Following a dominant collegiate profession on the College of Texas that noticed him win the 2000 Large 12 Defensive Participant of the 12 months award and a remaining two seasons in Austin that solidified him as a Longhorn nice, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Corridor of Honor member Casey Hampton felt prepared to hold over his impactful taking part in model from faculty to the NFL.
However as soon as in Pittsburgh, issues modified drastically for Hampton.
After main the Longhorns in tackles in 1999 and 2000 with 101 and 78, respectively, successful the DPOY award for the convention in 2000, too, Hampton was anticipating to be that game-wrecking nostril sort out that racked up tackles and made performs for the Black and Gold.
That wasn’t how the Steelers performed within the trenches, although, which led to Hampton being extra of a space-eating nostril sort out. That transition was troublesome for him.
Showing on The Christian Kuntz Podcast from draft weekend, Hampton acknowledged that it was a tricky transition for him. Whereas he in the end went on to have glory as a Steelers’ most sort out, successful two Tremendous Bowls and in the end winding up within the franchise’s Corridor of Honor whereas incomes 5 Professional Bowls in his profession, going from a play-maker to a quiet, key piece of the cog defensively made for a tricky transition for a younger participant.
“You understand, it was powerful for me at first as a result of, coming outta faculty, I led my workforce in tackles my final two years. In order that was my factor. So, I made performs and issues like that,” Hampton mentioned of his transition from Texas to the Steelers, in line with video by way of the present’s YouTube web page. “However coming right here, you simply seen how guys sacrificed, and it was extra concerning the protection and the protection doing nicely, they usually simply got here to me and been like, for the protection to work, you’re gonna must eat up these blocks. It ain’t your job to make tackles, it ain’t your job to do that or that.
“And the protection doing good and we had the primary run protection, issues like that. So I can’t be mad, what I imply? Sacrificing for that sort of consequence, what I imply?”
That was a troublesome sacrifice, nevertheless it’s one he’s glad he made as a result of he went on to have an amazing profession within the Metal Metropolis and was beloved by the fanbase, his teammates, and his coaches. Hampton performed 12 seasons within the NFL, all with Pittsburgh.
In these 12 seasons, Casey Hampton performed 173 profession video games with 164 profession begins, racking up 398 profession tackles with 39 tackles for loss, and 9.0 sacks. As a nostril sort out that was extra of an area eater than a disrupter, these are nice profession numbers. Hampton additionally had a sack in Tremendous Bowl XL, which was a particular second for him.
However these profession numbers throughout 12 seasons barely outproduced his collegiate stats throughout 4 seasons in Austin. With the Longhorns, Hampton generated 329 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 56 QB pressures, 9 pressured fumbles, and three fumble recoveries, incomes a spot within the Texas Corridor of Fame in 2014.
He was the primary defensive lineman to guide Texas in tackles in back-to-back seasons, and that was adequate to make him a first-round decide when the Steelers chosen him No. 19 general within the 2001 NFL Draft.
It’s comprehensible that Hampton had a tricky transition as a result of going from being a penetrating defensive lineman who made performs everywhere in the discipline to being a space-eating defensive sort out who held his hole and stored his linebackers clear to make performs is a stark distinction in play model.
Luckily, Casey Hampton embraced it and become the most effective nostril sort out in soccer yr after yr.
