He’ll Do in a Pinch : Bonner, Reprieved From Flag Football, Now Posting Big Numbers in Arena League

Sherdrick Bonner doesn’t mind the pain, because it’s a happy kind of hurt, like something Mr. Rogers would feel.

And, hey, pinching yourself isn’t exactly life-threatening.

But that’s what Bonner does constantly, just to make sure that what he sees is not another mirage. Of course, in the desert heat of Phoenix, where the former Cal State Northridge quarterback plays for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League, mirages are considered landmarks.

Bonner, however, doesn’t mind sweating. Not when he is having the best time of his football life.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Bonner said. “I love it.”

With good reason.

Early last year, Bonner was keeping his 6-foot-4, 197-pound body in shape in a flag football league at Cleveland High when a conversation with a teammate altered his future.

“One of my friends was coming up here for a tryout and he asked the team if I could come up too,” Bonner said from Phoenix. “I threw the ball real well. They asked me to go to another combine at El Camino College (in Torrance) and I signed right there to go to training camp.”

Bonner, 25, spent last season backing up starter Paul Justin and played sparingly. But when Justin signed in the off-season with the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL, Coach Danny White handed the job to Bonner, who made a smooth transition to the arena game.

“He’s big, he’s accurate, but probably more than that, he’s a guy you feel you can depend on,” said White, the former Dallas Cowboy quarterback. “He’s a great team leader on and off the field.”

After five games this season, Bonner was among the league’s passing leaders with 90 completions in 162 attempts for 1,232 yards and 22 touchdowns. He had thrown for 200 or more yards in each game to help the Rattlers to a 4-1 record in the American Conference, one-half game behind first-place Albany (4-0).

Those kinds of individual numbers would please anyone, and Bonner is not complaining, but he is more concerned about other things.

“Stats don’t mean much to me, except throwing (interceptions), because I’m sure Danny would kill me,” Bonner said. “It’s gratifying to know that I can help my team win.”

He has done that even while adjusting to the compressed dimensions of the arena game. Although the field is only 50 yards long and 58 feet wide, leaving little room to scramble and little time to mull over options, Bonner says he likes the challenge.

“It’s a little harder than regular football because you have to make your reads much quicker,” Bonner said. “When you are in regular football, you can hang on to the ball a little longer, but here the pass protection doesn’t hold as long.”

But the decibel level from the crowds at the America West Arena is unrelenting, although that’s an aspect of the arena football ambience that Bonner finds appealing. With the exception of one time this year, when they fell barely short, the Rattlers have sold out every home game they have played the past three seasons.

“The fans are so close, it’s like being on stage,” Bonner said. “They can hear you talking and it’s so loud in there, it’s like a circus. But I like to feel their emotions. They adore their sports people (in Phoenix). They are behind us totally.”

Bonner, who rooms with wide receiver Cedric Tillman, says that he is enjoying Arizona so much that he would like to live there permanently regardless of what happens with his career. He is playing a lot of golf in his spare time and relishes every bit of his newfound good fortune, something he never anticipated a few months ago.

At Northridge, Bonner was a multifaceted athlete who played football, basketball and volleyball.

As a quarterback for the Matadors from 1987 through 1990, Bonner completed 319 of 637 pass attempts for 3,533 yards.

He ranks second in school history in the first two categories behind Bruce Lemmerman (351 of 830 attempts from 1965-67) and third in the other behind Lemmerman (4,317 yards) and Chris Parker (3,825 yards in 1985 and ‘86).

But despite those outstanding numbers, his days of serious football came to a screeching halt after college.

“I was really at a crossroads,” Bonner said. “I really wanted to play more football, but the opportunity wasn’t there.”

Without a clear direction, Bonner said, he worked at different jobs and played flag football on weekends, never dreaming it would keep him sharp for what would follow.

White and the Rattlers are happy Bonner knocked on their door.

“I noticed him immediately at our tryouts, just the way he threw the ball and how he conducted himself,” White said.

“I knew he had the physical attributes to play but I was looking for the intangibles in a quarterback, and he has them. He wants to learn, he is tremendously competitive and very smart. I just thoroughly enjoy working with him.”

Bonner says that having White, an outstanding quarterback in his day, as his mentor has been a blessing. But he admits that Justin’s move to the NFL is making him reach for a new plain.

“I was working hard to be prepared mentally to take over for Paul,” Bonner said. “I’m just trying to stay consistent, show a lot of poise, and hopefully things will work out to where maybe I can play at the next level, too.”

That would call for some major self-pinching.