When former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker set a Super Bowl record with his 75-yard touchdown run against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XXL, current rookie running back Le\’Veon Bell was just less than two weeks away from turning 14 years-old. Seven years later, Bell still remembers that run.
“My memory of him (Parker) was his longest run in Super Bowl history,” said Bell. “I told him, \’I probably won\’t ever be able to duplicate that because I\’m not as fast you\’, but I joke around with him a little bit about that.”
Parker is of course back at Latrobe this year with the Steelers as coaching intern as part of the NFL’s minority fellowship program and Bell talked highly of him on Thursday.
“He\’s been in the room really helping me out and critiquing my little movements and things,” said Bell of Parker. “Just technique wise, he sees that I\’ve got the talent, he just wants to make sure that technique-wise, I clean up everything and get me to grow as a player and be the best that I can be.”
In 2005, Parker, who had made the Steelers as an undrafted free agent a year earlier, was the starting running back for the season opener against the Tennessee Titans. It was Parker\’s first career start and a good one at that, as he rushed for 161 yards on 22 carries in the Steelers 34-7 win.
Bell, thanks to him progressing nicely so far in training camp, has a good chance of being the starter this year in the season opener, which just so happens to be against the Titans. Should he manage to accomplish that feat, he would be the first Steelers rookie running back to start a season opener since Tim Worley last did it in 1989. That was two and a half years before Bell was born and Parker was only 9 years-old at the time.
