Skip to main content
Join Now

Two-time BCS National Champion comments on the "Teddy Bridgewater Bill"

Lawrence Andrew Fernandezby: Lawrence Fernandez03/03/26lawandfern

Former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was the catalyst for the passing of Florida Senate Bill 178. Once enacted into law, the so-called “Teddy Bridgewater Bill” will allow Florida K-12 head coaches to use $15,000 of their personal funds for student-athlete welfare, like food, transportation, and recovery services.

Current Ramsay High School running backs coach Trent Richardson approved of this development by saying, “I feel for Teddy on this. For him to be doing that stuff for these kids, man, I commend him, and kudos to Teddy Bridgewater.”

The Florida High School Athletic Association suspended Bridgewater from coaching following allegations that he provided impermissible benefits to his players. He even pleaded on Facebook for help covering team expenses, such as Uber rides, pre-game meals, and athletic recovery services.

In his lone season as head coach, Bridgewater led his alma mater, Miami Northwestern, to the FHSAA Class 3A state championship. That title and the team’s 12-2 record led the Bulls to finish sixth in the Rivals Florida Composite High School Team Rankings.

Richardson, a high school football coach, has personally encountered the circumstances that led to Teddy Bridgewater’s suspension. The 2011 Doak Walker Award winner added, “At the end of the day, you’ve got kids who got real problems. I had a kid on my team say, ‘Coach, I haven’t had shoes.’ I was watching the kid, and every day he would come here for practice. He’d always run slides and (I asked), ‘Man, where you’re shoes at?’ We were doing walkthroughs in the gym, and he said, ‘Coach, I haven’t had shoes since the sixth grade.’ And he was in 11th grade at the time.”

Richardson won two national titles at Alabama. However, he had a short-lived career in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns and the Indianapolis Colts. He also played professionally in the Canadian Football League, the Alliance of American Football, and the Liga de Futbol Americano Profesional.