When you think of which Pittsburgh Steelers defined the 21st century for the team, one of the first names that comes to mind is James Harrison. He made arguably the biggest play in Super Bowl history with his 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in 2008. Harrison was also Defensive Player of The Year that season, the first Steeler to win that award since Rod Woodson in 1993.
James Harrison embodies so many positive traits of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the city of Pittsburgh itself. Leadership, toughness, resilience, the list goes on. He almost became larger than life, just a guy you loved to root for, and was even recently recognized in the Steelers Hall of Honor.
When you watched James Harrison play football in the mid to late 2000s, you imagined him as someone who came out of the womb loving football and laid the meanest hits in his middle school Pop Warner league. However, this wasn’t quite the case. Harrison opened up about this in the most recent episode of The Mike Tomlin Show.
“When I first started playing football, it was just the opportunity to play with my friends. And from that, it was colleges that are willing to pay for your education.’ Harrison recalled. “When I got to Pittsburgh, I didn’t give a hundred percent effort in my first year or two. I gave enough to make it through. But once I was able to sit down and actually, have people take time to say, ‘Hey, this is what you need to do’ and I didn’t feel like I was being talked at, then it was easy for me.”
Harrison didn’t have a conventional NFL career. He was known as a bit of a tweener coming out of college, not being big enough to play on the line, but not being fast enough to be a linebacker. He went undrafted, and latched on to the Steelers practice squad, only seeing activity in one game in his first two seasons.
His true breakout season wouldn’t come until he was 29 years old, in 2007, racking up 8.5 career sacks. This was more than double his career total going into 2007 which was just 4.0. He would rack up at least 8.5 sacks in five consecutive seasons from 2007-2011 and earned Pro Bowl selections in each season. It’s also interesting that he mentions coaching in his interview, as while he doesn’t note them by name, his breakout season coincided with the season Mike Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher.
Hearing Harrison say he didn’t give 100% all the time is a bit of a shock. But looking at how successful Harrison was, his career can teach a valuable lesson: it’s never too late to start.
