FOXBORO — It’s straightforward to attract parallels between new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and inside linebackers coach Dont’a Hightower.
Mayo, a Patriots first-round decide in 2008, retired after the 2015 season, spent three years out of soccer after which returned to the Patriots as inside linebackers coach in 2019. Hightower, a Patriots first-round decide in 2012, final performed in 2021, spent two years out of soccer and now returns to the Patriots in that very same inside linebackers function.
Both Mayo and Hightower had been All-Pros, Pro Bowl alternatives and Super Bowl champions in New England.
“Hightower, he was my little brother when he got here and one of the smartest players that I’ve been around,” Mayo stated Wednesday whereas introducing the Patriots’ new coordinators. “We’ve been talking about this for a while. I’ll be honest with you. We’ve been talking about it for a while. Hightower has always really wanted to coach. He was a coach on the field. Obviously, he took the torch and ran with it. As far as the championships and the leadership skills that he has, it was very important, but it wasn’t like a yesterday, ‘hey man, you want to be my linebacker coach’? This was an extensive search.”
Mayo is busy together with his head teaching function. But he discovered a number of the nuances of learn how to coach from new defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, who rose up the ranks from teaching assistant to exterior linebackers coach and defensive position coach.
Mayo’s recommendation to Hightower is to search out somebody like Covington to study the intricacies of teaching fairly than enjoying.
“Just to be a sponge, the same way he was when he came in as a player. Just try to learn from as many people as possible,” Mayo stated.
“When I got here, I could talk about my journey. You have a guy like DeMarcus Covington, who really started off on offense, moved over to defense, quality control, then all of a sudden, he’s coaching the linebackers without the linebacker tag. He’s going to the front, but he had an extensive knowledge of different position groups. Also, I would say he really helped me with the behind-the-scenes stuff — the drawing of the cards and setting up practice and things like that. Steve [Belichick] helped me as well, but I spent a lot of time with DC and am confident in what he’s taught me. So, with Hightower, he should do the same thing.”
Covington raved about Hightower’s skill as a participant to tackle any function, line up at a number of positions throughout the defensive entrance and lead and talk.
“What he did not only just on the field but in the classroom as a leader, it’s going to bring value to our team,” Covington stated. “So you see guys like that all across the league that become — former players that played at a high level, that also was a leader in the classroom or leader out there with the players, and we’re hoping that same thing transitions similar to Jerod. Hopefully, that transitions for us as a linebacker coach.”
It took Mayo simply 5 years to go from first-year place coach to go coach. Perhaps Hightower might see the identical ascent.
Source: www.bostonherald.com