Demopolis defensive end Tim Bonner commits to Louisville

Demopolis High defensive end Tim Bonner verbally committed to Louisville Tuesday, choosing the Cardinals over Kentucky and Mississippi State among others.

“They’ve got a great campus and their coaches really want me to be their speed rusher. Their best speed rusher is leaving and they need one, so I did what’s best for me and became a Cardinal,” Bonner said of his decision to commit to Louisville. “And they are a winning team that lost one game last year, so I’ll have a better chance to be on a championship team.”

Bonner received the Louisville offer while attending a camp at the northern Kentucky institution.

In addition to potentially serving as the Cardinals’ speed rusher, Bonner figures to see plenty of reps on special teams where his play has turned heads.

“They watched my Hudl and saw me running down field on kickoffs,” Bonner said. “Their special teams coach said he is going to put me on kickoff my first year.”

“His play on special teams is something that had a lot to do with it,” Demopolis defensive coordinator Matt Geohagan said of the Bonner’s numerous Division I offers. “Some of the thing he was able to do on our kickoff coverage really got a lot of people’s attention.”

Bonner’s stock has taken a meteoric rise over the last year as teams recruiting former Demopolis High standouts Tyler Merriweather, Demetrius Kemp and Cortez Lewis were all able to get a look at the Tigers’ athletic pass rush specialist in the process.

“I think it definitely came from that because we had so much attention on certain guys that he had a prime opportunity to be seen by major colleges,” Geohagan said of how Bonner began to appear on the radar of major programs. “That’s something we talk to our kids about. We tell them you never know who is going to come to watch somebody else on our team or even on other teams – since we play such good competition throughout the season – and notice you in the process.”

Bonner has flirted with double digit sack totals each of the last two years despite playing largely in special packages with limited snaps.

“He has a quickness and an agility about him that he is very hard to block,” Geohagan said. “He does a really good job running to the ball. I think he can give offensive linemen fits. He is a coachable kid too. He does everything within his power to do what his coaches are asking him to do.”