First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?
I’m in the trucking business – doing that right now. I’ve been doing that since I was done playing – started that after my time with the Steelers. A buddy of mine who played for the Giants jumped into it and told me about it.
How was that post-NFL adjustment for you?
It was great for me. You have to find that peace within yourself after football and find things that make you happy. Some people feel like football is the one thing in life that made them happy but that wasn’t the case for me. It wasn’t my only love. Some throw all of their eggs in one basket and that wasn’t the case for me. That’s why the transition was easier for me after I retired.
You moved around a lot over your six-year career – by my count nine teams across two leagues. How did you manage through that?
You have to take it day-by-day. You pray a lot. You focus on controlling what you can control. All you can control is how you perform – the building of the roster is up to the coaches and the GM.
I kept myself as calm and peaceful as I could. Even when I was in the league – even in Pittsburgh – I had eight interceptions in camp in Pittsburgh. I did what I had to do on the field. I controlled what I could and tried not to worry about the rest.
When you first came into the league after being drafted by the Jets, and even throughout your time afterwards, were there folks who helped mentor you as a young player?
It’s funny – as a college player we were like a family. We had a great team and were all close and helped each other. When I got to the NFL guys didn’t really help me or other players like that. It was more of a business – you didn’t get that from other guys. Coaches like Rex Ryan and Dennis Thurman – they helped of course. But not the players.
Coming from a smaller school like Northwest Missouri State – what were the disadvantages – and advantages – coming from a school like that?
The challenge was that, D1 schools have a lot of playcalls on defense. Smaller schools like mine – they have just a few playcalls. We ran man, cover 2 and cover 3. It was simple. D1 – they ran different calls depending on formations and the terms and lingo were different – more similar to what the NFL uses.
So, that was a major adjustment for me – the mental part of the game. I was more of a man corner – see that guy, get that guy. A playcall can change when just one guy goes in motion – smaller schools weren’t like that. Mentally, that was the biggest thing.
An advantage was that playing for a smaller school helped build my confidence. I was always a physical player and that helped give me the confidence to feel like I could compete with anyone.
How did you end up in Pittsburgh in 2016?
A guy I trained with was DeMarcus Van Dyke – a former Steeler. He told me he loved the team. I told my agent and my agent said I’d be a good fit for them. They played man defense a lot and it was a simpler defense – they played cover 2 – a lot with fire zone blitzes and some cover 3 – but it wasn’t that different from my college defense.
Mike Tomlin was a big reason I wanted to play there too. I studied the playbook before I got there and was able to show I could play in camp.
Pittsburgh was more of a family – that was the first time I ever felt that way in the NFL. It was the only team I experienced that was like that. William Gay, Artie Burns, Mike Hilton, Shazier, Antonio Brown – they made it feel like home. I felt comfortable clowning around with them in the locker room. It felt like we were brothers.
How did you do on the field when you got there?
I did well on special teams in camp and preseason. When I came into the NFL my cousin Benny Sapp helped me a lot. He played for Kansas City and Miami – he gave me some tips on what to do. He taught me to control what I could. I meditated every night – Eli Rogers was my roommate and he and I would meditate.
Mike Tomlin used to have black tape on the windows in the dorms – it got pitch black in our rooms. That helped us at night to be more at peace and to get rest.
My best game was against the Falcons. I remember beating three defenders as the gunner on special teams on one play. Danny Smith pulled me aside to tell me I did a good job. I also had the game-winning pass deflection on defense that game.
Any good off-the-field memories?
I remember going to the South Side and partying – can’t tell a lot of those stories! But we had fun. Me, Greg Ducree and Brandon Dukes would go to Cleveland Cavalier games – that was fun.
Antonio Brown was funny as hell. Just the things he said – he’d start rapping out of nowhere and say things out of the blue.
How was Mike Tomlin to play for – what made him special?
He was laid back – he had a good coaching style. He ran the team first-class, He’d make sure everyone was on time. If you were late to meetings you’d get fined – Antonio Brown was never on time – Tomlin would tell him he was donating his fines to charity. It was $20,000 each time! Mike Tomlin was a big part of making it like a family – it was like playing for a player-coach.
Do you watch football today?
I tune in from time to time – I’m trying to start this business I’m working on. I watch every once in a while – Tampa Bay is my team.
Any other experiences you wanted to share?
Yeah – something I never told anyone. Right after I was done playing for the Steelers – something happened that I’m still traumatized about today. I was walking around when six police officers grabbed me and accused me of rape. They took a picture off me and said I was the guy. I was slammed into walls and seven police officers held me down before they threw me in jail. The treated me like I was a criminal.
I talked to them – told them I played for the Steelers and that I was with the team when they said I had raped someone. They called the Steelers and the Steelers finally confirmed I was with them at the time and they finally let me go.
But if I was on my own when it occurred – if I was on vacation to something – I’d have gone to jail for life. I’d still be locked up today. I worry about getting in that same situation again – I rarely go out. A lot of people aren’t always able to have someone confirm they didn’t do something like the Steelers were able to do for me. And no matter who you are, it can happen to you.
I meditate now to help deal with it. My agent was really upset when he found out. I told him to forget about it. But there are a lot of people who have ended up in that same situation who are still in jail but were falsely accused. I’m still dealing with that today.
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