0:00

Twenty five away from five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. My names

0:04

Moeger. So one of the things we like to do if we can,

0:08

is after the Bengals have their draft sive through the players. And I always

0:12

think that people who are best positioned to talk about the individual players are the

0:17

guys who coached them at certain positions, their position coaches. So we get

0:24

the draft class and they gets done, and on Sunday morning, I'm sitting

0:28

down and I'm like, well, let's get eric Al's tight end coach on

0:31

tight end's coach at Iowa on and so I do the research. It's abdul

0:37

Hodge and then I go, we wait a minute, I know that name.

0:40

Is it the same guy that played for the Bengals in the late two

0:42

thousands And the answer is yes, he was a linebacker. Now he's the

0:46

tight ends coach at Iowa, which is where eric All played last year.

0:50

And so it's awesome to have former Bengal and Iowa tight ends coach abdul Hodge

0:55

with us. It's good to have you coach what's going on now? Much

0:58

thanks for having me, glad to be on. I appreciate you doing this.

1:02

So we're excited about Eric All and obviously somebody we're familiar with because he's

1:06

he's from this area. But if you and I were to sit down and

1:10

watch film, what's the first thing about his game that you're pointing out to

1:12

me? This is is supposive miss and physicality. I think when you turn

1:18

the tape on, AB's a guy that plays the game one hundred and ten

1:22

miles an hour and he gives you one hundred percent, and he's he plays

1:26

the game fast and physical, and that's kind of what we loved about him

1:30

early on with watching him in a victim championship game a couple of years ago

1:34

when he played at Michigan and we had an opportunity to get him here at

1:38

Iowa through the transfer portal, and the way he plays the game, a

1:42

lot of passion, a lot of speed, a lot of physicality, and

1:46

I tell East to tell Scals, he's one of the most explosive players I've

1:49

seen play this game at that position. So you get him at Iowa and

1:53

obviously started his career in the Big ten at Michigan. Give me an idea

1:57

of some things that he he that he improved upon from the time that you

2:00

got him to his departure for the NFL. Well, Michigan did a great

2:06

job developing them, so they signed him out of high school. Michigan is

2:09

a program that you know that developed players, and especially at his position,

2:15

playing the tight end. At the tight end position, they use them a little bit more in the passing game, primarily when he was at Michigan.

2:22

When he came here at Iowa, we got a chance to also develop him

2:27

a little bit more in a run game. I'm not saying he couldn't run

2:29

blocked, but I thought he that was That was one of the phases of

2:32

his game and he can improve on because he's been He's an each I mean,

2:38

his ability in the passing game is uh is really great, but improving

2:42

in the run game, especially when you look at the NFL teams, most

2:45

of them running pro style system. So if you look at us offensively or

2:49

traditionally, we put guys in a lot of different spots. You know they

2:52

can have you know, they can be in line, they can be off the ball, they could be split out, and last year we also used

2:59

them as at the full back spot when we was in our thirteen to fourteen personnel so I don't know if, like I told Eric, I'm not sure

3:06

what kind of system they're gonna they're gonna run, but they're not gonna actually do anything that you haven't really got before. So he's really comfortable being on

3:12

the ball, being off the ball, being split out at number number number

3:15

one in the slot, and also playing fullback. I mean he also has

3:20

a lot of specialty value. So he's excited about it. I know he's

3:23

excited for him to go back home, and he's excited to get gone and

3:27

get to work. Where would you say is maybe an area where between now

3:30

and the start of his rookie season of the started training camp, he needs

3:34

to focus on more than others. Well, he's coming off of an injury.

3:38

He got injured and has surge under his knee week six of this past

3:44

season. So I think he's ahead right now. I think he needs to

3:46

continue that, continue his rehab and make sure that stays on track. But

3:53

at the same time, he can get a lot of mental reps he can get into, get in as soon as possible and start learning the system climate

4:00

it with a special teams coach, because that's going to be huge for him, which he's a kid that wants to play special teams. You know,

4:04

when he first got here, he was on our starting punt return. He

4:09

was on the on the back line of kickoff return. So he's a kid

4:12

that, hey, coach, I want to play special teams and I want

4:14

to I want to play offense. So he's going to do whatever it takes

4:17

to help the team win, which you love that about the kid from Grace

4:20

Mile. Love to play the game, and he plays again the right way.

4:24

But this process for him, I told him, don't you know,

4:27

just continue to rehab, continue to make sure you stay on track with that,

4:30

because that's the that's the most important thing. If he's one hundred percent, you're going to get a really great football player because he can play football

4:36

and he's not He does a lot of things, not youly on the field

4:40

in a passing game, but also in the running game. You know,

4:42

the you've you've kind of been through the process of of making the lead from

4:46

college football to the NFL, and so you're you're familiar with how this works

4:49

as a position coach. Now, what what questions did teams, whether they're

4:54

the Bengals or or other squads, what what what questions do they have for

4:58

you about Eric? Uh, that's how he picked up the system, Like

5:01

how how is he in the classroom? Because they know you have the physical

5:03

capability, so how does he learn? It was an important part of that

5:10

a lot of questions. That was one of the most important questions that a

5:13

lot of the different teams or scoutsman asks, like how does he learn? How is he in the room? How did how did you know coming from

5:18

the coming in as a from Michigan, from the from the via the transport

5:24

portal? How did he acclimate at Iowa? And I told him he did

5:29

an amazing job. The guys loved him. He had a great smile.

5:32

He loves playing football. You know, he's he's a different guy off the

5:35

field, but when he gets on the field, he's very intense. He's

5:39

passionate, and he loved what he does. And he's a he's a tough

5:42

kid physically and mentally so. And in our system, we moved them all

5:46

around a lot of different spots, similar to what he did at Michigan. I thought he did a great job picking up our system and hitting the ground

5:51

running. So we put him at a lot of different spots. We put

5:55

him at the why we put him off the ball at the f we put

5:57

him at the fullback spot, we put him backside as the So he's a

6:00

guy that you can move around and play different positions. And he runs like

6:04

a wide receiver, so he got the physical capabilities of a tight end.

6:08

So you can use him as a michmatch on cornerbacks and linebackers and safeties.

6:14

And he's a great kid and I love having him in the room and he

6:17

was he was awesome. You got to coach Sam Laporta and then you get

6:21

to coach Eric All are are there similarities between the two? Absolutely? Absolutely,

6:29

First and foremost, when Eric got here on campus, Sam was one

6:32

of the guys that hosted him on his visits, so those two kind of

6:35

kicked it off. The other The other thing was Sam was a guy that

6:42

can play every position on the football field. I'm talking about a receiver and

6:46

tight end. So we moved them around at all four or five spots,

6:49

okay, and then you can play in multiple systems and they're really good in

6:54

the run game, and Sam was really good in the passing game. As

6:56

you can see this past season with the Detroit Lions, it's very similar where

7:01

he has huge upside and athletic ability in the passing game. But if you

7:06

turn on that tape, and I would tell scouts, turn on the tape

7:10

and watch how physical he is in the run game, especially when he's pulling.

7:14

He's the lead blocker, like he's playing fast, he's playing violin,

7:17

He's playing physical, and that's his game. And when you have a guy

7:21

like that, like sham Ma Porter, you have a guy like that for

7:25

er call. They're not livcate to what you can do with them from an

7:28

offensive perspective because they are weapons in the passing game. But when it's time

7:32

to run the football, okay, you can put them at the point of

7:35

attack and they'll also get a job done. Abdul hodges with us. So

7:41

walk me through this. You're a linebacker, you played in the NFL,

7:44

you played here, you were on a good team in two thousand and nine.

7:46

How do you go from playing linebacker to coaching tight ends? Great question.

7:53

I've you know, been blessed to be around some really really great coaches

7:57

and mentors and around a lot of great system. So when I at Iowa,

8:03

Norn Parker, he was a defensive coordinator. He was our linebacker coach. So when you have when you're playing linebacker for the coordinator, defensive coordinator,

8:11

offensive coordinator. In my case is with the defensive coordinator, he's coaching

8:15

the linebackers. Well, you're not just going to learn your position, which

8:18

you're going to learn the entire defense and you're going to learn the offense as

8:22

well too from a defensive perspective. When I when I went from Green Bay

8:26

to Cincinnati, coach Jeff Fitzgeral, he is a really great coach. He

8:31

was very detailed. He was really high on the techniques and fundamentals of the

8:37

game. He was highling little things to demeanor, being a great teammate,

8:41

being a great leader, being accountable, all the things that's going to separate

8:46

guys at the collegiate and the NFL level. So when I got done coach.

8:52

When I got into coaching, I was coaching at linebackers at University of

8:54

South Dakota and then obviously coach Farance reached out to me and there was opportunity

8:58

for me to at tight end. But when you when you peel it all

9:01

back, there's a lot of similarities between playing linebacker and playing tight end because

9:07

you're you're involved in the run game, you're involved in the passing game,

9:11

and then it's you know, when it comes down to it, the techniques

9:15

and fundamentals may vary, but the fundamentals are the same. So in on

9:20

defense, you still got to get off blocks and you got to tackle.

9:24

On offense, you got to be able to sustain blocks, and you got

9:26

to be able to get open in the passing game. And advance of football.

9:30

And then I've been able to be around some great coaches here that's giving

9:33

me the information I need to go and coach that position. But one when

9:37

I peel it all back, guys like coach Jesse, Jail, nom Parker,

9:41

of course Sarnce, coach Moss when I was with the Packers, I

9:45

take something from all of those guys and then I put it into those guys

9:48

in the room. But it's about the technique and fundamentals. It's not about

9:52

schemes. It's about the people. It's about having a right demeanor, doing

9:56

the little things right, and being a great teammate and and putting the work

9:58

in, working hard and executing system and being more consistent on the on the

10:03

on a on a consistent basis. So here I am coaching the tight ends

10:07

and loving it, enjoying what I'm doing at a place that has become really

10:11

well known for tight ends. Before I let you go, since you were

10:15

a Bengal, give me one or two of your favorite memories playing for that

10:18

nine team, which was really good. You played in the playoffs for the

10:20

Bengals. What's your favorite couple of memories as a Cincinnati Bengal. I would

10:26

say that year. The one thing that sticks outed when we swept the division.

10:30

Yes, we beat Green Deal up and green I'm us beating Green Bay

10:33

up in Green Bay. To go through that division undefeated and we had it.

10:37

We beat Pittsburgh twice, Browns twice, you know it's Ravens twice.

10:43

And then that when we had up up there in Hinesfield was was huge that

10:48

year. So to be able to go up and do that and say,

10:50

hey, we went undefeated in this division, which is one of the best

10:54

divisions and in football, I think was a great thing. But what I

10:58

remember most is coach Lewis, Coach Marvin Lewis. What I remember the most

11:03

are coach Jeff Fitzgerald and the guys that was in the room. You know,

11:07

your teammates and the guys that you built relationships with. There's not so

11:11

much a football part of it, but there was a lot of great guys

11:15

in that locker room, a lot of great coaches to this day that we still connect and make sure we're checking in on each other and we're friends.

11:22

It's a cool story. Your coaching career is off to a great start.

11:26

Eric All. We can't wait to watch him. I appreciate the insight. Thank you so much. Appreciate it any time. Thank you, you got

11:33

it. Abdul Hodge eric All's tight ends coach that was good at the University

11:37

of Iowa. Abdull played for the Bengals. He was joined the team in

11:41

eight was cut before twenty ten, but was on that nine team and played

11:46

in nine games that year. Played in the playoff game. I remember a

11:48

forced fumble on an ed reed punt return, Abdul had. So, yeah,

11:54

I'm sitting there Sunday and kind of looking at you know some some people

11:58

we could get on, and I'm like, man, I know that name.

12:01

Former Bengal Abdul Hodge tight ends coach at Iowa had Sam Laporta last year,

12:05

Eric All. This year, Eric All drafted by the Bengals, one

12:09

of two tight ends taken by Cincinnati this past weekend. It is a thirteen

12:13

away from five o'clock. The first ever Big twelve champion at the University of

12:18

Cincinnati is going to join us at U five point twenty on ESPN fifteen thirty

12:22

Cincinnati Sports Station. Hey there, what's through to