First, can you tell me about your new career in law and how that got started?
Right now I’m a lawyer working for Norton Rose & Fulbright here in Dallas. I’m in the corporate finance practice – mostly because I took the steps in front of me and that’s where they led.
I went to law school because that’s where I felt there was the most meat on the bone, so to speak. I wanted to try it – I didn’t know what it would take. I didn’t think I would be doing big law, but here I am. I got here because I ran into a friend in law school that I played little league with – someone I hadn’t seen since then. He was a lawyer at the firm I’m at now – I work for him now.
How hard was the post-NFL adjustment for you?
My first year was tough due to how I exited the game. I had one too many injuries and was forced to stop playing. The Steelers were so good to me – they gave me opportunity after opportunity to rehab and come back and keep kicking. But at some point there’s that straw that breaks the camel’s back. I hold no ill will towards them at all.
My first year after I exited the game I couldn’t watch it on tv. I distanced myself from it. But every year it’s gotten easier and easier to watch.
Were you surprised as a punter to be drafted so early in the draft – and by the Steelers?
So, it goes back to my Sophomore year in college at Baylor. Coach Morris pulled me aside then and told me I could do this in the NFL if I wanted to. That meant a lot – he was a long snapper for 10 years in the NFL. I thought “What? Whoah..” Until then the NFL was not on my radar at all. When I walked on to Baylor I didn’t even want to be a punter – I walked on to play football – to hit people.
So what happened then?
That changed my perspective. I started watching who got drafted and what their stats were – where they went in the draft. So after two years of assessing my value I felt like I would go right around where I went.
Were the Steelers a surprise?
The Steelers were one of six teams who worked me out. So they were on the short list. It’s funny, my agent told me that if any team called me during the draft, to tell them other teams had called me too. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable lying – that if no team called me I didn’t want to lie to the first team that did.
Well, in the fourth round the Texans called me – about 10 minutes before the Steelers did. But it was strange – they just called to see how I was doing – they told me they weren’t going to draft me. I still have no idea why they called me. But 10 minutes later when the Steelers called me, Phil Kreidler was the guy and he asked me if anyone had called me. I said yes – and I heard him tell people behind him in the war room that. Well he told me to hold on, that they were executing a trade for me and passed me around the room. I talked to Dan, Art, Coach Tomlin and a couple others. Tomlin said “Let’s go to work!”. It is an amazing memory.
Did anyone help mentor you a bit when you got to Pittsburgh – on or off the field?
I was a Texas boy in a very different part of the country. I was out of my comfort zone – I was forced to grow up – it was a developmental time for me.
I was totally out of my comfort zone – so much that I did something I would normally never do. I researched some of the ministries in Pittsburgh – cold-called many of them. I wanted to get plugged in – to get some support. I wrote an email to Milton Hill who was at the Coalition for Christian Outreach. I explained my story – that I was an NFL player who was just drafted and was looking for a ministry. He would tell you today he didn’t believe me at first. But I met him – brought my Bible – and we built a neat relationship. It changed my perspective.
Any of the players or coaches help as well?
The locker room was a source of anxiety for me. I wanted a respite away from football. I had a handful of guys I looked up to most, and as I progressed I was able to mentor guys like Tyler Grisham and Tuff Harris. We became the best of friends.
Jeff Reed helped me too as a pro. That was my first exposure to someone that good. When I got there and started holding for him – it was jaw-dropping to see how accurate and consistent he was. In college I played with a guy I thought could make it in the NFL, but he was on another level. They had a camera behind the goalposts they used to film practices. He’d hit the camera lens every time. And that was with me holding! I’m sure I probably placed the ball differently every time, but it didn’t matter.
Any on-field memories stand out to you most?
Mostly making tackles. I walked on at Baylor to play linebacker – they had to move me kicking and screaming to punter. So any opportunity to do anything other than punt stood out to me. Anytime I got to tackle Josh Cribbs – I enjoyed that. I remember after a game where I tackled him he looked me up and saw I used to be a linebacker and justified me tackling him to the media because of that. That felt good!
I also remember running up and touching Brett Favre on the shoulder after a game. I watched him with my father as a kid – he loved Favre and I’d watch him with my dad. Homework was never a thing when Favre played. My dad and I would watch him together.
So after a game when he was in Green Bay, I ran through the media mob and weaseled my way to him and patted him on the shoulder and said “Good game Brett!”
Oh – and the run-ins with James Harrison. I used to play ping pong all the time with Tyler Grisham. The table was right by James’ locker. Well every time a stray ball landed near his locker and he was there, he would squash it. Just because. He had to keep up his bad guy persona! He had no choice – that was who he was!
You also may hold the best passer rating ever for a Steeler!
Ha – maybe! I passed two times as a punter and completed them both. The first pass was during my rookie year. Both were similar designs. When you watch film and see that the return team bails early, you can take advantage of that. In St. Louis I found a wide-open Najeh Davenport that way.
The second time it worked against the Titans and I completed it to Ryan Mundy. They got into the redzone both times, but neither one scored. I was really hoping they’d score!
What do you think of the way special teams have changed since you played?
Well the wedge was around then and that’s not a thing anymore. It sounds funny to even say the wedge was a thing – I can’t believe we even did that. It was a terrible idea to have done it. That we are thinking about it like that helps me to come to grips a bit that we are changing things to support player safety like that.
I remember the helmet when I played in fourth grade. Those helmets were garbage – I can’t believe we played with those.
Looking at your experiences now as an NFL player – what about those have translated well for you in your post-NFL life?’
There are a lot of life experiences I’ve drawn from the NFL. Like maturity and spiritual growth. I had a lot of neat opportunities to do other things while I played. I had two jobs then I thought – punting for the Steelers and telling my story to college students to help them find their way. I thought one job was more important than the other, but my minister told me no – one was just as important as the other.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
