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          Ron Rivera says Dom Capers recruited him out of high school

          • David Newton, ESPN Staff WriterDec 15, 2017, 07:45 PM
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              David Newton is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Carolina Panthers. Newton began covering Carolina in 1995 and came to ESPN in 2006 as a NASCAR reporter before joining NFL Nation in 2013. You can follow Newton on Twitter at @DNewtonespn.
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          CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera revealed more than expected when asked what background he had with Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers, the original coach of the Panthers.

          “He actually recruited me when I was in high school back in the day," Rivera said as he prepared for Sunday’s game against the Packers at Bank of America Stadium.

          That would have been 38 years ago when Capers, 67, was the defensive backs coach at the University of California at Berkeley and Rivera, 55, was a linebacker at Seaside High (Calif.) School.

          Capers actually came to the Monterey area for an in-home visit with Rivera, whose father was serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Ord. He attended Rivera’s football and basketball games.

          “I’ll tell you, Ron was such an impressive guy coming out of high school," Capers said of Rivera, a linebacker who received 28 recruiting letters from FBS teams. “Everybody had great, great things to stay about him.

          “Very impressive home visit going in with his family. The discipline that he grew up with ... and I think he’s just a real high-character guy and he’s done a tremendous job."

          Capers also recruited the father of Packers tight end Richard Rodgers, also Richard, who is in his sixth season as an assistant coach with the Panthers.

          “I’m dating myself here," Capers said.

          Capers went to Tennessee as the defensive backs coach before Rivera’s freshman season (1980) at California. He was the head coach at Carolina from 1995-1998, getting the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game at Green Bay in his second season.

          Capers was 30-34 in four seasons with the Panthers, 2-1 in playoff games. He was the NFL Coach of the year during the 1996 season when Carolina went 12-4.

          Rivera has a 47-32-1 record since taking over in 2011. He was the 2013 and 2015 NFL Coach of the Year.

          Rivera and Capers are the only two Carolina coaches to win the coach of the year honor.

          Sunday they’ll be on opposite sidelines, but Rivera still says Capers was very instrumental in his decision to attend Cal.

          “He was the one that started recruiting me," he said. “I went up to Cal a couple of times and caught some of the football games and was around him and he introduced me to a lot of people. It was my first introduction to the University of California at Berkeley."