One of the earliest and perhaps the most influential mentors in Aaron Rodgers’ life was former California Golden Bears head coach Jeff Tedford. The foundation of Rodgers’ storied legacy today was built by Jeff, many—including Rodgers himself—say so. Despite this shared history, though, the duo has a funny memory of first meeting each other, as revealed in Aaron Rodgers: Enigma on Netflix.
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According to Tedford, Rodgers was an accidental scout. Jeff was initially looking at the film of Butte College TE Garrett Cross, which is when he spotted his teammate, Aaron Rodgers.
A-Rod’s talents were breathtaking, Tedford found out, and soon the quarterback got a call for practice. Hilariously enough, a nervous Aaron was taken aback when he spotted Jeff at the throwing session. The head coach walked towards him in what Rodgers recalled as a cape.
The Super Bowl winner reminisced in his Netflix series how intimidated he was to see a 6-foot 8-inch figure wearing a cape-like fabric walking towards him. He simply couldn’t believe the stature of Coach Tedford.
“Obviously, I am nervous, and it’s funny now looking back because when Coach Tedford walked up, he was wearing these glasses, like he always wears. And I remember him, and this probably is not even true, like, in a cape. Like 6 Feet and 8 Inches tall. That’s what it felt like.”
Soon after, Rodgers threw some passes, which he now recalls as a “crucial” session. Aaron’s throwing performance was so immaculate that Tedford was immediately sold. “It was very obvious that the skill set of throwing football was elite,” recalled Jeff.
Once the talent was clear, Jeff called Rodgers that night to discuss how to take things forward. An absent-minded A-Rod, however, missed the part where HC Jeff implied the QB getting a scholarship. In Rodgers’ eyes, he couldn’t believe he had a scholarship offer until Jeff clearly said, “We want to offer you a scholarship”.
This led to Aaron keeping the Golden Bears hanging until Jeff straight-up asked Aaron for an answer. At that point, a timing Aaron slyly asked Jeff about the scholarship confusion, to which Tedford clarified that the offer was already made during the call on the night of the practice session. Safe to say, A-Rod was embarrassed.
“Oh sh*t, I am so sorry. I thought you had to say, like, ‘We want to offer you a scholarship’ because I have obviously never been offered a scholarship before.”
Once the confusion was sorted out, the rest, as they say, was history. The most endearing part of their relationship, however, came decades later when Rodgers had the opportunity to help his mentor out.
Back in 2014, when Bucs head coach Lovie Smith was looking for an offensive coordinator, Rodgers vouched for his former California mentor for the role. Given the significant role Jeff played in Rodgers’ career, the decision was fairly easy for Smith. So, he reached out to Jeff and made him his OC at Tampa Bay.
“I wanted a guy with an expertise at the quarterback position. … I talked to Aaron a few times. He was in the room with Jeff, knew how Jeff helped his career. He gave Jeff a ringing endorsement.”
While Tedford’s debut NFL stint with the Bucs didn’t go as planned, the fact that Rodgers vouched for him is heartwarming. For someone who scouted the now-Jets QB and even Jared Goff, it would have been sad if he never found an opportunity in the NFL. Thanks to A-Rod, Jeff got his due.
