Teddy Bridgewater can still draw a crowd, even if he is now a high school football head coach. Hundreds of fans lined the field to watch Bridgewater coach spring ball, underscoring not just his celebrity in South Florida but the insatiable appetite the state has for the sport.
Bridgewater, a former Heisman Trophy candidate in college at Louisville, was a first-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft. Upon his retirement following 10 years in the NFL, Bridgewater announced that he would become head coach at Miami Northwestern High School (Miami, Florida).
Northwestern, coincidentally, is where Bridgewater played his high school football and would become a four-star national recruit (he was the No. 113 recruit in the nation in the 2011 class according to Rivals).
So Bridgewater’s return to Northwestern was a big deal and one that has created understandable buzz in and around the community.
He made his team run around the field and thank the fans who showed up to watch practice.
Bridgewater said he is trying to establish within the program “A culture that’s built around hard work.”
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“We live in a time where everything is handed to these kids,” Bridgewater said. “And I want to come back and remind them that everything you really want, you have to work hard for.”
Northwestern went a disappointing 4-6 last season.