How Steelers great Ryan Shazier recovered from injury to become a coach

PITTSBURGH -- Wearing a achromatic puffer overgarment and a achromatic Pittsburgh Steelers-logoed beanie punctuated pinch a heavy yellowish stripe, Ryan Shazier hooks his arms done the straps of a reddish blocking pad and braces himself for impact.

One by one, Steelers moving backs detonate disconnected the statement successful the team's indoor believe facility, moving guardant until they meet and prosecute the first blocking pad of the drill. Then they shuffle sideways, put 2 hands connected the pad and shove Shazier.

Nearly a decade ago, Shazier mightiness person shoved back. Or possibly he would've deftly dodged the artifact effort and rocketed toward the quarterback.

But this afternoon, Shazier absorbs each hit, staggering backmost a measurement aliases 2 pinch an uneven gait that's a testament to modern medicine and difficult work. Each time, Shazier quickly recovers and lumbers backmost to the starting position for the adjacent player. That's the occupation now.

Selected successful the first information by the Steelers successful 2014, neither Shazier nor the squad who identified him arsenic the adjacent awesome linebacker successful an statement defined by the position could've imagined this.

But a head-first collision pinch a Bengals wide receiver during "Monday Night Football" connected Dec. 4, 2017 changed everything.

Seven years aft suffering a career-ending and life-altering spinal cord injury, Shazier is carving retired a caller way guardant successful the athletics that has fixed -- and taken -- truthful much.

Once the early of the Steelers' linebacking corps and backmost of the defense, Shazier is now helping equip moving backs pinch the devices to thwart his erstwhile position arsenic an violative assistant, embarking connected a travel he hadn't considered erstwhile he was search quarterbacks and stuffing moving backs.

"Honestly, I didn't cognize [about coaching] because I was truthful focused connected playing," Shazier said. "I thought it was a blessing to play, and I conscionable wanted to play arsenic agelong arsenic I could. I was going to fto that hap down the road, but it wasn't my first choice."

Like truthful galore roads successful Pittsburgh, the 1 that led him backmost to the Steelers and a coaching profession was winding and unpredictable. But connected the cusp of completing his first coaching season, Shazier is erstwhile again adapting -- and thriving -- to a caller measurement of life.

"He's learning the separation betwixt subordinate and coach and what that looks like," moving backs coach Eddie Faulkner said. "I tease him each the time. I'm like, 'You're Ryan Shazier, but you're trying to go coach Shazier.' Those are 2 different ways that you sewage to move.

"But he wants to coach. You sewage to want to do it, because evidently the clip that it requires. He puts his effort forward. He really wants to do it."

THE DECISION TO return to the section wasn't 1 Shazier took lightly.

Though he sustained his wounded successful 2017, Shazier wasn't put connected the NFL's reserve/retired database until March 2020. During that span, Shazier maintained a locker successful the believe installation and a spot connected the roster connected the reserve/physically incapable to execute list. He was a fixture astir the building arsenic he continued rehab, often retired connected the section during believe aliases successful the weight room. Remarkably, Shazier jogged for the first clip 11 months aft spinal fusion room and progressed to leaping container jumps 5 months later.

But arsenic reality sunk successful that resuming his playing profession aft a terrible spinal wounded wasn't feasible and COVID-19 importantly restricted entree to squad facilities, Shazier officially announced his status successful September 2020.

"To suffer the crippled successful a measurement I ne'er envisioned has not been easy," Shazier said then. "When you play the crippled of shot the measurement I did, you person yourself you're Superman, that thing tin extremity you. But past the infinitesimal I sewage hurt, I stopped being Superman. That was difficult to make sense.

"Some group autumn successful emotion pinch group [and] you get huffy astatine them. But you know, you ever dress up -- and that's really I consciousness astir the crippled of football."

Next, Shazier needed clip away. He tried his manus astatine a number of things complete the adjacent 3 years. He vanished his grade astatine Ohio State, graduating successful December 2020. He besides contributed to a podcast, helped motorboat a aesculapian marijuana marque and did activity pinch his foundation, the Ryan Shazier Fund for Rehabilitation.

He liked experimenting pinch different ventures, but he couldn't quiet the sound that called him backmost to the game.

"I wanted to spot if I would bask different industries arsenic overmuch arsenic I enjoyed football," Shazier, 32, told ESPN successful August. "I conscionable tried retired different things, and I ended up uncovering retired the writer isn't ever greener connected the different side."

That realization led him to coach Mike Tomlin's agency earlier this year. After adding Shazier connected a tryout ground during OTAs and minicamp, Tomlin told his erstwhile subordinate he had a season-long domiciled connected the 2024 coaching unit moving pinch the moving backs. Tomlin besides added 1 of Shazier's teammates, erstwhile linebacker Vince Williams, to a akin domiciled connected defense.

"Ryan has a unsocial narration pinch this game," Tomlin told mentor Tony Dungy successful an October interview. "He has a passion for it, he has a thirst for knowledge regarding the crippled that he loves to stock pinch others. He did that arsenic a player. He has each the devices to beryllium a really bully coach, man, and I'm conscionable excited to beryllium a portion of that constituent of his continued narration pinch the game."

With a caller position connected life and the game, Shazier began penning his adjacent section astatine training campy successful Latrobe, Pennsylvania -- the aforesaid spot he began his NFL playing profession a decade earlier.

"It took maine that clip to get into this because I needed that abstraction to beryllium capable to measure if this is the correct spot for maine to beryllium correct now," Shazier said, opinionated connected the sideline astatine camp. "Right now, it don't really fuss maine being here, knowing guys making money and seeing what guys tin do. A small spot because I'm a small older, but besides the truth that I sewage past that. But erstwhile I first sewage injured, definite parts of maine wasn't fresh yet."

RUNNING BACK JONATHAN WARD was amazed the first clip he saw Shazier pinch the moving backs. Not because location was a erstwhile linebacker successful an violative gathering room, but because it was the Ryan Shazier.

"Steelers legend," Ward said. "Ohio State legend. It was conscionable surreal seeing him successful person, and past of people what he's been through. It was conscionable admirable seeing him retired location and still astir the crippled of football, doing what he loves to do.

"Being a erstwhile player, a protect player, he astir apt knows everything location is to cognize connected the protect broadside of the ball. So to hone successful his crippled and to make him the astir well-rounded coach possible, it conscionable makes consciousness for him to beryllium connected the violative broadside to study that broadside of the shot aft playing connected the opposing broadside for truthful galore years."

Even though Shazier has learned to expect the unexpected from his erstwhile coach complete the past decade, he didn't expect Tomlin assigning him to an violative role.

"I was surprised, but besides not surprised, because erstwhile it comes to coach Tomlin -- and you conscionable ne'er cognize immoderate he's going to do -- I consciousness for illustration he ever makes the correct decision," Shazier said. "At first, I was a small nervous, and moreover to this time I'm still a small tense because it's virtually each azygous time I'm learning."

Shazier's narration pinch the discourtesy is mutually beneficial. Having a erstwhile linebacker activity pinch the team's moving backs is almost for illustration giving them an reply cardinal to their play test. And it's not conscionable immoderate personification giving them the answers, it's personification who sat successful gathering rooms down the hall, who wore the aforesaid azygous and was portion of 3 AFC North-winning teams.

"He's sewage state successful the gathering to speak up connected things," Faulkner said. "Guys will move and inquire him questions, 'Hey, what's [Elandon Roberts] doing connected this? Why did they do that?' And it mightiness beryllium thing that we're sitting location talking astir that [the defense] whitethorn person messed up and he's like, 'Oh, they screwed that 1 up.' And truthful that portion of it offers a different vantage constituent that usually we don't get."

Shazier isn't conscionable learning a caller broadside of the ball, he's besides learning a caller measurement of life arsenic a coach. He is acold from the first erstwhile subordinate to participate the coaching ranks, but navigating that modulation tin still beryllium tricky.

"It's truthful fun," extracurricular linebackers coach Denzel Martin said of Shazier's evolution. "He went from the apical of the nutrient chain, now he's backmost astatine the bottom.

"He's a [quality control]. He gets to do breakdowns. He gets to do each the worldly that's not glorified anymore. He's doing a awesome occupation astatine it, immoderate you inquire him to do. He fits correct in. I told him he's an violative feline now, truthful he's falling correct successful line. We emotion him."

AS A PLAYER, Shazier thought he was 1 measurement ahead, arriving early to practice, getting successful other lifts, watching hours of tape.

He laughs astir that now.

"That's the quality successful a coach and a player," he said. "You person to ever benignant of beryllium a fewer steps ahead. As a player, you deliberation you're a measurement ahead, but the coaches are ever a fewer more."

The occupation explanation for a value power expert is simply a hodgepodge of behind-the-scenes responsibilities.

"All the activity that you don't glorify, that's the QCs," said Martin, who spent clip successful the domiciled early successful his coaching career. "You conscionable sewage to study to emotion it and unrecorded successful the background."

Before individual periods astatine the commencement of practice, Shazier's tasks tin see arranging orangish cones for agility drills aliases dragging tackling dummies into place. Once those are group up, Shazier mightiness wield a boxing mitt connected a instrumentality to punch the shot distant aliases simulate interaction by thumping moving backs pinch elephantine blocking pads.

And successful squad periods, Shazier not only useful pinch the offense, but he besides helps retired coordinator Danny Smith pinch typical teams.

"He was a bully typical squad guy, and he was very successful there," believe squad moving backmost Aaron Shampklin said. "Having personification to beryllium capable to inquire questions and they springiness you really they did things is -- literally, I mean, you can't get that anyplace else."

On crippled days, Shazier has a spot successful the coaching container pinch different assistants and spends games meticulously charting plays.

Shazier is successful the infancy of his coaching career, but for illustration everything other successful his life, he aspires to greatness.

"I'm conscionable taking it time by day," he said. "But successful my vision, I would emotion to beryllium a caput coach down the road.

"Every clip I strive for something, I ever effort to strive to beryllium the champion and spell to the top. So I'm conscionable going to return it 1 time astatine a clip and hopefully I tin get it."