05-19-2023, 03:23 PM
A Coach's Son, Bengals Rookie Safety Jordan Battle Arrives Well-Schooled
Geoff Hobson: They met for the first time like so many of them do, shoved into a Lucas Oil Stadium suite during those 18 bizarre minutes in Indianapolis that the NFL scouting combine sets aside for teams to interview prospects.
When this prospect met with the Bengals staff, safeties coach Robert Livingston was charged with running the group through a series of cutups showcasing The Coach's Son. Livingston got to maybe the third snap, a complex play replete with shifts and sounds when Livingston heard a guy who sounded more Coach than Son. The Coach's Son rattled off the minutest of the play's details complete with a breakdown of the responsibilities of the front.
"I kind of felt like he snuck in there and watched it already," recalls Livingston. "It was clear this guy knew ball. I looked around at everybody else and I'm thinking, 'OK. I think we're probably good here, bud. So tell us about how you are. What about you?"
So they found out Alabama safety Jordan Battle is a Coach's Son. He's the son of Theresa Battle, too, but it was Fred Battle, a former pro and long-time Miami-area high school basketball coach who had him for about eight years on the AAU basketball team he ran and says, "If I had 15 Jordan Battles, I wouldn't lose a game because they do it just the way you want them to do it and when you told him to do it he would try to be the best he could be doing it. He's always had that."
The Coach's Son certainly had it for 18 minutes in Indy.
"When he walked out of the room, I think everyone felt the same way," Livingston says. "He's different, he understands the game."
The Bengals understood exactly what they were getting in the third round of last month's draft. Here's a heavily recruited blue-chipper from the football hotbed of Miami who was in the middle of 52 games for Nick Saban's pro-ready defense and knows what time it is. As Livingston says, Battle already knows what it's like to walk into a room where a bunch of five-star guys already sit.
"He's big. He's got a big frame for a safety," says Nick Scott, a Super Bowl champ and one of the vets in front of him. "But he can still move. Athletic. And he's smart. He's picking things up so far. We're excited. I think he's a guy that can contribute all the way. He can help us whether it be on teams or defense. He's a smart player. Everybody has seen his tape at Alabama. He's playing against the best in college football. He seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders."
Do you want to know about Jordan Battle? That's where you start.
"I pride myself on being a student of the game. I try to be a coach out there on the field," Battle says. "Help out any way I can. I probably get that from being a coach's son for sure. That definitely has a lot to do with it."
Battle knows why Fred says he'd be unbeaten with 15 of him.
"I love defense," Jordan Battle says. "I'd get most of my points off steals and layups and running in transition. That was the main part of my game. If you have that on your team, you're going to be unstoppable, especially when you can press all game."
Fred Battle admits it hurt a little bit when it came time to call the college shot and both sons opted for football instead of basketball. Jaylen Battle, the oldest by five-and-a-half years, went to Illinois State as a safety. When Fred got out of tiny Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, he went pro and played eight years in Greece, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. He loved playing for Cypress because the city's tropical beauty reminded him of Miami and there was a mutual love affair with the Venezuelan people he cherishes. They loved all things American like hats and shirts and sneakers. Those were the days he'd leave for the season with two suitcases and come back with none.
"He didn't talk about it much," Jordan Battle says of his dad's career. "One time he did show me a newspaper where he set something like the season scoring average record."
Geoff Hobson: They met for the first time like so many of them do, shoved into a Lucas Oil Stadium suite during those 18 bizarre minutes in Indianapolis that the NFL scouting combine sets aside for teams to interview prospects.
When this prospect met with the Bengals staff, safeties coach Robert Livingston was charged with running the group through a series of cutups showcasing The Coach's Son. Livingston got to maybe the third snap, a complex play replete with shifts and sounds when Livingston heard a guy who sounded more Coach than Son. The Coach's Son rattled off the minutest of the play's details complete with a breakdown of the responsibilities of the front.
"I kind of felt like he snuck in there and watched it already," recalls Livingston. "It was clear this guy knew ball. I looked around at everybody else and I'm thinking, 'OK. I think we're probably good here, bud. So tell us about how you are. What about you?"
So they found out Alabama safety Jordan Battle is a Coach's Son. He's the son of Theresa Battle, too, but it was Fred Battle, a former pro and long-time Miami-area high school basketball coach who had him for about eight years on the AAU basketball team he ran and says, "If I had 15 Jordan Battles, I wouldn't lose a game because they do it just the way you want them to do it and when you told him to do it he would try to be the best he could be doing it. He's always had that."
The Coach's Son certainly had it for 18 minutes in Indy.
"When he walked out of the room, I think everyone felt the same way," Livingston says. "He's different, he understands the game."
The Bengals understood exactly what they were getting in the third round of last month's draft. Here's a heavily recruited blue-chipper from the football hotbed of Miami who was in the middle of 52 games for Nick Saban's pro-ready defense and knows what time it is. As Livingston says, Battle already knows what it's like to walk into a room where a bunch of five-star guys already sit.
"He's big. He's got a big frame for a safety," says Nick Scott, a Super Bowl champ and one of the vets in front of him. "But he can still move. Athletic. And he's smart. He's picking things up so far. We're excited. I think he's a guy that can contribute all the way. He can help us whether it be on teams or defense. He's a smart player. Everybody has seen his tape at Alabama. He's playing against the best in college football. He seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders."
Do you want to know about Jordan Battle? That's where you start.
"I pride myself on being a student of the game. I try to be a coach out there on the field," Battle says. "Help out any way I can. I probably get that from being a coach's son for sure. That definitely has a lot to do with it."
Battle knows why Fred says he'd be unbeaten with 15 of him.
"I love defense," Jordan Battle says. "I'd get most of my points off steals and layups and running in transition. That was the main part of my game. If you have that on your team, you're going to be unstoppable, especially when you can press all game."
Fred Battle admits it hurt a little bit when it came time to call the college shot and both sons opted for football instead of basketball. Jaylen Battle, the oldest by five-and-a-half years, went to Illinois State as a safety. When Fred got out of tiny Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, he went pro and played eight years in Greece, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. He loved playing for Cypress because the city's tropical beauty reminded him of Miami and there was a mutual love affair with the Venezuelan people he cherishes. They loved all things American like hats and shirts and sneakers. Those were the days he'd leave for the season with two suitcases and come back with none.
"He didn't talk about it much," Jordan Battle says of his dad's career. "One time he did show me a newspaper where he set something like the season scoring average record."
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
