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Bengals Booth Podcast: Changes · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The chit Chit changes addition as
0:13
Speaker 1: we get to know two young coaches who have earned
0:15
Speaker 1: promotions on the Bengals staff, new Quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe
0:20
Speaker 1: and new safety secondary coach Jordan Kovacs. The Bengals Booth
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0:42
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
0:46
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:49
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
0:53
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
0:57
Speaker 1: thing since drivers who are ready at a light. We
1:02
Speaker 1: all have pet peeves. Here's one of my biggest, and
1:06
Speaker 1: it happened to me yesterday. You're in a line of
1:09
Speaker 1: cars at a stop light. The light turns green, and
1:12
Speaker 1: the person at the front of the line just sits there.
1:16
Speaker 1: And sits there and by the time that person finally
1:20
Speaker 1: hits the gas, you don't make it through the light.
1:24
Speaker 1: Come on, people, we're all in this together. Green means go.
1:30
Speaker 1: Rant concluded, Now let's get to football. When Brian Callahan
1:36
Speaker 1: landed the Tennessee Titans head coaching job, it created a
1:39
Speaker 1: domino effect on the Bengals staff. Dan Pitcher was promoted
1:43
Speaker 1: from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, and now his spot
1:48
Speaker 1: has been filled by Brad Cragthorpe. If the last name
1:51
Speaker 1: sounds familiar, his dad, Steve, was the head coach at
1:54
Speaker 1: Louisville and Tulsa, and his grandfather, Dave, was the head
1:58
Speaker 1: coach at South Dakota State, Idaho State, and Oregon State.
2:03
Speaker 1: At the middle of those stops, he gave Marvin Lewis
2:07
Speaker 1: his first coaching job. I spoke to thirty one year
2:10
Speaker 1: old Brad Kragthorpe this week. Brad, your father and your
2:14
Speaker 1: grandfather were college football head coaches. So you know what
2:18
Speaker 1: you are getting into when you chose the coaching life.
2:21
Speaker 1: What drew you to this profession.
2:24
Speaker 2: Really everything involved with it. Initially I wanted to play
2:27
Speaker 2: for as long as I could, and then once I
2:29
Speaker 2: realized that I wasn't going to be able to play
2:32
Speaker 2: as extensively as I ultimately wanted to. I knew that
2:36
Speaker 2: I was eventually going to be drawn to coaching and
2:40
Speaker 2: so getting to be around my dad and my grandpa too,
2:43
Speaker 2: but my dad more specifically every day grown up, and
2:45
Speaker 2: I was fortunate that he got to be a head
2:47
Speaker 2: coach when I was in middle school and high school,
2:50
Speaker 2: kind of formative years that really led to me falling
2:53
Speaker 2: in love with the profession and being around the program,
2:56
Speaker 2: getting to go to practices, going to meetings with him,
2:59
Speaker 2: and doing all those things that not a lot of
3:03
Speaker 2: other kids had the opportunity to do. I fell in
3:06
Speaker 2: love with it then and knew that this was certainly
3:09
Speaker 2: going to be my calling.
3:11
Speaker 1: You've been with a Bengal since Zach Taylor's been the
3:13
Speaker 1: head coach. What was the connection? How did you land
3:17
Speaker 1: that initial spot?
3:19
Speaker 2: So, Zach was on the staff at Texas A and
3:22
Speaker 2: M in two thy and ten, and my dad had
3:26
Speaker 2: just gotten let go at Louisville and had joined that
3:29
Speaker 2: staff for just the off season, so the spring of
3:31
Speaker 2: the summer, and we initially were going to be moving
3:34
Speaker 2: down to College Station as a family and so I
3:38
Speaker 2: was going down there during the summer to go to
3:40
Speaker 2: all the camps and just hang out with my dad,
3:43
Speaker 2: and Zach again was a GA on that staff, and
3:46
Speaker 2: so he was coaching me in a lot of those
3:49
Speaker 2: camps that I was going to. And then during my downtime,
3:52
Speaker 2: I was just hanging out up at the facility in
3:54
Speaker 2: the offensive staff meeting room.
3:56
Speaker 3: Zach was the guy that has set up.
3:58
Speaker 2: A computer and his whole office set up was in there,
4:00
Speaker 2: and so I ended up hanging out quite a bit
4:02
Speaker 2: of Zach and knew that again whenever I was graduating
4:07
Speaker 2: from college and wanted to get into coaching, he was
4:09
Speaker 2: one of the first people I hit up. And it
4:11
Speaker 2: was when he was Offensive Cornara, you see, and I
4:16
Speaker 2: initially was trying to get on his staff here as
4:18
Speaker 2: a GA. It didn't work out then, but we were
4:20
Speaker 2: able to reconnect three years later.
4:22
Speaker 1: What's it like working here.
4:24
Speaker 2: It's outstanding. I think this is the best organization in
4:28
Speaker 2: the NFL. We have a very unique setup in the
4:33
Speaker 2: ownership group that we have and their relationship and familiarity
4:38
Speaker 2: with the game and understanding and perspective in the game,
4:42
Speaker 2: and the family like atmosphere I think is second to
4:46
Speaker 2: none here. Everybody is truly connected from the top down,
4:51
Speaker 2: and I think that's that starts at the top with
4:55
Speaker 2: mister Brown and then it trickles all the way down
4:59
Speaker 2: through the rest of the organization, and it's something that
5:02
Speaker 2: is intentionally cultivated and something I'm really really proud to
5:05
Speaker 2: be a part of.
5:06
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Brad Craigthorpe. You played quarterback your quarterbacks
5:10
Speaker 1: coach now, but you have been working with other positions
5:13
Speaker 1: in your time here in Cincinnati, including a two year
5:16
Speaker 1: stint as the assistant wide receivers coach. Was that challenging
5:20
Speaker 1: for you having been a quarterback and has it helped
5:22
Speaker 1: your development?
5:24
Speaker 2: It certainly helped my development in terms of viewing the
5:27
Speaker 2: game from different perspectives. Like you said, playing quarterback growing
5:31
Speaker 2: up my entire life, I really viewed the game through
5:34
Speaker 2: that lens primarily all the way up until I graduated
5:38
Speaker 2: from college, and so getting into the receiver room being
5:42
Speaker 2: involved with the tight ends for one year in my
5:45
Speaker 2: career has really opened my eyes to different areas of
5:49
Speaker 2: offensive football and different ways that potentially issues could pop up,
5:56
Speaker 2: issues could be resolved, and certainly gave me a perspective
6:01
Speaker 2: and one that I'm appreciative for when it comes to
6:03
Speaker 2: the totality of offensive football that maybe not quarterback.
6:07
Speaker 3: Maybe quarterback might not specifically always see, but it is
6:11
Speaker 3: something that he needs to be aware of.
6:13
Speaker 1: So during training camp, we will see you as the
6:16
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach, conducting drills with the quarterbacks. But there's obviously
6:20
Speaker 1: a lot more to the job than working on their fundamentals.
6:23
Speaker 1: Your predecessor, Dan Pitcher was closely involved with the third
6:27
Speaker 1: down package every week over the past few years. What
6:31
Speaker 1: all encompasses the job of quarterbacks coach in this organization.
6:37
Speaker 2: Well, I think first and foremost, it's getting the quarterback
6:40
Speaker 2: prepared to play.
6:41
Speaker 3: His absolute best on Sundays.
6:44
Speaker 2: It starts with that, and then from there it's daily
6:47
Speaker 2: improvement in all areas of the quarterback position for those guys,
6:52
Speaker 2: finding different ways that we can improve on the field
6:55
Speaker 2: off the field. And then obviously game planning is a
6:58
Speaker 2: big portion of as well. Like you said, Dan was
7:01
Speaker 2: heavily involved in the third down plan. We're still working
7:03
Speaker 2: through all the responsibilities and who's gonna be doing what
7:06
Speaker 2: when it comes to game plan responsibilities next year, but
7:10
Speaker 2: that's certainly a part of it that I'm looking forward
7:12
Speaker 2: to as well.
7:13
Speaker 1: You are obviously going to be working closely with Joe Burrow,
7:16
Speaker 1: and you got to know Joe before you got to Cincinnati.
7:18
Speaker 1: You are on the staff at LSU back in twenty eighteen.
7:22
Speaker 1: That was the year that he transferred from Ohio State
7:24
Speaker 1: to LSU, and he hadn't played in a few years
7:28
Speaker 1: at that point. What did Joe show you in that
7:31
Speaker 1: first year at LSU.
7:33
Speaker 2: A lot of the things that you're seeing now. Leadership
7:37
Speaker 2: was the first thing that immediately jumped out at you.
7:39
Speaker 2: Is his ability to authentically connect with his teammates and
7:45
Speaker 2: the way that his teammates were drawn to him and
7:48
Speaker 2: followed his example, which is not something that you typically
7:50
Speaker 2: see from a transfer, So that was very unique. You
7:53
Speaker 2: saw the toughness, you saw the decision making ability, and you.
7:57
Speaker 3: Saw the accuracy as a passer.
7:59
Speaker 2: And those are all traits that I think he is
8:02
Speaker 2: elite at and ones that have really propelled him to
8:08
Speaker 2: have the career that he's currently having.
8:10
Speaker 1: Were you at all surprised the following season You weren't
8:13
Speaker 1: there anymore, But when he had the Heisman Trophy season
8:15
Speaker 1: and led LSU to an undefeated national championship, campaign.
8:19
Speaker 2: I was not surprised by that, No, which might be
8:22
Speaker 2: surprising to hear, but you could see, like you said,
8:24
Speaker 2: he hadn't played a lot of football up until that point.
8:27
Speaker 2: So that first season there was an element of knocking
8:29
Speaker 2: the rust off. And we had a lot of young
8:31
Speaker 2: players including Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson and Clyde Edwards
8:35
Speaker 2: Hilaire that had n't played a lot of football themselves,
8:38
Speaker 2: college football at that level. And so we knew and
8:41
Speaker 2: we saw as that season progressed in twenty eighteen and
8:44
Speaker 2: we continue to get better and better and better on offense,
8:47
Speaker 2: that with all of these guys returning the next year,
8:50
Speaker 2: that we were ready to explode.
8:52
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Brad Craigthorpe, the Bengals new quarterbacks coach.
8:55
Speaker 1: The head coach at LSU back then was ed Orgeron.
8:58
Speaker 1: I got to know ed a little bit when he
8:59
Speaker 1: was the defensive line coach at Syracuse about thirty years ago.
9:04
Speaker 1: What was it like to work for coach O and
9:06
Speaker 1: what did you learn from him?
9:08
Speaker 2: It was a unique experience and one that I'm very
9:10
Speaker 2: grateful for. Predominantly, more than anything else, I learned how
9:15
Speaker 2: to be a great recruiter under Coach O, which is
9:17
Speaker 2: a vital part of being a good college football coach.
9:21
Speaker 2: I learned the effort and the preparation and everything that
9:26
Speaker 2: goes into recruiting that you might not naturally see that
9:30
Speaker 2: goes on behind the scenes. So that was first and
9:33
Speaker 2: foremost the thing that I learned from Coach oh.
9:37
Speaker 3: And then beyond that, I learned how to motivate.
9:40
Speaker 2: He, in my mind, is one of the best motivators,
9:44
Speaker 2: and it was one of the best motivators in all
9:47
Speaker 2: of college football whenever he was coaching LSU, and he
9:51
Speaker 2: understands how to connect with guys and force them to
9:57
Speaker 2: bring the best out in themselves. And that's something that
10:02
Speaker 2: I took with me from my experience with him.
10:05
Speaker 1: You obviously don't recruit in the same way in the
10:07
Speaker 1: NFL as you do in college, but there's some recruiting involved,
10:10
Speaker 1: whether it's the college free agency process for guys that
10:13
Speaker 1: don't get drafted or actual free agency. Money's obviously a
10:17
Speaker 1: key there. But do some of those recruiting lessons from
10:20
Speaker 1: Coach O apply now.
10:23
Speaker 3: In some ways?
10:24
Speaker 4: Yeah?
10:24
Speaker 2: I mean, like you said, there's a recruiting element involved
10:28
Speaker 2: after the draft with some of the college free agents.
10:30
Speaker 2: There's a recruiting element involved with pro free agents, But
10:35
Speaker 2: more than anything, it taught me about the depths of
10:39
Speaker 2: all the areas of coaching that you might not necessarily
10:42
Speaker 2: see at face value, and so the depths of what
10:46
Speaker 2: it takes to be a great recruiter, the effort, the preparation,
10:49
Speaker 2: and everything that goes into it, I think applies across
10:52
Speaker 2: a lot of levels of being a coach.
10:54
Speaker 1: Let's get back to Joe Burrow for a second. What's
10:56
Speaker 1: it take as a coach to earn his trust and respect.
11:03
Speaker 3: I think it takes a couple of things.
11:04
Speaker 2: I think that it takes knowledge of the position and
11:08
Speaker 2: the offensive scheme. I think displaying that you have a
11:11
Speaker 2: great understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing
11:13
Speaker 2: it is really all that Joe wants in a coach
11:18
Speaker 2: is someone that can guide him and help him make
11:21
Speaker 2: the best decisions on Sunday, and then showing that you
11:24
Speaker 2: care about him, showing that you always have his best
11:27
Speaker 2: interest at heart, and displaying that ultimately you always just
11:34
Speaker 2: want what's best for him. And I think that that's
11:37
Speaker 2: something that he cares a lot about.
11:39
Speaker 1: After he suffered his wrist injury, last year, Jake Browning
11:42
Speaker 1: stepped in and did a terrific job. The team went
11:44
Speaker 1: four and three, and the games that he started he
11:46
Speaker 1: had a passer rating over ninety eight. What impressed you
11:49
Speaker 1: most about Jake Browning when he stepped in as the
11:52
Speaker 1: starting quarterback.
11:54
Speaker 2: His poise, his composure, and his ability to distribute the
11:58
Speaker 2: ball to all of the skilled players that we have,
12:01
Speaker 2: which is something that we all expected Jake to do.
12:04
Speaker 2: It may have seemed like a surprise to people on
12:06
Speaker 2: the outside, but whenever Jake got his opportunity, the way
12:10
Speaker 2: he played was not a surprise to anybody in this building,
12:13
Speaker 2: including his teammates. And so Jake has a great understanding
12:17
Speaker 2: of how to play the quarterback position and offensive football
12:20
Speaker 2: as a whole, and he understands the big picture of everything,
12:24
Speaker 2: and his ability to distribute, make great decisions and distribute
12:27
Speaker 2: the football is as good as a lot of starters
12:30
Speaker 2: in this league.
12:31
Speaker 1: So, as we do this interview, the Bengals announced a
12:33
Speaker 1: little while ago that aj McCarron has been released, So
12:36
Speaker 1: the Bengals are going to be in the market. I
12:38
Speaker 1: would think for a young, developmental type third string quarterback.
12:42
Speaker 1: Will you be involved in scouting college players and possible
12:45
Speaker 1: free agents.
12:46
Speaker 3: I think so.
12:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've kind of begun that process already and trying
12:51
Speaker 2: to find some guys that potentially fit the mold of
12:53
Speaker 2: what we're looking for. We'll see what that looks like
12:56
Speaker 2: as this evaluation process unfolds over the next month or so,
13:01
Speaker 2: but yeah, we're certainly looking for a guy that fits
13:05
Speaker 2: what we want to bring into our quarterback room.
13:08
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about the Bengals offense. The
13:10
Speaker 1: team finished sixteenth in points scored last year. You only
13:14
Speaker 1: had a healthy Joe Burrow for five games. Are there
13:16
Speaker 1: any obvious things that you think the offense must do
13:22
Speaker 1: better in twenty twenty four.
13:25
Speaker 2: I think that we can be more explosive as a unit,
13:28
Speaker 2: whether that's in the run game or the pass game.
13:31
Speaker 2: I think that's something that was really beneficial for us
13:34
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two is our
13:37
Speaker 2: ability to create explosive plays on a consistent basis, and
13:41
Speaker 2: that wasn't always a strength of ours last year, and
13:45
Speaker 2: I think that would be an example of something that
13:48
Speaker 2: we need to get back to moving into twenty twenty four.
13:51
Speaker 1: All right, let's turn the clock back with you a
13:53
Speaker 1: little bit. You were a backup quarterback at LSU and
13:56
Speaker 1: the holder on field goals and pat and you were
14:00
Speaker 1: involved in one of the great trick plays of all
14:03
Speaker 1: time twenty fifteen LSU versus Florida. Both teams are undefeated,
14:08
Speaker 1: both teams are in the top ten, the game is
14:10
Speaker 1: tied to twenty eight in the fourth quarter. You pick
14:12
Speaker 1: up the story from there.
14:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one of the benefits of being a holder
14:19
Speaker 2: on a Less Miles coaching team is there's always a potential.
14:24
Speaker 2: First of all, we always have a bunch of fake
14:26
Speaker 2: field goals that are in the plan each week, and
14:29
Speaker 2: there's always a potential that one of them is goetn't
14:30
Speaker 2: get called in a high pressure moment like that one,
14:33
Speaker 2: And so credit to coach Miles. He decided to pull
14:37
Speaker 2: that one out and we were able to execute it well,
14:42
Speaker 2: and our kicker, Trent Domain, was able to outrase their
14:46
Speaker 2: guys to the end zone and the rest is history.
14:49
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to describe your role a little bit.
14:53
Speaker 1: You're there on a knee ready to hold, you catch
14:56
Speaker 1: the snap, You put the ball down as if the
14:59
Speaker 1: kicker about to approach it and kick it. But in
15:02
Speaker 1: the meantime he is sprinting out to the left, so
15:05
Speaker 1: you sell the fake. Then you throw the ball sideways
15:08
Speaker 1: and he runs in untouched for the TD. How nervous
15:12
Speaker 1: were you in front of one hundred and two thousand
15:14
Speaker 1: people in Death Valley knowing that you've got to sell
15:17
Speaker 1: this fake and make the throw.
15:19
Speaker 2: In the moment, you really aren't that nervous. Maybe jogging
15:22
Speaker 2: out there you feel the butterflies a little bit, but
15:24
Speaker 2: once you get out there, you're looking for a certain criteria,
15:29
Speaker 2: certain formation that you want the defense to be in,
15:31
Speaker 2: and that's really your main focus. And then you know,
15:35
Speaker 2: once the ball hits your hands, you just do what
15:39
Speaker 2: your coach to do and you make the throw.
15:41
Speaker 3: There really wasn't a.
15:42
Speaker 2: Whole lot of nerves involved with it. The only thing
15:45
Speaker 2: that was a little bit nervous or nerve racking about
15:47
Speaker 2: that play is that it was a backward pass, and
15:50
Speaker 2: so if it would have hit the ground, it would
15:53
Speaker 2: have been a fumble, and then I would have became
15:55
Speaker 2: a defender and potentially had to go and make a tackle,
15:58
Speaker 2: which would have been a lot more nerve wracking than
16:01
Speaker 2: just making a simple fifteen year throw.
16:04
Speaker 1: So if I'm in baton rouge and I drop your
16:07
Speaker 1: name at a bar, what's the likelihood that a rabid
16:11
Speaker 1: Tigers fan is going to go, oh, my gosh, twenty
16:13
Speaker 1: fifteen LSU Florida.
16:16
Speaker 3: There's a chance. There's a chance. I don't know. I
16:20
Speaker 3: don't feel like my.
16:20
Speaker 2: Accolades at LSU are really all that impressive, but yeah,
16:25
Speaker 2: there's a chance that someone my recognizement my name.
16:28
Speaker 1: So you have ascended to quarterbacks coach here with the
16:30
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals. Zach Taylor as a quarterbacks coach. He's obviously
16:34
Speaker 1: an NFL head coach. Brian Callahan was a quarterbacks coach elsewhere.
16:38
Speaker 1: He's now the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Is
16:41
Speaker 1: that the ultimate goal in your future?
16:43
Speaker 4: It is? It is?
16:45
Speaker 2: It is my ultimate goal to become a head coach
16:47
Speaker 2: in the NFL, and I feel very fortunate to be
16:50
Speaker 2: in the position that I am right now, and it
16:53
Speaker 2: is a multi step process, and I'm my sole focus
16:57
Speaker 2: right now is just being the best quarterback coach that
16:59
Speaker 2: I can for this sin SINETI Bengals. But yeah, ultimately
17:03
Speaker 2: I do have the goal of being a head coach
17:06
Speaker 2: in this league at one point in time.
17:08
Speaker 1: Yea, I know you've worked very hard for this. Congratulations
17:11
Speaker 1: on the opportunity and best of luck going forward.
17:14
Speaker 3: Thank you, Dan, I really appreciate you having me.
17:16
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
17:19
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
17:22
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
17:26
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
17:30
Speaker 1: the best Care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
17:33
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. In addition to
17:37
Speaker 1: Brian Callahan leaving for Tennessee, the Bengals also lost a
17:41
Speaker 1: member of the defensive staff as safeties coach Rob Livingston
17:45
Speaker 1: left to become Dion Sanders defensive coordinator at the University
17:50
Speaker 1: of Colorado. Rob Spott has been filled by Jordan Kovacs,
17:55
Speaker 1: who's been on the staff for the last five years
17:57
Speaker 1: after playing in the NFL for the Myami Dolphins. I
18:01
Speaker 1: talked to Jordan about his background as well as the
18:04
Speaker 1: young safeties he'll be coaching this year. Jordan, you are
18:08
Speaker 1: from the Toledo area. You played college football at Michigan.
18:12
Speaker 1: Congratulations on the national championship. By the way, your dad
18:15
Speaker 1: is also a former Wolverine who was a reserve under
18:18
Speaker 1: Boucham Beckler. Was that your childhood dream to play football there?
18:22
Speaker 5: Yes, you know, I grew up in the big House.
18:25
Speaker 5: I'd say we grew up with season tickets, so every
18:29
Speaker 5: home game we were in the Big House, myself, my dad,
18:32
Speaker 5: my brother, and Yeah, it was a lifelong dream to
18:35
Speaker 5: play football there. And the road to get there was
18:38
Speaker 5: a little whiny, a little kurvey at times, but it
18:40
Speaker 5: ultimately worked out.
18:41
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the road, because you eventually became
18:44
Speaker 1: a captain and an All Big Ten safety, but you
18:47
Speaker 1: started out as a walk on. Did you have opportunities elsewhere?
18:52
Speaker 4: No, I didn't, you know, not really.
18:54
Speaker 5: I would say D three schools had been calling Division
18:59
Speaker 5: two schools. I went up to Hillsdale College and worked out.
19:02
Speaker 5: At this point, you know, by my senior year of
19:04
Speaker 5: high school, I was really just kind of looking for
19:06
Speaker 5: any offer, just to more or less say I had
19:09
Speaker 5: an offer. I went up to Hillsdale College and worked out,
19:12
Speaker 5: and they didn't offer. They said I could walk on there,
19:14
Speaker 5: and by that point I was pretty set on. You know,
19:17
Speaker 5: once I got into school at Michigan, I'll try out
19:20
Speaker 5: for the team whatever, it takes. I want to play
19:22
Speaker 5: football at Michigan, and yeah, sure enough.
19:24
Speaker 4: That's how it worked out.
19:25
Speaker 5: I got into Michigan and was invited to an open
19:29
Speaker 5: student body tryout the day the first day of school
19:31
Speaker 5: at six in the morning. And you know, there's probably
19:35
Speaker 5: a lot to the story. I don't want to bore you,
19:37
Speaker 5: but the first tryout I made it failed to physical.
19:40
Speaker 5: So I had to come back six months later after
19:43
Speaker 5: the season and retry out for my second semester there.
19:48
Speaker 5: And I made that tryout, went through springball, and then
19:50
Speaker 5: was on the team after that. Why'd you fail at physical, Tormaniscus, Yeah, slightly, Torminiscus.
19:57
Speaker 5: So I had arthur'scopic surgery my senior year of high
20:00
Speaker 5: school and it still wasn't feeling great, and I probably
20:03
Speaker 5: disclosed a little too much information in the physical and
20:07
Speaker 5: learned the hard way. So then I was sent home.
20:09
Speaker 5: I had to have a second knee surgery and got
20:12
Speaker 5: it taken care of though, and retried out, you know,
20:14
Speaker 5: the next January.
20:16
Speaker 1: So when you have a path like that, walk on
20:19
Speaker 1: to eventual team captain, All League player, eventually the NFL
20:23
Speaker 1: will cover that at some point. Does that influence your
20:27
Speaker 1: approach to things to this day.
20:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean sure, you know, I don't take anything
20:33
Speaker 5: for granted. You know, I know how hard it took
20:35
Speaker 5: to become a player really at Michigan, and then you know,
20:39
Speaker 5: even more work to play in the NFL, and now,
20:42
Speaker 5: you know, as a coach, and I just feel like,
20:45
Speaker 5: you know, I've just tried to work hard and earn
20:48
Speaker 5: everything that that's come my way, and I've taken pride
20:52
Speaker 5: in that, and you know, it's just everything that my
20:54
Speaker 5: parents instilled in me from day one, is just to
20:56
Speaker 5: work hard and be tough, be respectful, be kind, and
20:59
Speaker 5: be a person.
21:00
Speaker 4: And good things happened.
21:01
Speaker 5: And you know, I think that's more or less been
21:04
Speaker 5: the story of my journey.
21:06
Speaker 1: You played on a team that beat Ohio State. Now
21:09
Speaker 1: you played on a team that won the Sugar Bowl.
21:11
Speaker 1: What was the highlight of your entire Michigan experience in
21:14
Speaker 1: Ann Arbor.
21:16
Speaker 5: Well, if you as a Michigan fan, you know day one,
21:19
Speaker 5: the one, the one game that has circled on your
21:22
Speaker 5: calendar every year is the Ohio State Michigan game. And
21:25
Speaker 5: I grew up obviously in Ohio, right, so I'm on
21:29
Speaker 5: the in the battlegrounds are in Toledo. So the first thing,
21:32
Speaker 5: most important thing I ever cared about was being Ohio
21:34
Speaker 5: State and to get that win in twenty eleven was
21:37
Speaker 5: you know, a huge, you know, huge win and probably
21:40
Speaker 5: the highlight of my career. And then, as you mentioned
21:42
Speaker 5: later that season, we played in the Sugar Bowl, went
21:45
Speaker 5: down to New Orleans and played Virginia Tech. Had we
21:50
Speaker 5: had a great game against Virginia. Virginia Tech came down
21:52
Speaker 5: to a couple of miss field goals and I think
21:54
Speaker 5: it went into overtime, but it was just a fun
21:57
Speaker 5: way to cap a really big season.
22:00
Speaker 1: We're chatting at safeties coach Jordan Kovacs. You weren't drafted,
22:04
Speaker 1: but you signed with the Dolphins as a college free
22:06
Speaker 1: agent and you made the team playing for three NFL seasons.
22:10
Speaker 1: The defensive backs coach at the time was lou Anarumo.
22:14
Speaker 1: Describe what it was like to play for lou Yeah.
22:16
Speaker 5: I loved playing for lou you know, I guess just
22:20
Speaker 5: my perspective from being an undrafted free agent was here
22:23
Speaker 5: we go again. I'm walking on again, and I wouldn't
22:25
Speaker 5: want it any other way. And the one thing I
22:27
Speaker 5: always respected about Lou is it didn't matter how you
22:30
Speaker 5: got there. You know, it was the same thing that
22:33
Speaker 5: my coaches at Michigan told me. It was the best
22:35
Speaker 5: players will play, the best players will make the team.
22:37
Speaker 5: Doesn't matter if you're an undrafted free agent or if
22:41
Speaker 5: you're a seventh round pick.
22:42
Speaker 4: It didn't matter.
22:42
Speaker 5: And I did respect that about Lou, and I really
22:46
Speaker 5: enjoyed working with Lou and coach Coyle. Mark Duffner was
22:51
Speaker 5: on the staff there. Zach Taylor was on the staff there,
22:53
Speaker 5: so it was a really good staff and it was
22:55
Speaker 5: a lot of fun to play down there in Miami.
22:57
Speaker 1: How much did you interact with Zach since he was
22:59
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks coach?
23:02
Speaker 5: He probably got on my ass if I messed up
23:04
Speaker 5: as scout cards, I would say that was probably about
23:07
Speaker 5: the extent of the interactions.
23:08
Speaker 4: But no, he was great.
23:10
Speaker 5: I always had a lot of respect for Zach and
23:12
Speaker 5: the way that he carried himself and the way he
23:14
Speaker 5: coached the quarterbacks. But yeah, no, it was obviously a
23:18
Speaker 5: great relationship, and really the reason that I'm here today.
23:22
Speaker 1: Roughly ten years later, has Lou changed.
23:25
Speaker 4: It's same Lou, same Lou.
23:27
Speaker 5: You know, I think you know, probably where I've seen
23:29
Speaker 5: the most growth is in how he leads a room.
23:33
Speaker 4: You know.
23:34
Speaker 5: I saw him as a player and I was, you know,
23:37
Speaker 5: one of his players in his defensive backs room, and
23:40
Speaker 5: I knew he was a leader then, and then just
23:41
Speaker 5: seeing him evolve and being able to run a whole
23:44
Speaker 5: defense right, And I think that he's just such a
23:47
Speaker 5: good coach. He's grown in a lot of ways, and
23:49
Speaker 5: I've always had a lot of respect for lou.
23:52
Speaker 1: In your third year with Miami, there was a head
23:54
Speaker 1: coaching change. Dan Campbell took over as the interim head
23:57
Speaker 1: coach for the final twelve games of the season. And
24:00
Speaker 1: we've all seen since he's been the Lions head coach,
24:03
Speaker 1: the biting kneecap speech and some of the other amusing
24:07
Speaker 1: things that he's done. What was it like to play
24:09
Speaker 1: for Dan Campbell?
24:10
Speaker 4: I loved playing for Dan.
24:12
Speaker 5: He is very much He's from the old school, Bill
24:15
Speaker 5: Parcells Tree and from day one. I'll never forget when
24:20
Speaker 5: he took over. I think he took over on the
24:22
Speaker 5: bye week, and it was very much competitions. Every day
24:26
Speaker 5: we're going to compete in something. And early on in
24:29
Speaker 5: that bye week it was Oklahoma Drill. It was some
24:31
Speaker 5: tackling drills that you don't do in the NFL anymore,
24:35
Speaker 5: and then eventually by you know, a few weeks down
24:37
Speaker 5: the road, it was a pieh eating contest, it was
24:40
Speaker 5: a frisbee throwing contest, but there was always some element
24:43
Speaker 5: of competition.
24:44
Speaker 4: And again, I.
24:45
Speaker 5: Have a lot of respect for Dan the way that
24:47
Speaker 5: he's run things, or that he did run things, and
24:51
Speaker 5: it's not surprising at all to me the level of
24:54
Speaker 5: success that he's had as the head coach of the Lions.
24:56
Speaker 1: We're chatting with safeties coach Jordan Kovacs. When did you
24:59
Speaker 1: get the coach bug?
25:01
Speaker 4: That's a great question.
25:02
Speaker 5: I would say it was early in my playing career
25:06
Speaker 5: at Michigan.
25:09
Speaker 4: You know, I.
25:11
Speaker 5: Played under Brady Hoak and I just had a lot
25:13
Speaker 5: of respect for the way. I love the way that
25:15
Speaker 5: he interacted with players and the influence that I felt
25:19
Speaker 5: like he had on kids and that he had on
25:21
Speaker 5: his players, and he was a father figure to a
25:24
Speaker 5: lot of guys, and I just you know, I remember
25:28
Speaker 5: one day in warmups, warm ups, just watching coach Hoak
25:31
Speaker 5: walk around and interacting with the guys and thinking, you
25:33
Speaker 5: know what, I think, that's what I want to do
25:35
Speaker 5: one day. You know, I want to I want to
25:36
Speaker 5: lead I want to be. I want to be a
25:38
Speaker 5: football coach and a leader of men. And you know,
25:41
Speaker 5: he's certainly a guy that I've always looked up to.
25:44
Speaker 1: You played safety in college and in the NFL, and
25:47
Speaker 1: you're going to be coaching the safeties and other members
25:49
Speaker 1: of the secondary now here in Cincinnati. But since you've
25:52
Speaker 1: been here, you've coached different positions. You've been with the
25:55
Speaker 1: linebackers the last few years. Was that by design and
25:59
Speaker 1: has it helped your overall understanding?
26:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that that's kind of how I always
26:04
Speaker 5: approached this thing. You know, I knew early as a
26:08
Speaker 5: young coach that it would be beneficial for me to
26:10
Speaker 5: just be exposed to as much of the game as
26:12
Speaker 5: I could, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
26:14
Speaker 5: And Frank, I'll take you back even further. When I
26:16
Speaker 5: first got into coach and I worked at Michigan as
26:20
Speaker 5: a GA under coach Harball, and I told coach I
26:22
Speaker 5: wanted to work with the defensive line, and that was
26:25
Speaker 5: where Greg Madison was coaching at the time. And you know,
26:29
Speaker 5: the defensive line, really the line of scrimmage is so
26:32
Speaker 5: much different than anything that I had ever been exposed to,
26:35
Speaker 5: and it really took me a long time to really
26:37
Speaker 5: see and feel what you're coaching up front, but looking back,
26:42
Speaker 5: that was invaluable. It probably took me months to really
26:45
Speaker 5: understand what good technique looked like, and it has proven
26:49
Speaker 5: to be invaluable. And then, yeah, getting here, I'm talking
26:52
Speaker 5: with Zach. You wanted He and I both thought it
26:54
Speaker 5: would be beneficial for me to be in the linebacker room,
26:57
Speaker 5: and yes, I've done that for five years now, and
27:00
Speaker 5: I do think that that it does bring a lot
27:02
Speaker 5: of valuability to my perspective now from the defensive back room,
27:08
Speaker 5: just knowing how those linebackers are coached, where they're going
27:11
Speaker 5: to be and we're all tied together. So yes, you know,
27:13
Speaker 5: starting from the front all the way to the back,
27:15
Speaker 5: it's proven to be invaluable.
27:17
Speaker 4: I think. So.
27:18
Speaker 1: Now that you've taken over as the Bengals safeties coach,
27:21
Speaker 1: let's discuss the safeties, beginning with your fellow Michigan Wolverine
27:25
Speaker 1: Dax Hill. How would you characterize his first season as
27:28
Speaker 1: a starter last year?
27:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it's obviously experience is the most important
27:34
Speaker 5: thing in anything, and especially in the National Football League,
27:37
Speaker 5: and he's been great. He's got the skill set right,
27:41
Speaker 5: Dax's he can cover, and that doesn't you know, that's
27:47
Speaker 5: not easy to come by for safeties.
27:50
Speaker 4: He's had high highs.
27:52
Speaker 5: He's made some really good plays, and I'm sure he'd
27:54
Speaker 5: be the first to tell you that there's a few
27:56
Speaker 5: plays that he'd like back, but that's what happens when
27:58
Speaker 5: you're a young safety. And he's done a great job
28:01
Speaker 5: just kind of trying to get a little better over
28:04
Speaker 5: the course of the season. So I have high expectations
28:07
Speaker 5: for Dax. I'm looking forward to working with him, and
28:09
Speaker 5: I expect him to make even bigger strides this year.
28:12
Speaker 1: I know he played a lot of slot corner his
28:14
Speaker 1: final year at Michigan. Is that a big transition?
28:18
Speaker 4: Yeah.
28:18
Speaker 5: I mean, anytime you're going from nickel to safety, there
28:22
Speaker 5: is a transition, and there's a learning curve, and you know,
28:25
Speaker 5: once you're on the back end of this thing, you're
28:28
Speaker 5: really the quarterback of the defense. And I'm sure he's
28:32
Speaker 5: I know he's continuing to learn and grow there. And
28:34
Speaker 5: you know, communication, in my opinion, is one of the
28:38
Speaker 5: areas that we've got to take a huge step forward.
28:40
Speaker 5: Right we're the quarterback, we're running the defense. We've got
28:43
Speaker 5: to communicate, make sure everybody's on the same page, because
28:45
Speaker 5: you have a bust on the back end and it's
28:48
Speaker 5: a touchdown, right, we can't afford those sorts of things,
28:51
Speaker 5: those sorts of miscommunications. So I expect him to do
28:54
Speaker 5: a great job in that area.
28:56
Speaker 1: Is communicating the biggest key to cutting down on some
28:59
Speaker 1: of the big plays allowed last year.
29:01
Speaker 4: Yeah.
29:01
Speaker 5: Absolutely, communication and tackling. I think those are two of
29:04
Speaker 5: the most important things that we can do on our
29:06
Speaker 5: back end, and two areas that again we're looking to
29:09
Speaker 5: improve this year.
29:11
Speaker 1: Jordan Battle stepped in as a rookie. He started the
29:13
Speaker 1: final seven games of the season.
29:15
Speaker 4: How do you do I thought he played played well
29:18
Speaker 4: for a rookie. You know, I think he did.
29:20
Speaker 5: Again, there's a lot that comes with just playing time,
29:26
Speaker 5: and these guys are continuing to learn and continuing to
29:28
Speaker 5: get better. Jordan's a physical player, He's very comfortable in
29:33
Speaker 5: the box. He sees the game naturally. He's a good
29:36
Speaker 5: safety and again another guy them looking forward to working with.
29:40
Speaker 1: So I think the official title is safety's slash secondary coach.
29:45
Speaker 1: You're working closely with cornerbacks coach Chuck Burks. Let's talk
29:48
Speaker 1: about the corners a little bit. You've got two talented
29:51
Speaker 1: young ones in Cam Taylor Britt and DJ Turner. Do
29:55
Speaker 1: you look at those two guys as potentially two of
29:57
Speaker 1: the better young cornerbacks in the NFL.
30:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
30:00
Speaker 5: I think really since Cam's been here, he's just he's
30:05
Speaker 5: he's he's the real deal outside. He can cover, and
30:08
Speaker 5: I think what I like most about Cam is he's tough.
30:11
Speaker 5: You know, he'll come up and he'll hit you, he'll tackle,
30:14
Speaker 5: and he's the total package there. And then yeah, Dj
30:16
Speaker 5: is obviously same thing. You know, he's he's he's a
30:20
Speaker 5: guy that can run. He's got the skill set. Obviously, again,
30:24
Speaker 5: it was his rookie year, so there's some high highs
30:26
Speaker 5: or some low lows. That's that's what happens when you're
30:28
Speaker 5: a rookie. And he has improved quite a bit over
30:31
Speaker 5: the course of the season and a guy that again
30:34
Speaker 5: we look forward to getting in here this spring and
30:36
Speaker 5: continuing to work.
30:37
Speaker 1: So the combine is right around the corner. What will
30:40
Speaker 1: your responsibilities be when it comes to the draft.
30:43
Speaker 5: Uh, yeah, so I'll be working obviously with the safeties.
30:47
Speaker 5: I'm looking forward to really, you know, the combine. You
30:49
Speaker 5: can kind of get up and get there see him
30:51
Speaker 5: in person. You get to interact with them and interview
30:55
Speaker 5: each guy. So I'll be evaluating all the safeties and
30:58
Speaker 5: helping Chuck with the corners as need be. And you
31:00
Speaker 5: know again, I look forward to kind of get my
31:02
Speaker 5: hands on these guys and seeing them up close and personal.
31:05
Speaker 1: It's not easy to become a position coach at this level,
31:09
Speaker 1: the highest level of football. What's it mean to you
31:10
Speaker 1: to get this opportunity.
31:12
Speaker 5: I'm just grateful, you know, I'm excited. I'm really, really,
31:15
Speaker 5: really excited to just work with these guys. It's a
31:17
Speaker 5: fresh start for all of us. And just grateful from
31:21
Speaker 5: Zach and Taylor and mister Brown and lou An Rumo
31:25
Speaker 5: just for the opportunity and I'm looking forward to making
31:28
Speaker 5: the most of it.
31:29
Speaker 1: Seems like a great collaboration in this building. What's it
31:32
Speaker 1: like to be a member of the Bengals coaching staff.
31:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that that starts, you know, up top
31:38
Speaker 5: with with Zach.
31:40
Speaker 4: You know, it's all hands on deck.
31:42
Speaker 5: He does a great job of He's an excellent leader,
31:44
Speaker 5: just does a great job of delegating tasks and trusting
31:47
Speaker 5: in his coaches, and you know, again, I'm grateful for
31:51
Speaker 5: the opportunity and looking forward to it.
31:53
Speaker 1: I know you have grinded hard to earn this opportunity.
31:56
Speaker 1: Congratulations and we look forward to a visiting with you
31:59
Speaker 1: and the way to come.
32:00
Speaker 4: Thanks Dan, I appreciate it.
32:02
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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32:35
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for listening to The Bengals
32:38
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.