Speaker 1: Hi everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast the step Fast app. Addition, as my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner, Dave Lapham joins me to discuss week two
Speaker 1: of organized team activities or OTAs for the Bengals under
Speaker 1: new head coach Zach Taylor. By the way, is it
Speaker 1: considered a credibility killer to sing the beginning of a
Speaker 1: new Kids on the Block song and a football podcast?
Speaker 1: In any case, I'll talk to lap about what he
Speaker 1: observed at Tuesday's practice, and he'll share the names of
Speaker 1: two newcomers to the roster that other players on the
Speaker 1: team have been raving about without even being asked about them.
Speaker 1: We'll get a unique perspective on the bengals number one
Speaker 1: draft pick Jonah Williams as I talked to one of
Speaker 1: his former high school teammates back in Fulsome, California. And
Speaker 1: in this week's fund Fags interview, I'll talk to the
Speaker 1: Bengals new defensive coordinator Lou and Aumo about a wide
Speaker 1: variety of topics ranging from coaching rocket scientists literally at
Speaker 1: Harvard two New York City pizza. All of that is
Speaker 1: straight ahead, But first, here's a quick reminder that you
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Speaker 1: can check it out at include health dot com. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to foot ball is a bringing my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham lap Let's start with the progression from
Speaker 1: week one of OTAs to Week two of OTAs. What
Speaker 1: did they do a little bit differently today that they
Speaker 1: hadn't been doing last Monday? Well, a little bit of
Speaker 1: situational stuff today. Monday was no situational football whatsoever. Today
Speaker 1: was a lot of red zone stuff. And I think it's,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a it's a progression, and it's
Speaker 1: a step by step progression, and I think overall there
Speaker 1: is improvement, but they're not there yet. But again, when
Speaker 1: you when you look over on the on the rehab field,
Speaker 1: you got Pro bowlers galore, AJ Green, the perennial one,
Speaker 1: Tyler Eifford, a Pro bowler, Joe Mixon, AFC rushing leader,
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl candidate. I mean that that's three serious components
Speaker 1: to your offense, probably your three biggest components to your
Speaker 1: offense potentially. Um So you know there they are down
Speaker 1: a few weapons, and honestly, I think it's unfortunate because
Speaker 1: getting those reps is big. This is a new offense
Speaker 1: and there is a process to a step by step
Speaker 1: process to it, and I thought overall, it was better
Speaker 1: than it was last Monday. I'm not saying red zone
Speaker 1: doesn't need a lot of improvement. I don't know how
Speaker 1: much red zone they've done. We only see one practice
Speaker 1: a week, but red zone when we were good in
Speaker 1: eighty one and the eighty eight team, I was part
Speaker 1: of red zone practices and watched red zone practices where
Speaker 1: you know, eighty eighty five percent of the time there
Speaker 1: were completions. I mean the ball wasn't on the ground,
Speaker 1: whereas you know today it was more toward fifty percent
Speaker 1: of the time and there were turnout. You don't want
Speaker 1: to turnovers in the red zone. That happened though. Those
Speaker 1: are the kind of things you need to avoid. So
Speaker 1: there are miles to go before they rest. But I'm
Speaker 1: telling you Dan standing behind them. You know, I look
Speaker 1: at Gary Kubiak's offense that he ran with the Houston
Speaker 1: Texans and in Denver that was inside outside zone and
Speaker 1: then they ran play action off of that, and they
Speaker 1: got big chunk plays off that play action. It was remarkable.
Speaker 1: You'd watch the end zone footage and right at the
Speaker 1: mesh point you'd stop it and say run or pass,
Speaker 1: and you're guessing, and it's a fifty fifty proposition. Sometimes
Speaker 1: would be a run. Sometimes you pull out out of
Speaker 1: there and be a pass. Well, think of what the
Speaker 1: defensive linemen are thinking. Do I need to oh, man,
Speaker 1: what is this the worst thing that you can get?
Speaker 1: A best thing the offense can make a defense due
Speaker 1: And the worst thing a defense wants to have to
Speaker 1: do is guests. And if you have defensive lineman like man,
Speaker 1: I can't blow off the field like I want to
Speaker 1: because they may be running the ball here. It's the
Speaker 1: exact same look. You get a little hesitation and then
Speaker 1: they have to restart. By the time they restart, it's
Speaker 1: too late. The ball's out. In the National Football League,
Speaker 1: linebackers looking is it a run? Is it a pass?
Speaker 1: It's a run, I better get my first step downhill.
Speaker 1: Oh oh man, it's a pass. If it's a pass,
Speaker 1: I better get my first step in a drop step.
Speaker 1: I'm heading down hill because I'm thinking it's a run.
Speaker 1: I mean, they got you in between a rock or
Speaker 1: hard place, and you know, pass rush linebacker, play safeties.
Speaker 1: It's tough. And if they when they get it down,
Speaker 1: they don't have it down yet. When they get it down,
Speaker 1: it's going to be very interesting to watch it from
Speaker 1: the end zone because the play action passes are right
Speaker 1: off of those run plays. It's the exact same look.
Speaker 1: It's not like just a token play action pass just
Speaker 1: to do it from a timing or rhythm standpoint. It
Speaker 1: is off of those play and the alignement of pulling
Speaker 1: and all the actions going on. It's a it's an
Speaker 1: identical snapshot photo up until the mesh point of the football.
Speaker 1: So they are going to get a lot of chunk
Speaker 1: plays out of this. Uh this offensive football team, and
Speaker 1: and really a big, big reason for success in those
Speaker 1: play actions or pressed the digitation by the quarterback having
Speaker 1: that good play action stuff. Sam Weich was the best
Speaker 1: at it. His hands were huge, he'd hide the football
Speaker 1: and he was a magician. And he was a magician,
Speaker 1: no question. And he was a magician with that football.
Speaker 1: But all the guys he coached, Joe Montana, Kenny Anderson,
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys were really good with play action passing.
Speaker 1: And that's the biggest part of it is the quarterback
Speaker 1: hard fake and a Boomer Scienson. He coach Boomer Siensen
Speaker 1: hard fake with the play action hide the football. That's
Speaker 1: a big key to the success. So Andy Dalton had
Speaker 1: some good ones out there, and he's got to keep
Speaker 1: continue to work on that because that's going to be
Speaker 1: his best friend. I'm glad you brought that up because
Speaker 1: I wrote down the first five plays that they ran.
Speaker 1: First play play action bootleg to the right, two receivers
Speaker 1: going out in that direction. Use Zama or Alex Erickson.
Speaker 1: He passed ericson for a nice game. Second play play
Speaker 1: action deep ball Josh Maloney was incomplete, but that was
Speaker 1: the play. Third play play action role to the right screen,
Speaker 1: back to the left. Fourth play play action to the right,
Speaker 1: deep shot down the left sideline for John Ross fifth
Speaker 1: play run up the metal, big gaping hole set up
Speaker 1: by what we had seen from the previous four plays exactly.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in this type of offense, you know people like, well,
Speaker 1: the run game's going to set up play action. Play
Speaker 1: action sets up the run two. I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: a glove fit in the hand type of thing. It
Speaker 1: really does. Is particularly if you can get you're in
Speaker 1: situations where you're second and four, third and two where
Speaker 1: you can run it or throw it. You know, you
Speaker 1: don't want to be behind the chains if you stay
Speaker 1: ahead of the chains offensively. Now you have the defense guessing,
Speaker 1: big time guessing, and the quarterbacks that the Bengals have
Speaker 1: on the roster are capable of getting out of pockets.
Speaker 1: So not only the play action stuff will slow a
Speaker 1: defensive lineman down. Changing the launch point slows the defensive
Speaker 1: lineman down. You don't want to let them get outside
Speaker 1: of your contain. You have to be, you know, real
Speaker 1: careful to make sure that you change your course or
Speaker 1: your path of pass rush to try to contain the
Speaker 1: quarterback or have somebody out there containing the quarterback. Because
Speaker 1: it gives him a two way go. You know, he
Speaker 1: can tuck it and pick up yards running the football.
Speaker 1: If there's no pass rush out there and coverage is good,
Speaker 1: you can you know, not jeopardize putting the ball in danger,
Speaker 1: tuck it and run and then slide get out of bounds,
Speaker 1: do those kinds of things. So it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: I think this. I like the concept of what they're
Speaker 1: trying to get to. They haven't gotten to it yet,
Speaker 1: but I think when they do, and they have all
Speaker 1: their weapons. And that's the thing too, because you know,
Speaker 1: everybody is trying to learn it and absorb it and
Speaker 1: the only way you do it is reps. So it's
Speaker 1: unfortunate that a Joe Mixon, you know, Tyler Eiffort, aren't
Speaker 1: getting those reps with Andy. And that's why these guys
Speaker 1: that don't show up at these OTAs, and it is
Speaker 1: voluntary and they're not getting the reps with their teammates,
Speaker 1: not getting the reps with the quarterback. I think that's
Speaker 1: that's too bad. I think I think that's a tough dynamic,
Speaker 1: particularly if they're working with a new quarterback. These guys
Speaker 1: aren't working with a new quarterback, but they're working with
Speaker 1: a new offense. These other guys that are signing places
Speaker 1: and not going new quarterback, new coach, new system, knew everything.
Speaker 1: So in this case, the new coach, new system, same quarterback,
Speaker 1: which you want. You'd like to get those reps because
Speaker 1: everybody is working now in the process of taking a
Speaker 1: step one, step two, step three and assimilating that offense.
Speaker 1: Whether it be you know, situational football, red zone, third down,
Speaker 1: that's something they'll they'll get into third down, fourth down,
Speaker 1: clock management. All those kind of things are going to
Speaker 1: be big. We talked a lot about the offensive line
Speaker 1: last week, and they lined up the same way today.
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams had left tackle, Corty Glenn left guard, Belly
Speaker 1: Price at center, John Miller at right guard, Bobby Hart
Speaker 1: at right tackle. Let's turn over and look at the
Speaker 1: defensive line. That's a group that's got some really talented players.
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins first and foremost, Carlos Dunlap, Carl Lawson assuming
Speaker 1: he comes back one hundred percent this year. And yet
Speaker 1: despite those names and again lost in has hurt last year.
Speaker 1: It was a unit that was not dominant last year.
Speaker 1: And to me at least, it's a group that should
Speaker 1: play better than it played. I agree with you. They've
Speaker 1: got talent to be much better than they were. And
Speaker 1: I think lou Anna Ruma was doing a good job
Speaker 1: of putting it together and I think I think the
Speaker 1: coaches are doing a good job of communicating his message
Speaker 1: and they're doing it, you know, with guys that played
Speaker 1: in the league, like in Easton. Easton is having a
Speaker 1: major impact, I think on the defensive line, and I
Speaker 1: agree with you, Dan, I think if if the Bengals
Speaker 1: get consistent play out of their offensive line, defensive line,
Speaker 1: and linebackers, they're going to be pretty good defensive line
Speaker 1: and linebackers. That's two thirds of the defense right there,
Speaker 1: and they were having issues, and then of course when
Speaker 1: they're having issues, the secondary is going to have a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount issues. I think the secondary is good enough
Speaker 1: to play at a high level if the front seven
Speaker 1: gives them an opportunity. And I think that they're doing
Speaker 1: a pretty good job of handling this offense right now
Speaker 1: as they're going through the learning curve and coverage and
Speaker 1: they're hustling their run to the football. There's very few
Speaker 1: in to my either's you know, there's always going to
Speaker 1: be assignment mistakes, but it's not a plague of assignment mistakes.
Speaker 1: So you know that the guys are into it. They've
Speaker 1: bought in there in the right spirit and the right
Speaker 1: frame of mind. They're learning it. So I'm encouraged by it.
Speaker 1: And the thing that you can always tell Dan about
Speaker 1: players you mentioned, you know a couple of the offensive
Speaker 1: lineman Corty glenn and John Miller at the guard position.
Speaker 1: Unsolicited defensive players have said, Quarty glenn Man is so big,
Speaker 1: he's going to be a tough, tough matchup at guard.
Speaker 1: John Miller powerful, strong dude. So pads aren't on yet,
Speaker 1: but they're still the best recommendation you can get, or
Speaker 1: probably the most trustworthy evaluation is a teammate, a player
Speaker 1: going against a guy in practice or a guy that
Speaker 1: works against him in games, and those kind of things.
Speaker 1: The other one sample, multiple defensive players have come up
Speaker 1: to me tight ends a football player, and when you
Speaker 1: look at sample, it's like, Okay, he's not like a
Speaker 1: world class athlete rookie mini camp, he didn't exhibit world
Speaker 1: class athletic ability, but when he got into football, he's
Speaker 1: a football player, and he's a football player in this
Speaker 1: OTAs with the veteran players. He is going to make
Speaker 1: a lot of plays. He is. I think he's I
Speaker 1: think he's fooling. I think he's faster than people think
Speaker 1: he is. I think he's got functional football speed and
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see and it was, it was. It
Speaker 1: was good to my years to hear unsolicited teammates on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the football. Tight end play lap
Speaker 1: tight ends. He's got some He's got some talent. He's
Speaker 1: a football player. That's the biggest compliment you can make,
Speaker 1: because a one football played to another. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not track and field. You know it's football. And I
Speaker 1: think the kid's going to be a good player. I
Speaker 1: was not able to attend the rookie mini camp. It
Speaker 1: sounded like the quarterback they drafted in the fourth round,
Speaker 1: Ryan Finlay struggled somewhat that weekend last Monday, so so
Speaker 1: early today. He threw a bad interception where he overthrew
Speaker 1: his target and went right into the hands of Demitrius Cox.
Speaker 1: Then they got to those red zone drills and he
Speaker 1: started to look better. Yeah, And I think I think
Speaker 1: with him usually, I mean, the biggest adjustment for any
Speaker 1: at any position is the quarterback position, because I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's like it's rush are you know out there?
Speaker 1: Sometimes you think he might see things. I mean they
Speaker 1: were doing some zone blitz stuff today. Defensively, early in practice,
Speaker 1: I saw Sam Hubbard dropping off, you know, into coverage
Speaker 1: instead of pass rushing. And he's athletic enough, as we know,
Speaker 1: he played safety in high school, played linebacker in college
Speaker 1: before he moved to defensive linemens, So he's athletic enough
Speaker 1: to do those kind of things. And you know, you
Speaker 1: see it some in college, but you just don't see
Speaker 1: it as much as as big a variation of scheme
Speaker 1: as you might see in the NFL. With the talented
Speaker 1: With the talent level of player that you see in
Speaker 1: the NFL, you'll hear rookie players say it all the time.
Speaker 1: You know, I might have played against three guys last year.
Speaker 1: They're as good as these guys at this level. And
Speaker 1: this is every day, this is every day of practice,
Speaker 1: every game. You know you're gonna be tested both mentally
Speaker 1: and physically. And Ryan Finley's in that boat for sure.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned earlier, one of their first plays of
Speaker 1: the day was a deep ball down the left sideline
Speaker 1: for John Ross, he caught at least one touchdown pass
Speaker 1: and the red zone drills they gave it to him
Speaker 1: on a reverse. Do you see his confidence growing? Can
Speaker 1: you tell that from watching him in OTAs? I do
Speaker 1: see it growing. And Andy is definitely they weren't on
Speaker 1: the same page and early in the red zone drills
Speaker 1: and the ball was incomplete when it shouldn't have been.
Speaker 1: And Andy immediately went over to John Ross to make
Speaker 1: sure or that, UM tell him what he saw and
Speaker 1: what he thought he should have done and explain it
Speaker 1: to John. So John, they you know, they do get
Speaker 1: on the same page. Um. Yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: They're going to try to uh incorporate John Ross's skill
Speaker 1: set into this offense. I mean he's he's just what
Speaker 1: the doctor ordered in terms of if you, you know,
Speaker 1: put into a computer some some talent, some physical abilities
Speaker 1: that you'd like to have at the receiver position in
Speaker 1: this type of scheme. John Ross fits that bill. I mean,
Speaker 1: when that guy goes in motion for a jet sweep,
Speaker 1: you have to honor it. But if you give him
Speaker 1: the football and you're you're lagging behind, you know, your
Speaker 1: your guests, and he can he can scorch you. Um,
Speaker 1: and you can you can run routes off of that
Speaker 1: jet sweep fake Jeff sweep action as well. And I
Speaker 1: mean he's definitely got got talent, but I think he's
Speaker 1: still thinking too much. Uh. Tyler Boyd has said that.
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd went on record saying that, you know, John
Speaker 1: Ross is still uh, instead of you know, fluidly reacting
Speaker 1: to coverages, he's stinking a little bit too much. That
Speaker 1: indicates that four to two speed, you know, when you're thinking,
Speaker 1: when you're unsure an athlete, it's not confident, affects the
Speaker 1: functional football speed. And I think he's still fighting through
Speaker 1: that phase of it. But he I think they're looking
Speaker 1: to him to make a lot of big place for
Speaker 1: this football team this season. It's late May. This is
Speaker 1: week two of the OTAs. They have three weeks of
Speaker 1: these OTAs a total of ten practices. What were you
Speaker 1: doing in late May in your playing career. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: only had one one mandatory you know, camp was right
Speaker 1: after draft, rookies and veterans would get together. The rookies
Speaker 1: would have like an orientation day and then get together
Speaker 1: with the with the veterans for a mini camp. And really,
Speaker 1: I mean my entire career. I had an offseason job.
Speaker 1: You know, it was my first three years salary twenty
Speaker 1: six thousand and twenty nine thousand and thirty three thousand.
Speaker 1: It wasn't you know, a gold mine. But but and
Speaker 1: I wanted to do something. You know, I was married
Speaker 1: and already had kids, so you know, I wanted to
Speaker 1: do something to prepare myself for life after football, not
Speaker 1: knowing when that life was going to start. One was
Speaker 1: gonna end and one was going to start. So every
Speaker 1: off season I had a job to at least eliminate
Speaker 1: vocations or to see if I was, you know, choosing
Speaker 1: the right path. Maybe to make sure that when I
Speaker 1: was done playing football that I'd be in the right arena.
Speaker 1: So had offseason jobs. And then would you know, make
Speaker 1: sure that at lunchtime I was doing my workouts. If
Speaker 1: I took a two hour lunch or an hour and
Speaker 1: a half or something to make up to have a
Speaker 1: strong workout down in Spinny Field, I'd either come in
Speaker 1: earlier stay late, you know, just on the off season job.
Speaker 1: So did a bunch of different things. Worked in public
Speaker 1: relations at the Savings and Loan. I worked with Bob
Speaker 1: Johnson and Imperiallydhess when he bought that selling that you know,
Speaker 1: substitute top one year, did a whole bunch of different
Speaker 1: things and eliminated some vocations pretty quickly. What was the
Speaker 1: worst off season gig and you're playing days, I'd have
Speaker 1: to say substitute teaching, because you know, it's like when
Speaker 1: when the when the teacher's out, let's take advantage of
Speaker 1: the situation. You know, it's like you're a babysitter, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I and I would try to lay the law
Speaker 1: down a little bit. And I mean the other teachers
Speaker 1: are like, oh no, yeah, it's great, you're doing a
Speaker 1: great job. But I always felt like, you know, I
Speaker 1: try to follow along with the teacher's lesson planning. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't want the kids to fall behind her if
Speaker 1: I had the same class for three days and um,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But at my respect
Speaker 1: level for the teaching profession dramatically increased. I didn't really
Speaker 1: have behavioral problems or anything in the class. I think
Speaker 1: probably because they you know, I don't want to mess
Speaker 1: around with this uh, with this guy potentially, But I
Speaker 1: did have one in excuse me, one instance that though
Speaker 1: at a vocational school. Um and uh, the principle. I
Speaker 1: go into the school and he goes, you've got the pit.
Speaker 1: I said, oh, I know what the pit is. It's
Speaker 1: where when kids get kicked out of class, they had
Speaker 1: to go signing at the pit and find something to do.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's what you want me to do? All
Speaker 1: that I can make a better contribution than that. No, No,
Speaker 1: you're perfect for the pit. And so two periods go by,
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting there reading books and I'm stealing money.
Speaker 1: Third period, this kid shows up, big kid, and I
Speaker 1: slid a piece of paper. I said, put your name,
Speaker 1: clash you get kicked out of and reason and sit
Speaker 1: down and open a book and find something to do.
Speaker 1: F you drops it off. So I'm like, maybe you
Speaker 1: didn't hear me. So I get up from my seat
Speaker 1: and slide the thing over again. And I am walking
Speaker 1: around the table and the last thing the principal said
Speaker 1: to me is don't touch any of the kids. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to touch any of these kids. You know
Speaker 1: there's no way I wouldn't. Do you think I'm stupid.
Speaker 1: Kid swings at me and I stepped back and I
Speaker 1: drill him, drop him. I hit him right in the
Speaker 1: chest with my fist goes up under his chest and
Speaker 1: his solar plexus. I hear all the air come out
Speaker 1: of him. He goes down to his knees. He's like yeah.
Speaker 1: He gets up and sits down and signs in. I
Speaker 1: didn't hear a thing, not a peep out of him,
Speaker 1: So then you know, I at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: there were two or three other kids signed at the
Speaker 1: end of the day that the Prince was like, any
Speaker 1: promise that first name right there? He was what happened
Speaker 1: as well, I'm gonna be honest with you. I had
Speaker 1: to drop He goes, drop him. What do you mean
Speaker 1: drop him? That's what he took a swing at me,
Speaker 1: And I responded, you know, self defense, and he goes, really,
Speaker 1: he goes, that's your story. I said, yeah, that is
Speaker 1: my story. It's the truth. So but I never the
Speaker 1: principal never heard anything from him. I never did. I
Speaker 1: went home, and of course Lynn wasn't happy you did.
Speaker 1: What He's gonna own us, But I think I think
Speaker 1: it was the first time it was ever really maybe
Speaker 1: discipline in his life. I don't know him a favorite. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when he sat down, hushed up, and I never heard
Speaker 1: a peep out him the rest of the time, but
Speaker 1: the whole time and thinking, oh man, do I say
Speaker 1: something this kid or just let it ride out decided
Speaker 1: to just let it ride. Why decision? Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I never had a
Speaker 1: substitute teacher that resembled Dave Lapham. We've learned quite a
Speaker 1: bit about Jonah Williams since the Bengal selected him with
Speaker 1: the eleventh overall pick in this year's draft, but on
Speaker 1: this episode of the pod, you're about to get a
Speaker 1: unique perspective on the twenty one year old offensive linemen.
Speaker 1: One of his teammates at Fulsome High School in northern
Speaker 1: California is now the starting tight end for the University
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati Bearcats, Josiah Deguara. I spoke to Josiah over
Speaker 1: the phone and we started with his first memories of
Speaker 1: meeting Jonah after the Williams family moved to California from Georgia.
Speaker 1: I mean, first thing you think when you see him
Speaker 1: is this is a freaking nature. I mean he was.
Speaker 1: I mean he does. He doesn't look like he didn't
Speaker 1: look like he does now, I mean he was still
Speaker 1: he saw to be development he was, you know, six
Speaker 1: to five six six, just a massive, massive dude for
Speaker 1: only being sixteen years old. And that's on. And I've
Speaker 1: read some stories in your hometown paper about him at practice,
Speaker 1: you know, just destroying guys stuff like that. What do
Speaker 1: you remember whoever lined up against them? They weren't They
Speaker 1: weren't very happy at that point. He was until by
Speaker 1: a senior high head that he just demolished anybody that
Speaker 1: was on his way. Um, not to obviously continued until that,
Speaker 1: so that he's just he's just a beast in every
Speaker 1: sense of the word. Describe him as a person, super
Speaker 1: humble guy. I mean, you wouldn't even know who, like,
Speaker 1: who he is or what he does besides the fact
Speaker 1: that he's just huge. You know, you would you would
Speaker 1: never know that. Um, he said three you know, two
Speaker 1: time All American. You would never know any of that.
Speaker 1: From the time he stepped on into folsom I mean
Speaker 1: he was just there to work. Um, he put his
Speaker 1: head down and grind. You know, he's quiet guy at first,
Speaker 1: but when he gets to know, super funny, awesome dude. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean first, first one in, last one
Speaker 1: out kind of guy, last one out the building. The
Speaker 1: type of dude, um just put his head down and
Speaker 1: grind him and would always stayed humble. You guys were
Speaker 1: on one of the great high school teams in California history.
Speaker 1: How important was he to the success? Oh? Huge? I
Speaker 1: mean we had a pretty dominant team um before before
Speaker 1: he got there, and then when he got there, he
Speaker 1: just took our whole offense and defense for that matter,
Speaker 1: to the next level. Whenever he got in, he just
Speaker 1: dominated the game. What's your best Jonah Williams story that
Speaker 1: you can share? Man, So my senior year, he and
Speaker 1: him tad for our for our football coach together. Um,
Speaker 1: so like an hour of the day, we'd always be together. Um.
Speaker 1: This is when he was trying to like put on
Speaker 1: muscle and gain a lot of weight because he was still,
Speaker 1: um you know a little bit smaller than he wanted.
Speaker 1: And every day I just remember he had this huge
Speaker 1: bag of food. Um, it was like a freezer bag.
Speaker 1: You know, it was a huge freezer bag of food,
Speaker 1: just full with sandwiches, protein bars, um, being much anything
Speaker 1: you can imagine. Um. And out of every story of Jonah,
Speaker 1: I think that's one that I distinctively your member just
Speaker 1: end bringing that bag of fade to school every day
Speaker 1: and just eating it like it was nothing. Could Yeah,
Speaker 1: he could shot down my thanks. Do you see tight
Speaker 1: end Josiah Deguara who had thirty eight catches last year,
Speaker 1: including five for touchdowns, and should be one of the
Speaker 1: top tight ends in the American Athletic Conference this season.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's fun Facts interview as we
Speaker 1: get to know one of the newcomers on the Bengals
Speaker 1: coaching staff. Time for some fun facts for the Bengals
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. Lou and A Rumo from Staaten Island, New York,
Speaker 1: one of the five boroughs of New York City, tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about growing up on Staaten Island,
Speaker 1: just a short ferry ride from the Big Apple. It
Speaker 1: was great. I wouldn't want to grow up in any
Speaker 1: other place in the country. Obviously I'm biased, but I
Speaker 1: have perfected the art of eating pizza. I can eat
Speaker 1: pizza every day. I mean, it's kind of like when
Speaker 1: I went to coach at Harvard up in Massachusetts, as
Speaker 1: a Dunkin Donuts on every corner every two hundred yards.
Speaker 1: It feels like well in Stunt Island, as a pizza
Speaker 1: reay every block or so and you get to try
Speaker 1: it every day. So it is a great place, great people.
Speaker 1: I love going back to visit. It's a terrific place.
Speaker 1: And it's a New Yorker. I'm guessing you must fold
Speaker 1: your pizza. Yeah, there's no other way to eat it.
Speaker 1: What's your folks do for a living? So my mom
Speaker 1: was a secretary at Wagner College for forever thirty plus years.
Speaker 1: My dad was a elementary school principal New York City
Speaker 1: public school system for for a long long time. So
Speaker 1: he coached um JV basketball when I was young, So
Speaker 1: I got kind of the coaching. Uh I guess bug
Speaker 1: back then. But but yeah, so high school coach and administrator.
Speaker 1: He was a college athlete, correct, Yeah, my dad was
Speaker 1: a good basketball player. Played at Wagner College, the Division
Speaker 1: one back then. Played uh really really good competition back
Speaker 1: then with NYU and those teams being great, and uh
Speaker 1: he was a point guard and um, you know, he
Speaker 1: could shoot it. He still he still beats me and
Speaker 1: my sons every time we played twenty one or something.
Speaker 1: He could still shoot the rock. So that could mean
Speaker 1: you're not very good. Yeah, yeah, I could shoot a little,
Speaker 1: but he shoots it better. We're doing fun Facts with
Speaker 1: lou Anna Rumo. So you mentioned that your mom worked
Speaker 1: at Wagner, your dad played sports at Wagner, and you
Speaker 1: went to Wagner. Describe your college football experience. Mine was
Speaker 1: shortened brief for me as a as a player, you know,
Speaker 1: once I got there, played just that first semester or
Speaker 1: half of the semester or whatever it wasn't remember, but
Speaker 1: then got quickly into coaching, and you know, I found
Speaker 1: out that the playing part stopped for me basically in
Speaker 1: high school and then just moved on to coaching right away.
Speaker 1: And I jumped right in and at my old high school,
Speaker 1: and I was able to go school during the day
Speaker 1: and go help those guys out in the afternoon. You
Speaker 1: were the JV head coach as a college student, correct,
Speaker 1: I was, So, I think there was about six months
Speaker 1: difference between There wasn't a whole lot of difference between
Speaker 1: me and the and the guys, but we had fun
Speaker 1: and won some games, and I really really figured out
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do kind of early in my
Speaker 1: life that this was something that you know, I really
Speaker 1: got the bug for then. So I was I was
Speaker 1: all in, do you know why what it is? About
Speaker 1: the profession that captivated you from such an early age.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just you know, you're I think
Speaker 1: it's like the players now when you talk to them
Speaker 1: about potentially retiring or getting away from the game, you
Speaker 1: just meet, you miss being around the guy. So I
Speaker 1: wasn't playing anymore. I still love the game. It was
Speaker 1: just the detail of trying to figure out an opponent
Speaker 1: and then you know, implement it with the players. And
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just liked it right away and
Speaker 1: kind of haven't stopped since we're doing fun facts with
Speaker 1: lou Anna Rumo. Like all coaches, you've made several stops
Speaker 1: on your journey to the NFL. And you mentioned you
Speaker 1: spent time at Harvard. Five years at Harvard. In fact,
Speaker 1: is coaching at Harvard different from anywhere else you've ever coached,
Speaker 1: just because of the caliber of students. Well, some of
Speaker 1: those guys, if you'd ask them, and I'm friends with
Speaker 1: most of them today. But sometimes the book smart doesn't
Speaker 1: apply to the football field, and I would I would
Speaker 1: make numerous references to that in a very colorful way
Speaker 1: back when I was a youngster. And uh, but no,
Speaker 1: they're great guys, you know, and and some of them
Speaker 1: are doing you know, as you can imagine doing so
Speaker 1: well these days. But uh, you know, I would say
Speaker 1: all the time in the meeting room and say, hey,
Speaker 1: this isn't rocket science, and like one of the one
Speaker 1: of the guys raised his hand said, yeah, coach, I
Speaker 1: am in rocket science. And it's not. Okay, Well then
Speaker 1: do it right, you know. So it's it's funny, but no,
Speaker 1: it was great, great experience. Would we recognize the name
Speaker 1: of anybody you coached who has become a CEO or
Speaker 1: a politician or anything like that. I there's probably not
Speaker 1: that in that realm. But there's there's been a handful
Speaker 1: of pro football players. Matt Burke the center for the
Speaker 1: Ravens all those years, and uh, you know, Isaiah Kazvinski
Speaker 1: played tight end and obviously fits I just missed him. Um,
Speaker 1: but there's been a few players. And then the guys
Speaker 1: that are CEOs and that nobody off the top of
Speaker 1: my head that uh, but they're out there. I just
Speaker 1: don't know which ones they're running right now. Eventually, I'm
Speaker 1: sure we'll recognize some of the guys you coached. Your
Speaker 1: longest college stop was eight years at Purdue, so you've
Speaker 1: got an extended taste of life in the Midwest. What
Speaker 1: did you think? Oh, I loved it. You know, it
Speaker 1: was funny. We you know, my first time away from
Speaker 1: the East Coast, and you know, my family sees that
Speaker 1: as home. Today. You talk to my kids, you know,
Speaker 1: we want to go back to Indiana. You know, we
Speaker 1: want to go see our friends. And so it's great.
Speaker 1: I mean, the people are terrific, and um, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just different, totally different from the from the from
Speaker 1: the Northeast. And I realized I was back when I
Speaker 1: made my journey from here in Cincinnati to Columbus on
Speaker 1: a pro day a couple months ago, whenever the heck
Speaker 1: it was and I saw corn fields on my left
Speaker 1: and corn fields on my right, I knew exactly where
Speaker 1: I was. Your first NFL job was with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: Can you describe what it was like to get that offer?
Speaker 1: After you've been uh j V high school head coach,
Speaker 1: now you got the opportunity to coach at the highest level. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I spent my time. I feel like I
Speaker 1: say this all the time. I came up the right
Speaker 1: way because I coached at every level. I coached in
Speaker 1: high school. I coached at Division three, I coached one
Speaker 1: Double A, and I coached major college football and then
Speaker 1: to the NFL. So you kind of learn. You learn
Speaker 1: more what not to do than what to do, and
Speaker 1: through your experiences of hey, I've already seen this work
Speaker 1: or that not work. And to me, I would take
Speaker 1: no other path than the one I did because at
Speaker 1: the end of the days is about teaching and coaching
Speaker 1: the guys, and you learn you got to implement. I
Speaker 1: was at Marshall, I was at Harvard and two different
Speaker 1: type kids, you know, I was at like I said,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, Perdue, and you just learn how to teach.
Speaker 1: Everybody's different and you you find what reaches each individual player.
Speaker 1: Or visiting the lou Anna Rumo on the Dolphins staff,
Speaker 1: you got to know Zach Taylor. What were your initial
Speaker 1: impressions of him? Great? You know, Zach and I would
Speaker 1: get together all the time, you know, just about Hey,
Speaker 1: what's this offense trying to run here? And I would
Speaker 1: go down to his office and asked him about particular routes.
Speaker 1: He would do the same with me on defense and hey,
Speaker 1: what's the defense trying to accomplish here? And so we
Speaker 1: kind of hit it off right away and been kind
Speaker 1: of friends ever since. You were with the Dolphins. When
Speaker 1: the team was featured on Hard Knocks, did you have
Speaker 1: a Hard Knocks moment? I think I did. It wasn't
Speaker 1: too bad. Those guys are great. The NFL film guys
Speaker 1: are tremendous. You don't even know they're there half the time,
Speaker 1: but there are cameras and microphones everywhere, so you got
Speaker 1: to be conscious. But you know, I didn't have anything
Speaker 1: too bad. No, let me let me rephrase that. I
Speaker 1: really didn't. I really didn't have to rethink in it. No,
Speaker 1: you spent last year coaching with the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: Was it surreal to go to work every day so
Speaker 1: close to where you grew up? And I was a
Speaker 1: Giant fan growing up, So it was the first time
Speaker 1: I got there, and you know, I went to visit
Speaker 1: and walk by the trophies and and LT's jersey and
Speaker 1: Phil said, all those guys. When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: that was you know, that was my team, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I was great. And then on Saturdays a lot of
Speaker 1: the alumni would come by and I'd be I know him,
Speaker 1: I know him, I know him, and um, it's just
Speaker 1: such a great, great organization and great place, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and it was it was unbelievable to be there. All right,
Speaker 1: A few random things to wrap this up. Your happiest
Speaker 1: moment as a sports fan was anytime the Yankees beat
Speaker 1: the Red Sox. Um that um, I would have to say,
Speaker 1: I don't remember. The ending wasn't great, But this time
Speaker 1: of the year was a spring of like, uh, I
Speaker 1: don't remember late eighties or early nineties when the Rangers
Speaker 1: were in the Stanley Cup and the Knicks were in
Speaker 1: the NBA finals. Um, and it was when the OJ
Speaker 1: thing happened. So whatever spring that was, what every year
Speaker 1: that was, I don't remember off the top of my head.
Speaker 1: There was like three or four Game sevens throughout that run.
Speaker 1: So every night we would go home or after this
Speaker 1: whenever the heck it was, we would get together with
Speaker 1: the guys and we were watching like the most meaningful
Speaker 1: games that you've you know, when is that ever gonna
Speaker 1: happen again? Two of your favorite teams are going to
Speaker 1: Game sevens and you're battle and it was unbelievable. I
Speaker 1: still remember vividly. I was leaving King's Point, where I
Speaker 1: was working. I was driving home on the Bell Parkway
Speaker 1: in traffic, of course, and Mike and the Mad Dog
Speaker 1: were on the radio and the Knicks were down four
Speaker 1: to two. Excuse me, they couldn't have been four to two.
Speaker 1: I think they were down three two to the Pacers
Speaker 1: and they were playing in Indy and all of them said,
Speaker 1: this is it. You know, there's no way the Knicks
Speaker 1: are going to pull it off. And they came back
Speaker 1: and won both games and went on to the finals.
Speaker 1: So it was just it was unbelievable. I love it.
Speaker 1: Your all time favorite athlete in any sport is I
Speaker 1: would probably say Derek Jeter, just because of who he
Speaker 1: is and what he's done in his career and unscathed
Speaker 1: through the media for twenty years, and it's it's almost
Speaker 1: impossible what he accomplished in all of his achievements, and
Speaker 1: both on and off the field. He also dated nothing
Speaker 1: but tens, which is I consider his greatest achievement. Last
Speaker 1: fun fact, last fun fact for lou Anna Rumo, of
Speaker 1: all the tourist attractions in New York City, which one
Speaker 1: is your favorite? I think, unfortunately, I think the one
Speaker 1: that everybody needs to go see is the nine to
Speaker 1: eleven Memorial I lost a few friends and buddies that
Speaker 1: were firefighters that day, And not that it's my favorite.
Speaker 1: It's just as I would say the pizza places is
Speaker 1: my favorite. But that's something that everybody, if they ever
Speaker 1: go to New York, they need to take the time
Speaker 1: and go do it because it really gives you an
Speaker 1: understanding of what happened and those poor people that died
Speaker 1: that day. It kind of shakes you up. And can
Speaker 1: you actually go through the museum. You can hear the
Speaker 1: terrorists voice. They have it on the voice recorder saying,
Speaker 1: you know, blump whatever they said. But it gets you,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I would advise everybody to do that. The
Speaker 1: Bengals went as a team a few years ago before
Speaker 1: they played the Jets, which is really cool. It's very
Speaker 1: to me, one of the most. Like I said, it'll
Speaker 1: bring you, you know, to realize how lucky we are.
Speaker 1: You've got a meeting. I appreciate your time. Look forward
Speaker 1: to watching your defense play this year. Same here. Thanks
Speaker 1: very much, appreciate it. And that's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this week's podcast. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, stitch your Google Play
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Speaker 1: Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast