The All-Madden Flag Football tryouts produced top skilled players at every position.
Players hustled, sweated and endured through multiple drills. On display were the slalom, shuffle and sprint drill, the lateral cone drill, back peddle and the hop drop and roll drill.
“We have coaches at every position. The coaches’ jobs were to evaluate the level of the skill of the players. Twenty-six players eventually were selected,” said head coach Isaiah Thompson-Bonilla.
Jhavonte Carr made the team as a cornerback and will receive some playing time at running back and wide receiver. Carr played football at Oak Grove High School and for a year at San Jose City College.
During the intramural league flag football season, Carr proved to be a threat at wide receiver, catching several deep passes for touchdowns.
“Tryouts were like a combine. Everybody showed their talent,” Carr said. “It was tough on everybody, and it wasn’t easy. I felt confident and my main focus going into the tryouts is to better the team and myself.”
Thompson-Bonilla was impressed by the players’ skills. In regards to Carr he said, “I saw a guy who had Division I ability and his football IQ is above average. He showed me that he is a good team player and that he has a really good attitude.”
“The level of skill that these guys brought to the field made our job seriously undoable, as far as in the decision-making process,” he said. “I truly commend everybody out there. Their effort was 100 percent.”
About 60 athletes attended the tryout and filled the Lower Yard football field. Thompson-Bonilla expressed how the athletes who did not make the final roster would remain involved with the team.
“They’re now the practice squad. It allows us to have an offense and defense squad to practice against. If a player gets hurt, we will bring a player off the practice squad to the active roster,” Thompson-Bonilla said
Thompson-Bonilla played football at Newark Memorial High School and was a first team All-American at quarterback and defensive back. He played college football at Ohio State University and played professionally in the Canadian Football League.
He learned his coaching techniques through playing football at multiple levels. “I learned coaching from Pop Warner all the way through college,” said Thompson-Bonilla. “Coach Earl Bruce, former Ohio State football coach, is where I learned almost all of my coaching style.”