“I like Buffalo, but it’s really far away,” Russell Bonner said. “I think that I’ll get more offers, but if I don’t, I’ll definitely go to Buffalo. A free education is the most important thing to me.”
“To be honest, I’d like to stay somewhere near the South. I have a lot of family down here. I want them to see me play. If I go too far away, it’ll be hard for them to see me play.”
The Georgia native is currently interested in six schools.
“I have some top schools, but not in any order,” he stated. “I like Miami of Ohio, Western Kentucky, Indiana, Duke, Buffalo, and Akron.”
Three schools are currently showing a serious interest in Bonner. One of those schools may be heading towards an offer in the near future.
“I’ve been getting a lot of mail from Ball State, Connecticut, and Akron,” he commented. “I get mail from those programs almost everyday. Out of those three, I’ve probably talked to Akron the most.”
“I’ve sent them (Akron) two videos. I’ve talked to their defensive coordinator a few times. They want to see some video of my first few games next year. They said that when they see that, there’d be a good chance of an offer.”
Bonner believes that more than likely he’ll project as a free safety on the next level.
“All of the schools except for one have talked to me about playing safety,” he said. “The Citadel has talked to me about playing outside linebacker. I play strong safety for our team, but I definitely think that I’ll play free safety in college.”
Bonner reports that he has always been a fan of an SEC team with which he has a family connection – the Volunteers.
“I’ve always been a Tennessee fan,” he commented. “My dad graduated from there. I’ve gotten one letter from them, but that was it. If I got a Tennessee offer, I’d throw a big party. That’d be an amazing offer.”
The South Metro Atlanta prospect had a very solid showing at the Under Armour/Scout.com combine.
“I wish that I could’ve run a little better than a 4.63,” he said. “At Middle (Tennessee), I ran 4.59, and that was on a slow surface. I was happy with my L cone (7.06). All around, I tested really well.”
Bonner continued, “I felt that I did pretty good in coverage there. On a scale of one to 10, I feel that I would’ve scored a seven or eight. Three balls were thrown to the receivers that I was covering. Only one of those three was caught by a receiver.”
Bonner believes his instincts are what make him successful.
“For me, I think that it’s about reading things,” he said. “If I see two wideouts lined up, I seem to know what they’re going to do before they run it. I think that my instincts are really good.”
In 2007, Bonner totaled 49 tackles - two for a loss, three interceptions, four pass breakups, and one forced fumble. He has very high goals for his talented team next year as well as one personal goal as he heads into his senior season.
“We always try to accomplish winning our region and our sub-region,” he said. “Then we want to get past the third round and then to the state title game. That would be big because our school has never been past the second round.”
“Individually, I just want to get my education paid for. I want to go to school for free. Playing good football will help me to achieve that.”