First, can you tell me what you have been doing since you last played in the NFL?
Right now I’m coaching as a fitness coach. I was teaching PE and was doing that for a while so they had me do this as well.
I like motivating people. I want to coach people the way they want to be coached – to motivate them in some shape or form and bring them some good energy.
Did you want to get back into the NFL again?
No – I didn’t want to play football again. I wanted to be a police officer years ago and am working now with two different agencies to start that. I’m happy with my direction – I’ve wanted to do this for years.
A lot has been made of you overcoming obstacles throughout your life – being raised by grandparents after your mother left, growing up with speech and learning disorders… has that all been a source of motivation for you as an athlete?
Not really, no. I feel like I played football for my teammates. It was always about the team aspect. I never had to motivate myself. I was motivated by my teammates and my desire to compete and challenge myself to do my best.
You played for the Bengals and Browns before signing with Pittsburgh. What made you decide to sign with the Steelers?
They asked so I said yes! I didn’t have any other offers. I had never been to Pittsburgh before that. It was the highlight of my career. I loved Cleveland too though. I ended up living there for three years – it became my home base after I played there.
Did anyone help take you under their wing in Pittsburgh? You weren’t a rookie but were new to the team and city…
Not so much. Everyone was friendly – it was a big family. I got there at the OTAs so people had things figured out by then. I just figured things out for myself really. Josh Dobbs and Jake McGee – we all became best friends and still go on trips together and visit with one another.
You were a good kick returner as well as running back. How did you learn to be a good return guy?
I learned some of that with the Browns. All the running backs had to do some returning. I never did it in college. Then in Pittsburgh they worked on it some more with me.
Coach T. week one told me I’d be their kick returner that week. I was very surprised – I won’t lie. But when you get an opportunity to play you got to go do it.
What do you remember most about the team from your time there?
The locker room – the way Coach T. was. It was very close. Coach T. was a player’s coach – he understood that players have lives outside of football and treated them like adults. But it was always business when you walked into the locker room.
I also remember before every game I’d always sit at the end of the endzone and just think about all of the things I had to overcome to get there – as a kid, high school, college – all I went through to get where I was now. That was my pregame ritual.
Coming from a small D2 school like Azusa Pacific University – was that adjustment to the NFL even more difficult?
It was harder – coming from a small school I didn’t have to read too many complex blitzes. There was less of that at that level. And the details were even more important at the NFL level when it came to blitz pick-up and pass-pro.
My Bengals running back coach helped me some with blitz pick-up my rookie year, as did my coach in college to a lesser extent. He told me I needed to start learning that to get ready for the NFL.
I learned the playbook easily though. I had somewhat of a photographic memory – so I was a very quick learner and that helped a lot. I can’t explain it but I’ve always been that way.
As a sometimes practice squad player, what did you enjoy most about that role?
You always play a different role which is fun. You learn a lot – I learned how to be a much better pass protector while on the practice squad. All teams blitz – they may do it differently but they all do it. Working on that on the practice squad helped slow things down for me – to focus on and understand better what I was looking at. That helped me a lot.
I liked going up against Burfict in Cincinnati when I was on the practice squad. He was an awesome teammate. I know playing against him was very different, but he was cool with me.
And Ryan Shazier always went 110% – he practiced like a pro.
You like the direction the NFL is going today?
I like the practice squads are now unlimited – it used to be you could only be there for a few years. And they increased the numbers too.
And I like that it’s safer for players now – keeping them safe and healthy is a good thing,
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
