Bonamego remembers scouting Johnny Hekker before 2012 draft

Bonamego has coached for several teams across the NFL, including two stints with the Jaguars. His second came in 2012, and that year as the special teams coordinator, he remembered watching and meeting with a punter out of Oregon State by the name of Johnny Hekker.

The Jaguars instead drafted Bryan Anger in the third round, but Bonamego is familiar with Hekker’s game and remembers conversations he had with him.

“I’ve already done my homework on those guys. A lot of those guys I looked at coming out of the draft,” Bonamego said. “I had a pretty good relationship with Johnny before he signed here. I was in Jacksonville at the time and took a kid by the name of Bryan Anger instead, but I remember those conversations.

“Those guys are like any other position – they want to be coached, they want to get better. And it’s really working with them and establishing a rapport and routine and learning what they can do and what they do well and try to keep them out of situations that are asking them to do things that they don’t do well. So the number one takeaway there is communication.”