After ‘Last Chance U,’ Bonner gets shot at FAU
BOCA RATON — Tim Bonner remembers the date he left Louisville. He remembers who the Cardinals were playing that week (it was Florida State). For him, the memory serves as a reminder of when things changed.
At Louisville, the defensive end said he was falsely accused of having a gun. A dean at the school told Bonner he was “a threat to society” so he had to leave the school, he said. He went home to Alabama, then enrolled at East Mississippi Community College. Now, Bonner is at Florida Atlantic.
To remember the situation, Bonner has pinned a tweet from Oct. 14, 2015 to the top of his Twitter profile: “Things happen for a reason but I'ma still hold my head high outchea.”
“I got it pinned on my profile so when I make it to the league, I just look back on it like ‘I came a long way,’ ” Bonner said.
In the last week, Bonner’s public life has taken a slight twist. He’s become somewhat famous for his role in “Last Chance U,” the Netflix series that follows the EMCC football program. Season Two was released July 21, and Bonner became a fan favorite with his fast-talking sense of humor off the field and his pass rush on the field.
He said his Twitter following has increased, even if he’s trying to remain the same person.
“Since that happened, it’s been growing, but I ain’t been on because of camp,” Bonner said. “I’m just being myself. I ain’t going to change because the followers growing. I’m just still be myself.”
Bonner said he still hasn’t watched the whole series, with the last two episodes remaining in his queue. He would have watched them when they were initially released, but a 3 a.m. release time thwarted those plans. (“I can’t stay up to 3 o’clock to wait to see some episodes.”)
At one point in the show, producers put subtitles on when Bonner speaks. FAU coach Lane Kiffin joked about it after he watched the show himself.
“I understand him better than you guys probably do, so I don’t need subtitles,” Kiffin said.
On the football side, Bonner has been working with the third-team defense for FAU, with Haiden Nagel and Nick Internicola penciled in as starters for the Owls. Bonner is listed a 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, but Kiffin said Bonner’s thin build wouldn’t bother him.
“At this level, as I watch other games from last year and stuff, everybody’s not big,” Kiffin said. “It’s not the SEC. You’re going to play with some shorter guys sometimes. You’re going to play with some tall, skinnier guys. I’m not worried about that.”
Kiffin also said that FAU is working on turning Bonner into a defensive lineman able to play three downs. If he isn’t able to, Bonner could be the Owls’ ace pass rusher on third downs.
Bonner said he’s adjusting to defensive coordinator Chris Kiffin’s playbook, and stressed that he needed to keep learning the plays in order to crack the defensive line rotation.
“I had picked up on some new blitzes today,” Bonner said. “I had picked up on them real good. The rest of it, I just got to keep learning. I got to keep learning the plays.”
Bonner is one of two junior college defensive ends (along with Ernest Bagner) FAU added in February to try to fill the hole Trey Hendrickson left when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints.