First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing since you’ve retired from the NFL and how you got started in these new ventures?

When I first got injured and left the NFL I knew that I wanted to stay around sports income capacity, as we all do. So I opened up a sports and fitness training facility in my home town to utilize my experience in sports and my degree in Kinesiology. This allowed me to give back in a way that I best knew how, and I loved it. After six years of running my gym a new world and new calling opened up for my heart and I have now redirected my life to being a speaker, author, consultant, and online life guide.

You just wrote a book – “Trust Your Hustle”. What inspired you to write the book and how much of it was influenced by your time playing football?

The inspiration for the book was primarily so that my kids would know who their father was. I want to be able to have all of me available for them to know long after I am gone.

Secondly it was catharsis to simply get it out of my “body” so I could have a release of the energy. Lastly, I want to make sure that people have a tool that can give them a little bit of a bump when they need it most to motivate them to climb to higher levels. Football has always been a huge part of my life since I was fourteen and the lessons I learned while playing have carried me to amazing heights in life. The principles are derived from football, but the book isn’t football focused by any means. Its a recount of every memory I can recount from 3-30.

How hard was it for you to adjust to life post professional football, and how did your time in the NFL help you to do so?

Its honestly very difficult to transition from football to the real world. We athletes aren’t given time to learn any useful tools in the regular world so we are dropped on our faces trying to fend for ourselves without any tools that are necessary for success. We hone a very distinct skill set that becomes irrelevant once the helmet and should pads come off. What we are taught is how to thrive in a hostile environment, so we have the ability to fight and thrive if we can tap into that strength and use it in a different fashion.

You made the Steelers’ practice  squad in 2007, after signing with the Redskins in 2006 as an UDFA. What made you decide to sign with the Steelers – especially when they had a deep linebacker corps?

I actually was at home working out and received a call from the Steelers. Oddly, they only flew out two guys and told us that one guy was staying and the other was going home. I had done a killer workout the day before I got the calling – my body was shot. When I landed I had taken a red eye and I was dead tired along with the physical fatigue. We picked up the other guy and he was well rested, bigger, faster, and stronger. They put us through a workout and somehow I fought and won the battle. They signed me and I was ecstatic. Except for having to go to a full pad practice an hour after the tryout….

Who helped you to adjust to life in the NFL -and as a Steeler – and how did they do so? Any examples?

The help comes from guys who are in the exact same boat you are in. We kind of group together and give each other mental ad moral support when its needed the most. My best buds when I was playing were Scott Paxson, Andre Frazier, and Anthony Madison. They were always there when I needed an ear, or a pick me up.

At the time, guys like Foote, Farrior, James Harrison, Timmons and Woodley were also on the team. How helpful were they in helping you to adjust to the NFL game, and what was your biggest adjustment?

Those guys were actually all really good guys. The difference between the Steelers and other teams I played for was that we really  were a family. As a core group they looked out for one another. My first week in Pittsburgh was Thanksgiving and I had nowhere to go and James Farrior invited me over to his house where I was welcome with open arms by other teammates and his family.

The biggest adjustment overall was simply waking up every day without my wife and son there. The time difference made it hard to talk to each other, and video calls weren’t as available at the time as they are now. I’m a family guy, so not having them around was tough.

What surprised you most about the team and linebacker corps then?

The team was very blue collar. No one was bigger than the team, no one was overly flashy, no one was arrogant, and they were welcoming across the entire board. It seriously was a team of guys with a common goal.

2007 was the first season under new coach Mike Tomlin. How was the team adjusting to the new coach, from your perspective, and what were some of the biggest changes you saw him make?

From my perspective he was received very well. The players respected him and he respected us. At every other team I was at the head coach avoided me like the plague, it seemed. The first practice out there coach Tomlin came and found me and said hi just to say hi. It was odd to me because it had never happened before. He was a very regimented but respected leader. You knew what he expected and he was respected enough to get it from us without having to be a “dictator”. In my opinion he was a great leader and great head coach.

How much did humor play a part on that Steelers team, and how so? Can you give a couple of examples of some funny things that occurred, on or off the field?

Humor plays a part in all football teams. Its what gets you through the day, long meetings, and long practices. One thing that was a normal event was to see guys playing soccer in the locker room butt naked. Not a pretty sight, but you couldn’t help but laugh.

What was life like on the practice squad for you – what were your day-to-day responsibilities – and how stressful was it for you being “on the bubble”?

The practice squad day to day has literally zero difference from the active squad players. We do exactly everything they do except go to the game on game day. I think people assume that we are off preparing as a little core of guys watching from the outside in. We are treated no different than the active guys, we are just waiting on our opportunity to get activated to play.

To be honest you’re always stressed out, so it in fact becomes a normal thing that you adjust to. If not you’ll drive yourself crazy. You just put your work hat on and get to it. You can’t control anything but your effort. So I gave my all and let the chips fall where they may.

How did you deal with that stress?

I got REALLLLLY good at Call Of Duty!

What advice would you give to players today entering the sport?

Be prepared to work harder than you ever have in your life both mentally and physically without praise. No one is going to give you a break, you make your break by working harder than the starters day in and day out. The moment you slack off is the day the fuse is lit on the bomb of your career. Coaches will notice it and then its a matter of time before everything blows up in your face. The game isn’t fair, life isn’t fair, but if you produce you’ll stay. Don’t stop the production and capitalize on every opportunity you get to show the coaches what you’re made of.

Any last thoughts for readers?

TRUST YOUR HUSTLE and GO STEELERS!!

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