Simon returns to Mooney with Super Bowl ring

By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Within a couple days, John Simon went from being a student to a teacher of the game of football.

After the New England Patriots defensive end finished his minicamp obligations, the Cardinal Mooney graduate returned to his alma mater on Thursday for its annual Football Camp of Champions for kids in grades 3-8 at Don Bucci Field.

“We just finished camp on Tuesday and I think the team is looking pretty good,” Simon said. “It’s fun to come back. I don’t get to as much as I should. I love to come back and help the kids as best as I can.”

On the first day of the camp, roughly 120 campers did drills in overcast weather that mostly held up Thursday morning. Simon returned to the Mahoning Valley as a Super Bowl champion for the first time as he heads toward his seventh season in the NFL. After just one season with the Patriots, he’s ensconced himself in the Patriot Way and viewed last year’s 13-3 victory against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII in a way that would make Patriots head coach Bill Belichick proud.

“We had our ring ceremony last week and it’s behind us. We had our OTAs and we’re on to the new season,” said Simon, a former Ohio State standout. “We’re back at Square One and everybody is on equal footing again and now the work begins.”

It wasn’t all serious in Foxborough. On Monday, Belichick cancelled practice to take the team paintballing.

“Out team started strong — 4-0 — and then we went to some woodland course and we fell apart,” Simon said. “[Belichick] was on my team, so we struggled a bit towards the end. The winning team finished strong and we didn’t.”

The six-time Super Bowl winning coach did manage to get a good shot in. Linebacker Kyle Van Noy said on Tuesday that his coach had shot him in the face, knocking the protective mask he was wearing into his teeth.

“Bill took a little more than he gave,” Simon said of Belichick’s marksmanship. “I’m not going to say that I wouldn’t have liked to take a few shots at him.”

Simon was joined on Thursday by Youngstown State head coach Bo Pelini and some of his coaching staff, Wooster head coach Frank Colaprete and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mike Tomczak.

Tomczak is no stranger to volunteering his time for the game as he’s been working with YSU’s football team as a volunteer for the past few seasons.

Tomczak said he’s open the idea of getting into coaching on a full-time basis, but “isn’t going to force it.”

“I think I’m where I need to be,” Tomczak said. “Our program is growing. I think we have a tremendous amount of opportunities in front of us and I want to be apart of it.”

The 15-year NFL veteran still remembers a time when he was at camps like the one at Cardinal Mooney. Now it’s time to share the experience with a younger generation.

“It’s my passion to help others. A lot of people helped me along the way,” Tomczak said. “I’ve come across a lot of people in my life [that left me] humbled because they’re doing the yeoman’s work of kindness.”