Richard Hightower's Specialty Evident in Shrine Bowl Loss

You can take the special teams coordinator out of Chicago but you can't take the special teams out of the special teams coordinator.

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower acted as head coach Friday for the East team in the 99th East-West Shrine Bowl and his offense was being kept out of the end zone into the second half.

No problem, because Hightower knows the value of special teams.

Punt returner Anthony Gould from Oregon State returned a 54-yard punt by BYU's Ryan Rehkow 80 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

With the Bears in need of a more dangerous punt return threat, Gould is someone who could be worth considering as a possible undrafted free agent. He returned the ball 26 times at Oregon State and averaged 16.3 yards per return with two TDs in the 2022 season. He never averaged less than 10.3 for a season. Gould was a receiver and had 44 catches for 718 yards last year for the Beavers (16.3 yards per catch) with two TDs. He made 84 receptions for 1,360 yards and six TDs in his career.

The special teams TD was the only time Hightower's team got into the end zone in a 26-11 loss by Hightower's East team.

Tua Tagovailoa's brother Tulia threw for 142 yards on 9 of 14 and ran in a TD for the winning West team, coached by Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. The Maryland QB, Tagovailoa, is a projected late Day 2 or Day 3 pick this year.

Frank Gore Jr. was the other big star for the West team with 87 rushing yards on six carries, including a 47-yard TD run.

With the Bears looking for pass rush help, UCLA's edge rusher Grayson Murphy showed Laiatu Latu is not the only player from his team to be considered as he had two sacks for the West team.

Bears linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi was the defensive coordinator for the East team and the Bears also had two strength coaches, Noble Landry and Pierre Ngo, act as strength coaches for each of the teams.