theirathletes, incorporated AI to do just those

(09:24):
things, decreasing injury and increasing Idon't know that we have. I think
maybe there's data that we get fromAI, but I think a lot of
it's just the old fashioned showing themon film, you know, and you
know, just like you would correctthe player for an assignment or a technique.
You know, you're you're making thecorrection, uh, and showing examples

(09:48):
of you know, this is alegal hit, this is an illegal hit,
you know, and so many ofthose things happen so fast. I
mean, you know, I thinkI think our broadcaster, you know,
I think one of the great thingsthat's happened in in the coverage of football
is, you know, they havethese rules experts that are on hand that

(10:11):
shine in from time to time duringthe game when there's a replay or if
there is a a hit that's onthe borderline of being illegal or possibly you
know, a targeting call where someonecould get you know, ejected from the
game and that sort of thing.So, uh, you know, it's
it's an education process. It's it'sit's seeing what's happened and then you know,

(10:39):
correcting the player so that you know, so you have a corrective action
or or an alternate technique to goto that you know accomplishes the same thing.
And you know, it's the knowledgeof the rules. You know,
it's one of one of the thingsI've I've had the honor of of of
working with next to working on thisdocumentary movie with Tom House. The documentaries

(11:07):
titled The House of Arms. TomHouse, I know, you know who
he is. He is the biomechanicguru, doctor behind the scenes for all
the quarterbacks college, high school andprofessional. He's worked with Tom Brady for
the last twenty years and has beenprivately coaching him behind the scenes to get

(11:28):
Brady to where he is. DrewBrees, he'd started with him when Drew
came off off that injury and gotworked with him for eight months to get
him to back on the onto thefield to you know, hit record numbers
to get him into the Hall ofFame. And you know Tim Tebow or
Tebow and also Randy Johnson some ofthe greatest you know pitchers in the league.

(11:50):
But what he does coach is hehe breaks down the bio mechanics of
the arm. The arm, youknow, talent can only bring you to
certain level and then then there's thescience behind it. And so I think
with that being said, the AI, like you just said, going back

(12:13):
to old school film, AI couldlook, you know, take the technique
and break it down into milli secondsor inches or whatever centimeters and look at
what the athlete is doing in termsof you know, torquing and twisting and
moving and you know the arm directionand how you know whether you're a wide

(12:37):
receiver or whether you're defensive line,or if you're a quarterback or a kicker.
That is one of the greatest thingsthat you know a player can do
is to look back and see theirform and technique and break it down into
a strategy to make it better.But Tom has done that for so many

(13:00):
athletes for so many years. He'she's mastered the biomechanics of the arm and
the body and he just breaks itdown to that collab caliber to help each
one of those athletes. So toyour point that you know AI can help
to that extent. But I guessyou're saying going back to just old school

(13:24):
watching technique in this slow motion andreally you know, taking notes into making
those changes. Yeah, I meanit is. I mean, the active
tackling is it's a you know,it's an art form and it's probably not
understood maybe as thoroughly as it shouldbe, even at the professional level.

(13:45):
I mean that's you know, kindof preaching to the choir because that's one
of the things that I've always takenpride up pride in and probably one of
the best things that I feel likeI haven't been able to accomplish is is,
you know, teaching the fundamentals oftackling and the different techniques and tackling
because you know, in my jobas a special teams coach, a lot

(14:07):
of the guys that you know youwork with in the NFL, they're not
in the league because they were greatspecial teams player. They were the best
running back or wide receiver or tightend, or they were the best at
their position in college maybe you know, going back to high school and everything,
and you know, with the rostersizes what they are being what they

(14:30):
are and the numbers in the NFL, you you're forced to play offensive players
and defensive roles, so they've youknow, you've got you know, you've
got wide receivers, running backs,tight ends that are covering punts and covering
kickoffs, and you know they're notworking on tackling during the week because they're
running offensive plays. So you know, the challenge is to get your schemes

(14:54):
taught, your fundamentals taught, butalso to you know, you're going to
need that player to make a tacklein the open field when the game's on
the line, and you know,how do they you know, how do
they get the confidence to do thatwhen it's not something that's general, that's

(15:15):
that's asked from asked from them.You know, they're not able to do
that in their normal you know,responsibilities. So you have to build time
in practice and have creative ways todo that, to train them for you
know, so they can do theirjob, but also to protect them from
injury as much as possible. Anduh, you know it's a it's a

(15:37):
challenge, you know, it reallyis. I mean the assumption is,
oh, he's a professional football player, he should know how to do this.
Well, you know that's not thereality. The reality is that the
NFL, just like college football inhigh school, it's still a developmental league.
You still have to be able toyou know, you still have to
develop players. That's how teams gofrom being good, you know, competitive

(16:03):
to good, from good to great. Is the you know, the development
that takes place, and it happensyou know, unilaterally cross the boards.
Just not in the kicking game,but you know, uh, you know,
offensive players are trying to continue todevelop their their offensive players too to
improve and players should always be improving. We should all we should all strive

(16:26):
to improve really in everything that wedo all the time. And you know,
football player is no different. Yeah, and I think your naive to
even think that, you know,coming in rookie year and you're a veteran,
let's say five or six years,at your your peaked. I mean,
look at Brady. Brady's gone,you know, all the way into
his forties. Has he peaked?Did he peak? Who doesn't matter?

(16:48):
You know, Yeah, I thinkhe's a little good, But he's an
outlier any of the It does provethat, it does prove the point of
what's cape you know, what it'spossible. I mean, you tell me,
I don't think any there's very youknow, Tom Brady is one of

(17:08):
those individuals that has accomplished in footballwhat few have, but very very few
have accomplished in any endeavor, notyou know, let's not leave it at
football. How many people in anysport have been able to compete as long
as he did, as at thelevel that he did. He's a freak.

(17:33):
Yeah, Jordan did the same thing. I mean he took you know,
some time off of football or basketballand went into baseball. I know,
his his hitting coach Mike Barnett verywell. It's a great friend of
mine, and you know, Michaelwould end practice and behind the scenes,
everyone would go home and him andMike Barnett, Coach Barnett would go behind

(17:56):
the scenes and they'd hit, seriouslyhit for two more hours in private,
you know. Element And he justwas the hardest worker and did it all
behind the scenes because he wanted topolish his craft. In order to get
better, you have to practice andpractice, not to be perfect, but

(18:17):
practice to improve. All right,So you guys talked about this. I
want to mention it again, butcoach, go into more detail about the
rules changes. I know our audiencewould like to know a little bit more
specific. Sure, and probably mightas well. Yeah, well, you
know, the first thing I'd say, you know, you know, they've
exactly moving the football, you know, the kickoff spot from moving it up

(18:41):
to the thirty five yard line rightfrom the thirty with the idea that that
would give kickers more opportunities to kicktouchbacks. Right. The other thing along
with that the touchback coming out tothe twenty five yard line. So now
you know, as a return team, most offenses they'll you know, they're

(19:02):
happy to take the ball on thetwenty five yard line and you know,
not starting from their own twenty.So I think that has had a big
effect on the game because there's fewerposition, there's fewer collisions, because there's
dramatically fewer kickoffs that are actually beingcovered. You know, this year they

(19:23):
went the other step and you know, implemented the fair catch rule that carried
over from the college game. Sonow you know, a ball that lands
in the field of play that doesn'treach the end zone, the returner can
still fair catch that and they'll getthe ball at the twenty five or excuse

(19:45):
me, you know the twenty five. So those have done a you know,
those things have you know really youknow, in a lot of ways
de emphasize that play, that particularplay they kick off, because there's,
like I said, there's you know, back in the day, you know,
the touchback went to the twenty.That was a big advantage for the

(20:07):
kicking team. You couldn't fair catchit, and so anything that was in
the fair field of play you hadto return. And so they've cut that
back quite a bit. You know, the the elimination of the wedge,
you know, the the wedges inuh, on the back end. You
know. You know, when Ifirst came in the league, you would

(20:30):
see three man, four man,five man wedges and you know, you
had big people back there. Sonow that it's all single blocks, you
know, that has made it alot safer. The elimination of the crackback
blocks in the punt game and evenoffensively, you know, the defensive defenseless

(20:52):
player where you know, the youknow, punt returns. We used to
you know, love to see thosepeel back blocks, the dcleaders. Well
that's you know, that's no longlonger legal, and so that's eliminated a
lot of big collisions, which isagain anything that's uh in the interest of
player safety, I have always beenvery much in favor of you know,

(21:14):
I think as a coach, youryour number one responsibility is the safety and
well being of your players across theboard, uh, you know, on
the field, off the field,that's your number one responsibility. And then
you know, just you know,having the spotters upstairs in the press box,
the neutral spotters, the doctors thatare looking for you know, players

(21:37):
that might be showing symptoms of havingsuffered a concussion, you know, and
the intervention. The intervention. Youknow that that doctor who doesn't work for
the head coach and doesn't work forthe team has the authority to pull a
player off the field for his ownprotection. I think those steps are are

(21:59):
are huge, know, I thinkthey're they're monumental steps, and I think
they're necessary steps that needed to betaken. And I think they've shown uh,
you know, I think we've seena dramatic reduction in you know,
those those big head injuries. Theystill happen, you know, concussion concussions
still happen, but and I thinkwe've gotten a lot better at understanding how

(22:25):
they happen, where they happen,and when they do happen. You know,
we're we're protecting the player from himselfby getting them out of the game,
sitting him down, and not allowinghim to go back until he returns
the baseline, which you know dependson the individual, you know, because
the one thing we do know abouthead injuries is that you don't It's not

(22:49):
like you develop a tolerance you it'sthe opposite. You know, you know,
once you've had one, ah,you're more susceptible to you know,
events occurring again in the future,you know, with even possibly less contact,
you know, and so you know, I think we've taken tremendous strides.

(23:12):
I think, you know, ourequipment is much better, although there
is one, you know, onething that I'd like to point out,
you know, as our you know, one thing that has happened in the
game is the equipment's gotten better,but the helmets have gotten bigger and shoulder

(23:33):
pads have gotten smaller. And ToddyScott I had shared this with you,
but I'll put up this picture,you know. So here's here's you know,
here's Mike Singletary around nineteen ninety isthat can you see that? Yeah?
Yeah, right, And then you'vegot Fred Warner. You know,
this is today, this is current. So you look at you look at

(23:56):
the helmet that Singletary wearing. It'sa lot smaller than what Fred Warner is
wearing. And then you know,the shoulder pads that Mike is wearing that
we wore back in the day,we're a lot larger than you know,
what players are wearing today. Now, you know, warners a linebackers the

(24:17):
best in the game. I mean, you know, he's going to protect
his shoulders. That the equipment's gottenbetter, but the surface area, I
mean we're teaching tackling, you know, to use our shoulders keeping the head
out of it. So that's youknow, that's a little bit concerning to
me that you know, that surfaceon the shoulder has gotten smaller as the

(24:40):
helmet's gotten bigger, so there's lessmaybe less margin or for air and trying
to keep the the head out ofthings. Although again the helmets are you
know, the technology and the helmetshas gone it's probably you know, improved
a thousand times, you know,I know since when I played, for

(25:00):
sure, who pushes that through coach? That the shoulder pad. It's just
you know, it's the manufacturers.And then it has to do with what
the players are comfortable in. Imean, you'd have a hard time getting
players to go back to a largerpad just because they were more if you

(25:22):
know, guys want they want lessstuff on their body, lighter stuff,
you know, compared to what wewore, you know, back back in
the day. Yeah, that's somethingof the leather helmets that they have out
there. What are your thoughts aboutthose. I'm not real familiar with them.
I think, you know, Ithink that in flag football, I've

(25:45):
seen that. You know, theyhave these soft shell helmets, which I
think is a good idea. ButI think you know, you know,
I think in the days of theleather helmets, there wasn't as much or
you know, but I you know, I guarantee you there were still there
were still concussions. We want tosay that there wasn't, but it happened.
I mean, you go back intheir history books. Football was nearly

(26:08):
outlawed in this company, in thiscountry. You know, it took it,
you know, was under a governmentreview, I mean senate review because
because of fatalities, you know,and that still happens today. But I
don't think at the level that itdid back then. So you know,

(26:30):
I don't I'm not one of thosepeople. You're not going to hear me
say, oh, we need togo back to leather helmets. I don't
think that solves anything. Our athletesare bigger, they're stronger, they're faster,
you know, unless we're willing tolike literally throw away you know,
hundreds of years, you know,one hundred and fifty years of tradition.

(26:51):
The only thing that really would makethe game, you know, a little
bit, would spread it out more, would be if you change the size
of the field. You know,uh you figure you look at you know,
in high school football, you knowthe field is fifty three and a
third yards wide. It's the same, it's one hundred yards Long's same as

(27:15):
the NFL. The reason, youknow, the NFL feels so much faster
and the windows are so much smalleris because you have bigger, stronger,
faster athletes that are still occupying thatthat same space. Where in high school,
man, you see the fast kidgets to the edge and he runs

(27:36):
around the whole defense and he goesand scores. You just don't see that
happen as much in the NFL becausebecause of the speed on the field,
you know. Yeah. Well,and the other thing I noticed too is
coaches and doctors on the sideline arebecoming more mute to diagnosing their players.

(28:02):
Because you've got an athlete that mightbe a high school star athlete, and
all of a sudden he gets hit. You got to coach or a doctor
on the sidelines look at him andsay, follow my finger, walk you
know in a front you know,you know line, and you know self
diagnosed him on the sidelines and allof a sudden put him on the bench
and say, well he's concuss andnow he's got a label can cuss player.

(28:25):
And then now he's out for fiveor six games, and now everybody
knows that the star athletes can cuss, so's it follows him for forever.
And in order to get a trueconcussed diagnosis, you truly have to have
technology to diagnose a concussion. Youcan't just go on sideline and look at
the look the looks of their eyesand how they look. I mean,

(28:47):
yeah, they could have been youknow, whack with that though, Jennifer,
I think, you know, Ithink like in the NFL and then
college, you know, at leastyou know, they have baseline data on
those players, right, So yes, I think, and that's that's the
critical and that's really that's the numberone to my knowledge. And I'm not

(29:07):
an expert on I'm not an experton this subject, but I do know
that for that player to return toaction, they've got to return to you
know, get back to that baseline. So whatever whatever that is, and
and I'm sure there is probably someyou know, yeah, it probably is
a little could be maybe a littlebit subjective, but however, you know,

(29:33):
it's at least, it's uh,it's it's fair. And the fact
that those doctors don't answer to thecoaching staff, I think is a critical
factor because you know, you don'twant you don't want that, you know,
I mean, can he go?Can he go? Especially you know

(29:53):
those of us that are old school, you know, they want to get
they want to get them back inthe game. And the players, the
players want to go back in andso you know that, you know,
you've got to be able to protectthe player from himself and then from also
the coaches. Right, absolutely,great, great point yep I coach,

(30:14):
I've got two questions, and Iwant Jennifer to ask a question or two
just so. I already know thatthe Sports Exchange is at the top of
the hour at nine o'clock Eastern time, following no limits. So, coach,
I know, at one point oranother there was discussion about eliminating the
kickoffs, and I don't know whatthey were gonna do with punch, But
what was your thought when they couldcontemplated that decision? Man? I have

(30:37):
to tell you, I was hopingthat it wouldn't happen because you know,
that would eliminate a job for me. You know, I mean that I
spent my entire career coaching special teams, and so you know, if it
wasn't for special teams, you know, I wouldn't have a job. So
you know, asking special teams coachesabout how they feel like that, you're

(30:59):
going to always get the same answer. I think that I'm grateful that you
know that cooler heads prevailed and youknow that we were able to work to
find, you know, other solutionsfor that. You know, the punt
is punt play is going to beone that's going to always be hard to
eliminate that, and my opinion isthat's not as dangerous because the returner has

(31:25):
protections he can call a can calla fair catch, which can do on
the kickoff now as well. Butyou know, those those injuries, injuries
that happen on those that I knowright now has the intention of the league,
are more soft tissue type injuries,you know, pulls, that sort
of thing. I mean, youknow, and that's because the guys are

(31:47):
running sixty yards as fast as theycan, and you know they don't do
that every play. So I justthink that you know, to your original
question, I'm glad that you knowthat they involved the special teams coaches,
they you know, they you know, we've we've put together some committees and

(32:10):
we came up with you know,solutions to it for it. And you
know, I have to applaud theXFL and what they've done with the kickoff.
You know, they've they came upwith something that was entirely unique,
you know, very different, andit seems to be working for them as

(32:30):
well. So, uh, thepunk you know, the punk play,
I don't see that happening as much. You know, that one doesn't seem
to draw as much controversy as thekickoff traditionally has so and rightfully so.
And the last question I want toask you was a thing that we talked
about earlier in the week about smallerguys on special teams. I know that

(32:52):
that would you know, tell everybodywhat you told me about smaller guys on
special teams, whether that's where theyare. I mean, you know,
you had to asked how many youknow you don't see offensive defensive lineman playing
on you know, kickoff? Youdid at one time, right back when

(33:13):
we did have the wedges. You'dsee, you know, you'd see that
back end of the kickoff return whichthe three to four players or sometimes five
that would form that wedge. We'reoffensive defensive linemen. They were bigger,
but now that everything is a singleblock and it all happens in fates in
space, you'll see a few defensiveends mainly, but but the rest of

(33:37):
them fall into that category that Iwould you know, say their skill or
big skill players. So linebackers,tight ends, running backs, and then
you know safeties, corners, andwide receivers. You know, if you're
a defensive player on an NFL team, you know it's in your job description

(33:57):
that you're going to be. Youknow you're going to play special teams,
especially you know if you're a linebacker, a dB, if you know you're
you're playing on those teams and thenyou know, guys don't realize it till
they get to the league. Butif you're the the you know, the
third running back, the you know, the fourth or fifth wide receiver,
the second, third tight end onthat roster, you know you're it's going

(34:22):
to be expected that you contribute.You know, uh, you know,
the fewer plays that you have,the lower your your snap count is on
offense defense, you know you haveto do something to be able to help
the team, and so those extrasnaps come from from the kicking game.
But it's it's rare now that wesee, you know, other than stield

(34:43):
goal and field goal block. You'renot seeing you know, the big the
bigs, the big guys on onthe you know, punt, punt return,
kickoff or kickoff. Yeah. Andone of the things I should point
out too that I remember covering theMiami Dolphins back in the eighties one of
the best special teams play I've everseen with Jim Jensen, who played out
of Boston I think University if Iremember right. But also another thing is

(35:07):
I think what's good about special teams. A lot of these guys in the
back end of the rosters make theirway onto the team on special teams,
is that I've noticed, and thensubsequently play the regular skill position players.
So it's a good opportunity for themto have a job in that role and
then obviously go into a bigger role. You know, we don't put limits

(35:27):
on anybody, but everybody's got tostart somewhere. And there's been a lot
of players that throughout the history ofthe league that either made a name for
themselves and carved out a niche forthemselves on special teams. There's been a
lot of guys like that, likea Matt Slater, you know, maybe
the best that's ever played. Butthen there's also players that you know,

(35:49):
as they're developing, you know,they've they have to contribute somewhere, you
know, and gosh, you knowJimmy Smith, who I worked with in
the in Jacksonville, you know,was a you know, Pro Bowl receiver,
all Pro wide receiver. You know, was drafted high, you know
in Dallas, had some problems,appendectomy, that sort of thing, ends

(36:15):
up getting cut by Dallas, getspicked up in Philadelphia, uh, gets
you know released there was on thestreet. And then when when Jacksonville started
off as a franchise, the coordinatorfor the that I worked with as an
assistant, Larry Pisqually, remembers JimmySmith. Right, they bring Jimmy Smith

(36:37):
in off the street and his firstyear or two he played on special teams
for the Jaguars and then man,he reaches his potential as a wide receiver
and the rest was history. Imean, the guy went to I don't
know how many Pro Bowls and thatsort of thing. But you know,
that's just one story of you knowguys that you know, you have to

(36:59):
have a job, right Uh.Pierre Thomas, Uh, you know,
running back with the Saints. Ihad Pierre Uh in New Orleans. Pierre
was a you know, undrafted runningback. We had draft we had,
you know, the Saints drafted arunning back out in the fourth, third
or fourth round that same year thatwe signed Pierre Thomas. The kid.

(37:21):
He beat him out. He beathim out because, you know, because
he was an excellent special teams player. And you know, the Saints made
a decision that you rarely see,but they cut the draft pick and they
kept the undrafted guy. You know, Pierre Thomas out of the University of

(37:42):
Illinois ended up having a ten twelveyear career in the National Football League,
the last of which, you know, the down the stretch, became a
dominant running back. And you knowthat doesn't happen for him if he didn't
excel in his role as on specialteams. I did it all. You
know. So there's hundreds, ifnot thousands, of stories of players like

(38:06):
that. You know, it's kindof a rite of passage, especially if
you're a young player in the league. You know, unless you're a first
second round. Pick the rest ofthem there, they're going to cut their
teeth. They're going to earn thestripes playing on fourth down. All right,
Jennifer, I'm going to give youan opportunity to ask a couple of
questions before we take the show home. I was that, all right,
Yeah, yeah, Well, I'mjust curious, coach, what would you

(38:30):
You've been a player, you havebeen on the field as a player,
as a coach, and you've traveledthe world and you've seen the ins and
outs of this game. What doyou see as one of the biggest changes
in players now compared and contrasting theplayer twenty years ago. Is it work,

(38:57):
ethic, is it speed? Isit technique? Like? What are
they bringing to the table now youdidn't see as often twenty some years ago.
That that's a really great question.I would say, I don't think
that the players have changed so muchas society has changed, you know.

(39:19):
And I'm gonna go I'm going togo back to I'm really going to go
back to some advice that one ofmy mentors gave me when when I was
preparing to interview for the Central Michiganjob. You know, I see,
I went and talked to Mike Sherman. I worked for coach Sherman in Green
Bay. Coach Sherman when he wasdone in Green Bay went to Texas A

(39:45):
and m you know, he recruitedJohnny Manziel. You know, he's been
head coach in the CFL. He'sbeen a high school head coach. And
you know, I wanted to beprepared for the questions that they were going
to ask me in my interview becausethat time I'd been away from the college
game for sixteen years. I knewthere was going to be a lot of

(40:05):
questions about recruiting, which you know, I feel the same way about recruiting.
I don't think recruiting has changed.I think the methods that we communicate
with players now has changed. Youknow, when you know, when I
first went in the league, Imean, you know, we're all phone
calls. Now, you know youhave to you know, be on Twitter
and send kids direct messages or textthem. Yeah, and the advice coach

(40:30):
Sherman said that, you know thatreally stuck with me. Said, you
know, players back in the youknow, when when I was coming up,
we did whatever the coach asked usto do. No, he didn't
ask questions. I think now playershave questions, they want to know why
and and in his words, andI agree with them. I don't think

(40:52):
that that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think that's a good thing.
You know. I think the majorityof the players that I have been privileged
to work with in the National FootballLeague, and it doesn't matter if it
was from nineteen ninety nine when Ifirst got in the league to No.

(41:13):
Twenty twenty one, which was youknow, my last year in the league,
the overwhelming majority of guys want todo well. They want to they
want to improve. I think professionalathletes in general get a very very bad
you know, we get they getstereotyped, they get a bad you know,

(41:34):
they people assume that they're lazier,they have attitudes and they don't want
to work. Are there guys likethat? Yeah, there's there's there's turds
in every in every you know,in every occupation. So yeah, there's
there's a few of those, youknow, and the media that's who they
like to write about. That's whatthey want to talk about. But you

(41:55):
know, they don't talk about theguy that show up every morning at seven
o'clock or six o'clock and stays afterwards, or is out there after practice,
or comes in to watch extra filmand has you know, they don't,
you know, because those things aren'tyou know, they're not exciting to write
about or talk about. But theoverwhelming majority of players that I had an

(42:17):
opportunity to work with were professionals,you know, or learning, you know,
learning to be a professional. Ithink that that's a big that's the
big part of the coach's job inthe NFL is teaching that young player,
you know, what it means tobe a professional, because and I've said
it and I'll say it again here, you know, just because you're getting

(42:40):
paid to play, that doesn't makeyou a professional. What makes you a
pro is how you prepare, howyou take care of yourself, how you
handle yourself at the facility after yougo, you know, in the off
season, and you know, reallybecoming a master of your craft, and

(43:02):
a lot that goes into that.So I don't know if that's a real
I don't know if that's the bestanswer to your question. The great I
have talked about this so much inthe past that when Georgia Frontieri brought those

(43:22):
rams from La to Saint Louis andhad hosts, had open call auditions.
There were thousands of girls that showedup for forty spots. And I walked
in and I thought, there's noway I'm going to be selected, but
I'm going to have fun doing itand I might make a friend or two,
so good for me. Right,I got to tell you, the

(43:43):
selection process is more than just thebest dnswer. Just like as a football
player, you can't be selected becauseyou have the fastest forty yard or you
catch the most balls, or youhave the best quarterback arm. There's more
that goes into the select process.You have to be a man, you
know, and on and off thefield. You have to be a leader

(44:05):
on and off. You have tohave camaraderie, you have to show leadership.
You have to, you know,take direction and be coachable. I
was coachable. I was able totake direction. When Keeley Finbras, the
director of entertainment, would say,Jen, you're about two dances away from
being cut if you don't start sharpeningup your technique, I would go back

(44:25):
to the drawing board and I wouldwork my butt off because they knew someone
was wanting my spot more than Idid. And that was showing obvious.
So you know you've got to wantit, and you've got to want to
continue to drive and strive for thatplacement because it can be taken away from
you just like that. And youknow, the selection process is more than

(44:49):
just talent. You know all ofthe athletes that you have coached over the
years and years from you know,rookie season of veteran and they come back
to you. One of the biggestmemories I'm sure they share with you is
not just how you coach them,but how you made them feel. You
know, they leave practice or leavea game, whether it's a win or

(45:13):
lose, how that coach made mefeel in defeat and when I won the
game and left the stadium, andthose memories will stay with them forever.
When I do public appearances and Irun into players and cheerleaders, one of
the biggest things is what do youmiss the most? Jen I don't miss

(45:36):
the games. The players don't missthe games are fun. Absolutely, they
miss locker room time. They missedthe dude talk, They missed the fun,
the goofiness that's in locker rooms andall the bonding that happens. I'm
not saying there's not bonding that happenson the field. I'm not saying that
those moments that you've made touchdowns andyou know, passes and plays, all

(45:59):
of those great, But the realguts that they really miss is in that
locker room. And by the way, we have a comment chat room.
George I. Corn says, greatshow, Jennifer and guys all right,
oh yeah, thinks. So whatI'm saying is, you know, I
agree with you. The biggest changeis I think over the years when you

(46:23):
have these young players watching their iconicyou know, heroes so to speak,
on the screen, and they say, I want to be him someday.
The the Michael Jordan's and the youknow, the Bronze and the you know
Brady's and Mahomes. You know,they they look up to these and kids,

(46:45):
these these athletes and as kids,and they say, what do I
need to do in order to bethat? It's going to take a lot
of work, and you've got tomaster by watching and mimicking what the best
to do and how do you dothat? Repet repetition, repetition when being
coached to do that. So Ilove that answer. That was a great

(47:07):
answer. It was a it's agood way to look at it, because
over the years, the hunger forthese spots has become more competitive. Another
comment in the chat room competition isthere for players well share team and others
who entertain the fans. Good point. All right, continue on, Jennifer,
have another question or so for coach, what do you miss? Oh,

(47:32):
the locker room. I miss thebeing around the staff, being around
the guys. That's you know,that's the you know, working together,
the grind. You know, youknow, it's like you know, when
you're you get to know somebody whenyou're having coffee with them at midnight.
You know, it's like, yes, I love that. I do.

(47:55):
I do miss that part of it. I do. And just you know,
the satisfaction with comes that comes withhelping someone else accomplish their goals.
You know, there's a few thingsthat really it's hard to get that anywhere

(48:16):
else. Yeah, that's very wellsaid. I will The Rams invited me
out December fifteenth game as an alumnigame to perform, So I'll be on
the field performing. Yeah, it'sgonna be fun. And you know,

(48:37):
I often think, you know,the NFL is they want the alumnis coming
back, reliving and real feeling refeelingthose moments and just to keep the game
going. You know, in theirhearts, in their hearts, it will
always forever be there. And youknow, even though you you hang up

(48:59):
your football, your helmets and yourpom poms, are you know, your
your your bookboard, You're still postedthis on my on my LinkedIn. I
don't know if you saw it ornot, Scott, but that's uh Paulte
and I got to go back toa Jaguar game a couple of weeks ago.

(49:22):
She's the star in the middle andthen I'm the one so in the
back. So that LinkedIn O friend. Yeah, that's what's all. Everybody
have an opportunity to meet new people. That's why I wanted to put this
show together because tonight's objective behind theshow. Jen We always talk about Parkinson's

(49:43):
disease. That's what you really standfor anyways, but this is another different
way that when we talk about hitsthe head on special teams, it's a
topic that doesn't get enough attention,which is why I wanted to put you
two together. So, Jennifer,you an opportunity to see this from a
coaches standpoint. You've already been outwith Malfard Junior from a players and I

(50:04):
don't think there's another person that Itrust more as a coach that I've gone
and I've been a lot of coachesthrough the years, but coach Bono has
seen a lot and he's been alot of places, and as a result,
he can certainly provide insights that alot of people wouldn't be able to
provide in the industry for a longlong time. Soby just so you know
you're watching No Limits, the episodeis called Hits the Head on Special Teams.

(50:27):
Want to let everybody know one moretime and No Limits is being broadcast
around the world. The audio versionof No Limits can be heard on iHeartRadio,
Apple, Spotify, Google, whereveryou get your podcasts. Please hit
the red subscribe button on YouTube SouthFlorida Tribune. Please also comment, like,
and share the broadcast. Want tobe a guest, no problem,
Go out there and participate in thechat room or send your topic ideas to

(50:49):
South Florida Tribute at gmail dot com. If you want to advertise cost efficiently,
call me at nine to five fourthree oh four four nine for one.
Be broadcast live on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube website www
dot South Florida Tribute dot com,Twitter, slash acts at Tribute South Candy
Ambuilding is behind the scenes. Mybook, which is the media book and
then again everybody can read it onAmazon is Lessons from the Microphone Tuning into

(51:14):
the enduring Wisdom of Visionary Leaders bywhich Coach Bontamago and Jennifer Cobb are both
in it. But that's that greatshow here to so Coach, as we
get ready for the sports Exchange atthe top of the hour, why don't
you let everybody know how they canget a hold of you. Well,
you can find me here LinkedIn.And then outside of that, we live

(51:34):
a pretty private life. So,uh, I'm going to pop up at
a high school game somewhere in Floridaon every Friday. And uh but uh
yeah, right here, right hereis probably the best place they like to
put them to use once or twicea week. And Coach and I have
a lot of things working on asas much. And I also enjoy the
work of Jennifer and I are doingbecause Parkinson's disease is something that I don't

(51:59):
think never get enough attention. SoJennifer puts your stuff out there again,
please, Yeah, so www dotTeam Gateway to a Caure dot Org is
my charity, my foundation. It'suh, we look at Parkinson's and the
neurological disorders, but most importantly,we look at the caregiver, the one

(52:20):
behind the scenes that's caring for theirloved one going through whatever they're going through,
and how important a caregiver is andto the hope and comfort of their
loved one in the home. Sowe're a resource based foundation. You can
come to Team Gateway to a Curedot org and get more information about how
you can best support the caregiver inthe home. Very good. Well,

(52:42):
find Jennifer here on the network andyou can also find Coach Bonamega on the
network. So once again, greatshow. Appreciate both of you being on
tonight and Jennifer and I will bedoing another episode, so stay tuned for
the next time at date. Thankyou so much, coach. It was
a pleasure, absolute joy of findingme too. Thank you m Meanwhile,

(53:02):
the Sports Exchange is next and andwe'll catch you the next time here.
In fact, we'll catch you atthe top of the hour on the Sports
Exchange. Good night everybody. ThanksScott Bank