First off, can you let me know what you’ve been up to?
It depends on the day of the week! Five days a week I’m working in the natural gas industry – working on excavations and move-outs. My day starts at five a.m. and ends anywhere from 3:30 to 11:30 at night. It depends on the day. I enjoy doing it – every day is different.
In my private life it’s been all about the entrepreneurial ecosystem. My family have all been entrepreneurs – my father was in real estate, my mother has a message therapist business, my older brother owns a landscaping business and my sister is in health and wellness and education for a non-profit.
My middle sister also wrote a children’s book two years ago and is working on another one. My little sister runs a residential cleaning service. It’s been awesome to see those journeys and see them build their businesses. I love to help amplify what they do.
What was the transition like for you from sports?
I’m a social engineer – I like to network and connect people so they can build something. So the transition from sports wasn’t difficult. I always saw football as a vehicle to get an education. It allowed me to go places I would have never gone otherwise and meet people.
Looking back – were you surprised to get drafted by the Steelers?
It was interesting. In college I had so many different coaches over my five years playing. It really got me ready to be a pro. I learned a lot of terminology and systems because of that and played in the Big 10, Pac 12….
I thought I’d go to Green Bay – they showed a lot of interest. I expected to go in the top half of the draft but you never really knew for sure. It’s not gym class.
Green Bay, Jacksonville and Kansas City were both big on me and Dallas called me in round two. I was the prototypical guy for Green Bay’s system. Baltimore also called me in round four to tell me they were going to take me but then took another guy from Miami for some reason.
Then Pittsburgh took me in round seven. Pittsburgh picks guys that are real Steelers – not just football players. They want quality humans and I guess they saw that in me, and I liked that.
What was it like getting drafted by your hometown team? Did it pose any challenges or distractions playing so close to home?
I was happy to be home and playing with guys I used to watch. It can pose different challenges but that really depends on your support system. Whether I was in Pittsburgh, Jacksonville or San Diego, you generally have the same challenges – its the same types of life and social issues – plus the NFL issues you now face. It depends on how you handle your relationships. You can’t plan for everything. Being at home was business-as-usual though – and the team puts you in a place where you can have your privacy.
Did anyone help mentor you most when you were there?
From day one Jerricho Cotchery and Emmanuel Sanders supported me – all the receivers did. AB built me up to be a pro – he showed me how to work out. And the defense made sure I was doing A-one work and made me better every day.
Heath Miller too was one of the biggest helpers for me. We’d meet in the parking lot every morning and get breakfast then work out and go to the film room. He prepped like he was the one on the practice squad. We’d eat our oatmeal in the morning and had some great conversations. He taught me how to move around the building to get ready to be a pro.
In terms of support, you have to manage your support system. You can be close to your family and friends but not all of your friends are really your friends. Some just want to benefit from you for themselves. Even your family can cause those issues. You have to be mindful of that. The hardest situation is when you want to be able to help family but you have to say no sometimes and mean it, so if you say yes, it has to be a real yes.
What memories of your time in Pittsburgh stand out most to you?
Getting drafted for sure. I heard from Omar first then Colbert then Mike T. Mike is the one that told me they were about to take me. Then you go right to the media. The process was dope.
Also, training camp – the rookie show. We had the best rookie show of all time! We got a standing ovation! I was the host and we all had a part to play and had to perform in front of the whole staff and team. It was like watching In Living Color. We had a lot of skits and stand-up comedy. Keisel, Deebo, Troy – they all laughed. It was 90 minutes long. Even Decastro was funny!
Deebo too later on put me on the spot in training camp and made me sing. I sang “If I Ever Fall In Love” by Shai and got a standing ovation! They all started singing with me.
Any locker room memories as well?
The locker room banter was phenomenal. Inside the locker room – I don’t think fans know what that locker room was like. We had shuffleboard, pool, and lined up garbage cans to play basketball with rolled up tape. It was all really competitive. And there was a hierarchy too – if you weren’t good enough you weren’t allowed to play!
That’s what makes Pittsburgh so special – it’s so competitive and everyone is recognized for their hard work. From the top to the people who clean and work on the equipment and security. They all put in the grind and we saw that and recognize them for it.
I know you also had a major tragedy affect your family that we want to discuss ….
Yes, my niece Maiyanna got sick and that erased much of that. During the OTA period when I was in Jacksonville my niece was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) – a rare pediatric brain tumor that has a 100% kill rate. We thought it was an eye infection when she went to the doctor then we found out.
After she passed, we started a foundation – Maiys Miracle– to help give those suffering from DIPG a better quality of life and to raise awareness for the disease. AP wrote an article on her years ago. There was no pipeline – no idea for families to understand what to do and where to turn. I had a friend who knew someone whose child passed away from DIPG. They lent the child’s tumor to Stanford for study purposes. We made the decision when my niece passed away to do the same thing. They’ve had some breakthroughs since and we established a scholarship for fund research. We run events to help fund the foundation including fashion shows, balls – all to raise proceeds. People can go to the site and contribute to help us fight DIPG as well. Our next mission for Maiy’s Miracle is to get a grant to fund her scholarship yearly.
It’s been good to see that the worst thing that has happened can be the best thing at least to help others.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
