First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since your playing days?
I was there in Pittsburgh from 2011 to 2013. After that I got involved in personal training – I was training athletes with a well-renowned trainer in Atlanta – Chip Smith. We were working with players, helping them get trained and prepared for the draft.
After that, in 2014, I went into law enforcement. I joined the Atlanta police department and was there for 8 1/2 years. I’m still in law enforcement now. I also got married in 2012 and now have four beautiful children – three girls and a boy.
Why made you decide to sign with Pittsburgh as an undrafted free agent?
The crazy part is that when I was younger, I was visiting with my dad in Augusta, Georgia and we went to the aquarium. A guy there told us he had four tickets to the Falcons preseason game – he had an emergency and couldn’t use them so asked if we wanted them. My dad said “Yeah”. It was a good way for us to spend some time. Well it turns out it was a Steelers game. I sat there and watched the game unfold and decided then that I was hooked on the Steelers. They became my favorite team then.
At the time of the draft I wasn’t drafted. I signed with the CFL Montreal Allouettes and played with them for three months – May through July. But I got injured – I was back at home rehabbing my groin after that.
That was the year of the NFL lockout. I had to fire my first agent, and I had been in contact with Steelers scout Mark Gorscak during the draft process. I told him of my love for the Steelers then. Well, when I was back home after the CFL, the lockout ended and I texted Mark letting him know I had a new agent. That was July 25th. He called me back right after and told me he was hoping to reach out to me first before anyone else called. He asked me then how I would like being a Steeler? It was a dream come true.
Did anyone help mentor you when you first got there?
I was a defensive lineman in college but they wanted me as an outside linebacker. Harrison, Woodley, Foote and of course Keith Butler all helped. I was only 240 pounds though and I was a hard gainer – it was hard for me to gain weight. It took a while but I finally got to 260 pounds.
They all took me under their wing. The biggest thing was how to drop back into coverage. I was always on the line in college attacking the ball. The scheme wasn’t very complicated so the biggest thing was helping me after practice on coverage technique.
Did it help to have college teammate Cortez Allen there?
It was great having him there. We both came in from the Citadel – we were there at the same time. In fact we were on the same college visit and were offered the same day. It was wonderful having someone there you knew in a foreign city.
What do you remember most from your time there – what stands out?
Once I got there Flozell Adams gave me my first welcome. He knocked me down on my face in practice. I thought I was fast and was turning the corner on a rush against him and he gave me a club and I just remember being face-first on the field with turf and those rubber pebbles on my face.
Meeting people there of that stature…I’m not a star-struck kind of guy but those were people I watched on TV and wanted to emulate. But when I met them I saw they just wanted to be treated like regular people. They’d invite me to play golf. I got to sit and talk with Ben and Harrison on a personal level. That was real cool – and hanging out and pranking each other.
Pranks?
Pouncey was big on pranks – he used to get people’s cars in the lot towed. Once I was there for rehab and I saw a tow truck pulling up and the driver walked in. He didn’t know who called him – but I knew Pouncey used to call them for pranks. So I told the guy to take “that car”. It was Pouncey’s! He was pissed at first when he found out his car was towed. He asked around a while to see who did it and he finally figured it out, and we had a good laugh. Citadel actually played Florida in 2008 and I remember talking trash to he and his brother. When we first met he thought he remembered me and finally figured out from where!
What do you think enabled you to make the team as a small-school, undrafted free agent?
I was a guy from a smaller school who was undersized, but they saw I had grit and was driven to learn. It was a whole new learning experience for me. They wanted me to develop – it was a challenge for me to grow and mature.
Unfortunately, I had an injury and the doctor at the time told the Steelers trainers that I had a blood disorder. They weren’t sure at that point if they wanted me to play. I was at practice and Weslye Saunders and I got caught up on a really muddy field. His knee hit the side of my knee – it felt fine at the time and I just continued practicing. But later that night it got very swollen. I iced it but it still kept growing.
I called the trainer – John Norwig. He looked at it then made some calls. When we took the ice off again any leg was even more swollen. So he called for an ambulance and we went to UPMC. I ended up having to stay at the hospital for 28 days. I tore the muscle on the left side of my knee and it turned into compartment syndrome. At one point they couldn’t find out where all the blood was coming from. That’s where the idea of the blood disorder came in.
Well after that I did rehab. They told me I’d have no range of motion and may never be able to run again. But I had full range of motion after 1 1/2 months. I ended up having to prove a lot of labels wrong.
What advice would you give now to kids playing today – say your son wants to play pro ball someday?
When I was growing up they just told us to play. If you’re hurt, just play. But now I do see a rhyme and reason to the safety measures. However, I don’t necessarily agree with how they are doing it. Everything players do now is under a microscope – it keeps players from playing how they should play. They may pull up on a hit and not play as hard as they could. They now play with a fear of being fined or benched. So it limits how players play – they play out of fear instead of within their abilities. It’s the same in law enforcement too.
So if my son wanted to play, I’d show him the fundamentals and tell him not to be scared of what could happen. To just be confident in what he can do and in his abilities.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
