Bucs-Jesuit football family ties

TAMPA, Fla. - Jesuit football is coming off a third consecutive trip the state semifinal, none of which have resulted in a championship. Needless to say, the Tigers enter 2021 with a fire in their belly.

"We're all really angry that we lost last year," senior linebacker AJ Cottrell said. "We're all just coming back, trying to finish the job."

Head coach Matt Thompson feels the defense is the best it's ever been during his Jesuit tenure.

The offense is dealing with some personnel turnover, but the Tigers do have some Super Bowl Championship pedigree. Sophomore wide receiver Bryson Goodwin is the son of Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant head coach, Harold Goodwin and junior linebacker Troy Bowles is the son of Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. 

Both are rather humble about it.

"Usually, I don't just walk around telling people that," Goodwin said about people reacting to learning who is father is. "They'll know me for a while, and then they'll be like 'oh your dad coaches for the Bucs,' and it's kind of funny."

"Some of them wait until I bring it up, but I really don't bring it up," Bowles added. "I just wait until people talk to be about it."

Occasionally the two will get their opponent's best shot upon learning who their fathers are.

"I just do my best, no matter what," Goodwin said. 

"I like the pressure to be honest because it shows me that everyone is coming at me with everything they've got," Bowles said. "That's all you can ask for."

The real question is what is life like as a high school football player being raised by a pro football coach?

"He's 75% dad," Bowles said. "He's barely Coach Bowles because when he comes home, he likes to chill."

"He's a dad when he can be because he's always working," Goodwin said. "When it comes down to football, he's a coach, especially with me."

Having an NFL coach as a father does yield good advice.

"Nothing is ever done perfect when we're watching my film," Bowles said. "He always says there's something I could do better."

By all accounts, however, Coach Bowles and Coach Goodin let Coach Thompson do his thing.

"They don't get involved in how we coach," Coach Thompson said. "We coach their sons up and they want us to coach them hard, and we coach them hard."