How Joe Burrow’s hometown followed the quarterback into the ‘Who Dey’ army
LA TimesHe dribbled an imaginary basketball around the room before taking aim at a hoop only he could see. “That’s when it hit me,” said Nathan White, Joe Burrow’s offensive coordinator in high school, recounting watching his little boy, Sam. Sam Smathers remembers his assistant coach, Heath Bullock, as they watched little Joe Burrow bound up the hill, say, “Hey, here comes ‘Joe Cool,’ your next quarterback.” A few days after the Bengals won the AFC championship, Burrow relayed the story of how, growing up, he wanted to be a running back or wide receiver. “It’s great that the world is getting to see the Joe we’ve known all along,” said Zacciah Saltzman, one of Burrow’s high school teammates. On game days, Burrow has become a fashion must-see, possessing a swagger that Bengals teammate Tyler Boyd called Burrow’s “own sauce.” Always a cool customer, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow walks down a stadium tunnel wearing a coat decorated with hearts before the AFC championship game in Kansas City.