First, can you let me know what you’ve been up to since the NFL – especially your coaching work?
For the last nine-to-10 months I’ve been training high school kids who are trying to become better quarterbacks. I started XII Academy to help train kids on footwork, technique and the mental aspect of the position.
My wife and I moved from Pittsburgh to Florida over a year ago and looked to figure out what was next for us. I got the idea to do the training and felt Florida was a good place because you can spend the entire year outside doing it. I had to meet a lot of new people and learn my way around but it’s been going ok.
Football has done a lot for me. Growing up on the North Side of Pittsburgh, I don’t think I could have ever experienced what I have in my life without having played.
As a coach, were there any guys that helped shape your coaching style?
I think Walt Harris – a lot of my teachings were formed around him. He and Richard Mann who helped me when I was a wide receivers coach at IUP.
Richard helped me to understand the perspective of the wide receiver – that helped me when I coached quarterbacks to teach them how receivers think and what they experience to help them be more well-rounded.
How did you end up in Pittsburgh in 2005?
At the beginning of my rookie season, Carolina released me right before the last preseason game. That game against Carolina was a preseason tradition for a while between the two teams.
Well, I really didn’t understand the business of the game then. That life goes on still and that there would be other opportunities. My agents helped me to understand that. That season, about five or six games in, Ben got hurt in the San Diego game. Pittsburgh was one of the few teams then that used three quarterbacks on the roster so they signed me to the practice squad after elevating another quarterback.
I had some success – it was a childhood dream to play for Pittsburgh as a Pittsburgh kid. I’m not sure there is any kid from Pittsburgh who doesn’t have that dream. It was an amazing experience. But I developed a stress fracture in my foot that became a break by the end of the season. That led to my release and the window shut from there.
You played receiver some before you played quarterback at Pitt. How did that help you?
I was green when I got to Pitt. I just wanted to get on the field. I didn’t play high school football at first – I played baseball. But the team had two seniors at quarterback and needed a quarterback.
The high school coach found me when he saw me throwing the ball around in the school courtyard. That’s how it all got started. He asked me to play then. Not a knock on him though I just didn’t get much training as a quarterback.
How did Walt help with that?
Walt was very bright – he had a great offensive mind. He wasn’t always willing to dummy things down for me though. I had a very limited playbook in high school and he had a very NFL-type playbook and approach. It took time for me to learn the playbook. I redshirted my first year and the next season I just wanted to play. Walt promised me that nothing I did would take away from my opportunity to play quarterback. He stuck to that – he was a man of his word. I played receiver some that first year the special teams coach Bob Ligashesky – who later coached for the Steelers – he told me that if I was willing to play other positions I should play on special teams too. So I ended up returning kicks and had some success there.
I ended up playing quarterback of course. But at first I just wanted to play. I was green and didn’t know much about the position early on, but I made some strides as I grew older as a junior and senior.
In Pittsburgh you contributed a lot on the practice squad. What were the roles you played there and any good memories of that experience?
I played quarterback, wide receiver and defense. It was a fun time and I think I showed them that I could play in the NFL and worked hard. In the back of my mind I thought they were thinking about using me a little like they did Slash. I can’t speak for them though on that. But Cowher was in my corner at the time.
My first reception in practice – it was a bang-bang play and Chris Hope hit me hard in my back as I caught it. Everyone looked at me – they didn’t really know who I was except as a quarterback. So when they saw me catch it and get up after that hit I think they saw how competitive I was and a lot of guys got excited. That is something I remember.
Any other memories stand out?
Oh the Super Bowl trip in Detroit – all of us eating dinner at Bussy’s mom’s house. The Super Bowl was an amazing experience, to be a part of that. That’s a memory that remains in my heart and mind forever.
That season we lost three-or-four games in a row – we had that losing streak. Then Russ Grimm stepped in front of everyone and gave a big motivational speech. The Ben tackle after the Bettis fumble….that was one of those deals. The season was like a great movie.
Did anyone help mentor you when you got to Pittsburgh?
Jerome and I had the same agent – he was like a big brother and partner there. Mike Logan was a brother figure to me as well. Those were the guys. They helped me on and off the field.
Did playing at Pitt and sharing facilities with the Steelers help you guys in any way?
When we played at Pitt we were on the field at different times. When they were on the field we were at meetings or in classes. We didn’t interact except rarely on Thursdays when we’d get on the field a bit earlier.
The biggest thing is, we had to park on the other side of the indoor parking lot. So we’d walk through the garage and see all of the Steelers’ cars and we’d try and guess who owned which car.
We knew the defensive and offensive linemen were usually the ones that owned the trucks. It was a fun game we’d play.
Any last memories of your time there?
Just that that Steelers team – maybe with the exception of my high school team since we all grew up together – it was the closest-knit team of any team I played on and I played for a good number of teams. The guys truly enjoyed being around each other and that definitely wasn’t the case in every locker room.
Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades. To order, just click on the book:
