Nik Bonitto is one of those quiet types with loud skills, an introvert by nature. But a pushover, he ain’t.
Just ask the new Broncos outside linebacker’s father, Vince, who offered up a tale about the time his son got into the face of Jason Taylor, then his coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale.
Respectfully, of course.
“They didn’t get into an argument, but let’s say it was just an exchange of different philosophies for the game,” the elder Bonitto recalled with a grin. “And Nik wanted to rush the quarterback and they wanted him to be more of spy. So second quarter, he goes out there, he gets two straight tackles for losses.”
Taylor got the message. So did Roger Harriott, Aquinas’ head coach.
“He doesn’t have a problem with standing his ground and defending his position,” Harriott told The Post in a phone interview Saturday. “He’s not a pushover, either. There are introverts that are pushovers that don’t like confrontations. I don’t think he has a problem with that at all.”
He hasn’t had much of a problem handling opposing blockers, either.
In 2020, the 6-foot-3, 248-pound pass-rushing specialist recorded eight sacks in 10 starts at Oklahoma en route to being selected as an Associated Press’ second-team All-American. Last fall, the Broncos’ second-round pick (No. 64 overall) racked up seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss over 12 starts.
“When we talk about affecting the quarterback,” defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said of his new toy, “this is the type of player we’re talking about.”
And how’s this for irony? With one of the draft picks acquired in the trade that sent Von Miller to the Rams last fall, the Broncos may have found one of Miller’s successors off the edge.
“He was a guy that I’ve always looked at as the pinnacle to what a great edge rusher is,” Bonitto said of the Vonster. “And (Miller is) a standard of what I want to be. So just watching him, just seeing a lot of the things that (he’s) done in the game, just things I want to accomplish … I’m gonna have to work to get to where he’s at.”
He might idolize Miller, but his game, frame and ceiling might be closer to that of another Hall-of-Fame pass-rusher: Taylor.
For one, the pair’s builds aren’t dissimilar — long, lean and mean. For another, Taylor was Bonitto’s coach during the latter’s senior season at Aquinas.
“(Taylor) told me, and I’ll never forget it,” Vince recalled. “He said, ‘At this point, where Nick is, Nick was better than (me) in high school.’”
High praise. A high bar, too.
One that the younger Bonitto can reach for considering that he logged a 35.5-inch vertical jump at the scouting combine a few months back. Truth be told, his father said, basketball — not football — is the Broncos linebacker’s first love.
“(Bonitto) can cover receivers, man,” Harriott added. “Don’t let the size fool you. He’s as quick as a cat. He has tremendous basketball skills. Which definitely transition to football.”
His 20-yard shuttle-time: 4.23. Yeah, that translates.
“I feel l like it definitely helped with football,” the Broncos draft pick observed, “just because having to guard (hoops) guards back in the day, you’re going to have to have quick feet, you’re going to have to have great lateral movement.
“And I feel like a lot of those things come into play when it comes to pass-rushing and getting (blockers) off the spot and beating guys, making guys move in space, making plays in space, as well as the drop in coverage. So a lot of those (things) in basketball definitely translated.”
Just ask Taylor.
“(After the disagreement), Jason was like, ‘I didn’t want to tell him,’” Vince recounted with a smile, “’but (Nik) was kind of right.’
