Following a dominant collegiate career at the University of Texas that saw him win the 2000 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award and a final two seasons in Austin that solidified him as a Longhorn great, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Hall of Honor member Casey Hampton felt ready to carry over his impactful playing style from college to the NFL.
But once in Pittsburgh, things changed drastically for Hampton.
After leading the Longhorns in tackles in 1999 and 2000 with 101 and 78, respectively, winning the DPOY award for the conference in 2000, too, Hampton was expecting to be that game-wrecking nose tackle that racked up tackles and made plays for the Black and Gold.
That wasn’t how the Steelers played in the trenches, though, which led to Hampton being more of a space-eating nose tackle. That transition was difficult for him.
Appearing on The Christian Kuntz Podcast from draft weekend, Hampton stated that it was a tough transition for him. While he ultimately went on to have glory as a Steelers’ most tackle, winning two Super Bowls and ultimately winding up in the franchise’s Hall of Honor while earning five Pro Bowls in his career, going from a play-maker to a quiet, key piece of the cog defensively made for a tough transition for a young player.
“You know, it was tough for me at first because, coming outta college, I led my team in tackles my last two years. So that was my thing. So, I made plays and things like that,” Hampton said of his transition from Texas to the Steelers, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “But coming here, you just seen how guys sacrificed, and it was more about the defense and the defense doing well, and they just came to me and been like, for the defense to work, you’re gonna have to eat up these blocks. It ain’t your job to make tackles, it ain’t your job to do this or that.
“And the defense doing good and we had the number one run defense, things like that. So I can’t be mad, you know what I mean? Sacrificing for that type of result, you know what I mean?”
That was a difficult sacrifice, but it’s one he’s glad he made because he went on to have a tremendous career in the Steel City and was beloved by the fanbase, his teammates, and his coaches. Hampton played 12 seasons in the NFL, all with Pittsburgh.
In those 12 seasons, Casey Hampton played 173 career games with 164 career starts, racking up 398 career tackles with 39 tackles for loss, and 9.0 sacks. As a nose tackle that was more of a space eater than a disrupter, those are great career numbers. Hampton also had a sack in Super Bowl XL, which was a special moment for him.
But those career numbers across 12 seasons barely outproduced his collegiate stats across four seasons in Austin. With the Longhorns, Hampton generated 329 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 56 QB pressures, nine forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries, earning a spot in the Texas Hall of Fame in 2014.
He was the first defensive lineman to lead Texas in tackles in back-to-back seasons, and that was good enough to make him a first-round pick when the Steelers selected him No. 19 overall in the 2001 NFL Draft.
It’s understandable that Hampton had a tough transition because going from being a penetrating defensive lineman who made plays all over the field to being a space-eating defensive tackle who held his gap and kept his linebackers clean to make plays is a stark difference in play style.
Fortunately, Casey Hampton embraced it and turned into the best nose tackle in football year after year.
