First off, how did you get started as a coach now?
I got started because I fell in love with wanting to help kids become the best version of themselves. That’s why I started my organization L.O.V.E, or Living Out Victoriously Everyday – to help kids get better every day – by doing it the proper way.
What does that mean – the proper way?
We teach them how to watch film the right way. A lot of kids don’t know how to watch football – they are smart but aren’t taught how to watch film in high school. Some schools do it better than others – like Pine-Richland, Woodland Hills, Thomas Jefferson… but it doesn’t happen everywhere in the WPIAL. We used to be dogs in this state but not as much now. We have a lot of good guys coming through the state – we want to help them take that next step.
What do you help them look for?
What to pay attention to – tendencies. What is the team doing on first and second downs….what is the coach doing. Are you playing against the coach or the player?
Who are the coaches that influenced you as a coach- and how?
Pat Narduzzi, Chris Beatty, Kevin Sherman, Lafayette Pitts….there were a lot of good coaches. They showed me what it means to be an athlete. It’s not easy to be a football player – it’s a hard thing to have that mindset to not be scared. Learning that from them helps me teach kids now how to be tougher players and to work hard.
What is different about the kids you see today as a former receiver?
We didn’t have trainers then like they do now! They are more polished today than we were then. We can’t afford to stay in the past – it takes work to get from where we are to where we are today.
How did it help you as a Pitt player to practice next to the Steelers every week?
It helped a lot. We saw their work ethic. What you presume to be enough of a work ethic versus what it really takes to succeed are two different things. It was a blessing to have them show you what they did every day – Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool – seeing what they did to have the success they had. Being next to them allowed me to become a better athlete.
They’d come in and say “Hi.” The best part about them was that they were just regular people. It wasn’t about the money to them.
How did you land a spot in camp with the Steelers?
It was by the grace of God – Mike Tomlin took a chance on me. It was nerve-wracking though – my career didn’t end the way I wanted it too.
What happened?
I had a great camp. I won all of my one-on-ones – I was nine for nine. But they had a guy in camp who had the same build – the same body type as me already. They told me they didn’t need another guy with the same body type. To be honest I got really frustrated – that’s when I decided to quit playing football. But I should have tried out for other teams after that.
You coach seven-on-seven football too for the PA Goblins. How does that help these kids?
It helps quarterbacks learn to read coverages. And it gives them all the opportunity to play in the Spring when many of the schools aren’t allowed to work with the kids. There’s not a lot of Spring ball options so this gives them more reps – helps them sharpen their craft. We knows how to help them sharpen their tools and learn ball outside of their school system.
That gives them more diversity in what they learn no?
Exactly – they get more diversity in what they learn outside of what they learn in their schools which helps them a lot too.