James Harrison on his football career and more | Steelers Time Machine

James growing up in akan I read this is it a true story your mom did not want you to play football yeah my mom she she didn't want me to play football she thought I would get hurt so that was her her biggest thing would be playing ball uh when did she get over that and when did you finally find yourself out in the football field well she didn't get over it I'll say my dad was able to talk her into it allowing me to play immediately but as far as her fear of me being hurt uh that probably didn't stop until 78 years into the league so yeah it became more of a me hurting other people how important was Kent to you because the field has has your name on it your numbers re tired you're in the Hall of Fame how important was th those years at Kent for you uh Kent was extremely important because they were the only ones that actually uh were there when it when it came time to offer scholarship is really what it uh came to I had some uh uh difficulties in uh my senior year which Leonard it the field of people that were willing to uh offer me a scholarship and Kent was a school that was there to offer me a scholarship so getting into Kent um I still kind of fizzled a little bit there at the beginning and the coach that brought me in was uh fired and the new coach that came in was Dean peas and he um he brought me in in and actually you know I did I had to walk on of course but after the walk on he um gave me my scholarship so um you know without Kent I'm not here right now your NFL career as a study and perseverance I mean you talked about even Kent and getting to Kent and having to walk on at Kent and then not necessarily you know having immediate success in the NFL what was it like for you why did you stick with it on and off practice squads and playing in Europe and all these different things uh for me I like playing football and you know when I first started playing football it was just the opportunity to play with my friends you know it's was like you want to go play football I'm like yeah cool let's go out you know go outside in the street they like no it's organized football I'm like cool yeah I'll do that so me originally playing football was just an opportunity to continue to play with my friends I enjoyed playing football because of what I got to do out there um and from that you know it was yo colleges you know they're willing to pay for your educ ation you know I could have went to any college to be 100% honest with you but uh like I said my senior year limited that and then I got into college and during my uh senior year it was teams that you know wanted me to work out you do your pro day and all that stuff and it was like yo you could you could get paid to to actually do this so when I you know got to uh Pittsburgh I was originally just on a practice squad and of course um you know it escalates from there but you know being cut cut and and brought back and cut and brought back um for me the reason I persevered is to be honest I didn't give 100% effort in my first year or two um I gave enough to make it through uh when I finally sat down and took the time to understand and learn the defense my biggest issue was my head I didn't know what I was doing and instead of me you know trying to get help and understand it I would just shut down and just make like it wasn't a big deal to me cuz I you know I didn't want people to know I didn't know what I was doing but once I was able to sit down and actually you know have people to take time to actually say hey this is what you need to do and I didn't feel like um you know I was being talked at I was being a coach too it was uh it was easy for me when did your legendary workout program start did it start around then or was that later in your career so my workout program I I was doing a little something like that in college but nothing to the stream that I did in Pros what ended up happening is I saw dude's check dude show me a check and his one week check was my whole Year's pay and I said you know what I need to do everything possible in this short term to make as much money as I can because it's not a long time that I'll be able to do this and to do that I need to take care of my body so from that point forward about 25 5 2006 I started taking better care of my body and as each year went on I added more and different things that you know were supposed to be the advances in uh you know healthc care or whatever that may be now taking you back a little bit earlier before you establish yourself was there a time where you almost quit did did I so in 2000 2000 between 2002 and 2003 I was uh sent to NFL Europe so I went to NFL Europe came back from NFL Europe Baltimore had actually sent me to NFL Europe and when I came back uh they released me so that's about year or two so it's 2002 2003 I've been cut four or five times now and I'm just sitting there waiting and I'm like you know what if I don't get picked up then this is just not meant to be and I'm gon move on get me a regular job like everybody else you know work my 40 50 hours a week and and call it a day and and uh that year Clark Hagen uh he breaks his hand about a week before training camp and then the rest is history so to speak did you know you had it in you to go from a guy who just went through the experiences you talked about Europe and being cut to being like almost immediately the defensive player of the year that's incredible I I I won't say that I knew I had that in me but I knew I had the ability to make it NFL roster and from there making the roster is just one step and then the next step is you know I want to you know be the best special teams player you know then I want to start I want to be the best you know linebacker and it's just you know taking a step each year to try and get better than you did the previous year well you had great days ahead of you but you're first Super Bowl largely special teams largely special teams yeah how what did it mean to you to win the Super Bowl uh that's the ultimate goal of of every year you know it's only one team that succeeds and if your goal going into that year is not to win a Super Bowl then you're cheating yourself and you're lying to yourself it's only one winner what's it like winning defensive player of the year I mean when you were notified of that what was your reaction uh it was great um and it was great because we had already won the Super Bowl I think that's when they notified you after the year was over with so it was just a cherry on top you know to get the uh recognition and uh notoriety that you know that's how people saw and felt about my play we'll get back to that Super Bowl in a minute because there's obviously a pretty important play in that but um when you wind up making Pro bowls and you wind up setting a single season sack record for a team that's got the defensive players that the history of the Steelers can boast is that special I I think it's always special when you when you break a record all records are meant to be broken um and when you're a person that gets to go out there and break one of those records and set a new standard and especially in the organization you know so extoric as the Pittsburgh Steelers and like you said the the lineage of of players they had the the history you know still Curtain defense it's um you know it's a big thing you know I talked to players who say they love talking to the Joe greens and the players from the past I don't know if you feel the same way but so there's a little connection there and then we see TJ watt now um I guess you don't ever like you said records are made to be broken you don't get to hold them uh forever but what's that like to be in the middle of that great history for the Steelers um I I I now you know hopefully you know get to be viewed as one of those guys um you know uh you know that you know what the Steelers defenses of the 2007 89 um can be in the arguments now of uh defenses with you know still curtain and um you're now part of that history that lineage that lore that Legend were you held every single play when you rushed listen if they called it anytime an arm is around your neck that's a ho that's that's I don't I don't know but that's how I see it but you know it was uh occasional Blue Moon I say that I would get a I would get a holding call yeah I mean but that is a an endearing image now of course you're living it but we're seeing you coming around that right end the clothes line underneath the chin that's not legal to them that's legal think about it if they if they outlawed that and they didn't allow that it wouldn't be too many quarterbacks left in this league you know yeah well Aaron Smith was talking about how because of the way you got to the quarterback and what you did once you got there they had to change the rules a little bit a little bit you know that's uh that wasn't just me I'm I'mma blame some of that on the rest of the defense too what was it like playing in that defense with all the talent around you and and everybody doing their job and maybe that o08 defense in particular was just phenomenal I mean that's just it you know each guy is out there uh doing exactly what he's supposed to do but the biggest thing is the bond that we had with each other you know I think I spent more time you know weeks you know through the season where I was with those guys more than I was with my family and I think that bond that that Brotherhood you know what I'm saying is really what uh brought us close together and made you genuinely care and and love you know your teammate to where you wanted to go out there and do everything you could to make sure that you did your end of that job and you know dick Leo being the D coordinator um you never wanted to let him know well you talk about your place in Steelers history that deserve it right in the middle of it the pro Bowls the defensive player of the year and the author of maybe the greatest play in Super Bowl history the greatest play in Super Bowl let's get it right no maybe start that over so tell me what you remember about that play how did it come about and uh and you're running down the sideline um well we were you know that whole half I felt like we were getting there just steep step too late you know we'd hit him just as he threw the ball hit him you know right as he got you know uh got rid of the ball a step away and he was just really reading the defense getting the ball out and um coach Leo called All Out uh Blitz on that play I believe it was 61 Blitz zero and um my job is to obviously Blitz but the biggest thing is I need to get this tackle to step at me and take me so that Timmons who's blitzing on my inside can have a free run to the quarterback he's the one that would had a free shot so I'm like you know what I think he's going to see it and uh he's going to get the ball out in time so I'mma play I'mma drop I'm going play for the quick SL in and hopefully I'm able to you know knock the ball down that's really what I'm thinking and you know I do that part I step tackle steps at me Timmons comes free and uh later on you know Kurt would say that you know he was looking at me he saw me step so as soon as he saw me step he knew it was an allout Blitz and he's just looking now to get rid of the ball and uh as I'm looking at him you know I'm thinking he's looking at me and uh he throws the ball and I'm like oh my God so the rest of it is just you know it's it's a whole whole defense you know all 10 guys you you know putting every ounce of effort that they had left in that you know that last part of that half to you know help me get down there and score well all 10 guys in the old running back from high school you played running back in high school did that that come in handy yeah I could I could have you know I could I could have went either way in high school you know what I'm saying I had I had three that wanted me for running back I had another three that wanted me for linebacker but yeah it uh it came in handy you must have been no fun to tackle with football nine zero I I I I I delivered the blow the same way I did on defense as I did when I ran the ball and there was nowhere nowhere to to hit for you right I mean you're just all muscle and well I wasn't like that I was like I'm my stats said I was 62 210 okay but I was really like 6' 190 2 inch 20 pounds you know how high school go how did you get the nickname of Debo I was from a character on Friday um it's the bully so um they considered me to be a bully on the football field so that's how I had a bunch of nick names though you know peewees I was pitbull um I was jbo it's just a off throw Debo that was before before Deo they ain't want to call me Deo I was two day vet um Silverback which two-day vet they said I was there for two days and I was acting like I was a vet so they called me two-day vet do you have a favorite nickname everybody calls you Debo your teammates and yeah it's Debo now I mean just I can tell where you know me from by the nickname you call me I got other nicknames too so when I hear the nickname I'm like oh they know me from elementary right they know me from high school they know me from college you know any difference winning that second Super Bowl the so the first year course there a difference I'm I'm I'm a full-time starter um you know you got a bigger role you you have a bigger hand in and uh you know what the outcome of that game is um I think even then I was still on some special teams too um be honest I think I was still doing kickoff and punt so yeah it you know it's a it's definitely it feels it feels better it feels more significant because it is when you look back at your career what do you look back at most fondly you know the crazy part is I don't even really look at like uh like games I I think about the times that you're with the guys you know that you're you're just goofing around in the locker room um you know on a bus on the plane uh at the hotel you know I I could give you more stories about that if they were you know actually able to be told um than I could about games so you're in the Hall of Honor what does that mean to you you know I'm just extremely honored and um just humbled to be a part of a you know a group of man that is what a Pittsburgh Steeler is defined as you know what I'm saying and uh I'm just extremely thankful man

Channel: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Keywords: steelers, nfl, american football, afc north, steelers news, pittsburgh steelers news, pittsburgh, pittsburgh steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers, PIT, Steelers, 2024 NFL, 2024 Steelers, 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers, pittsburgh steelers 2024, 2024 nfl, steelers 2024, Time Machine, James Harrison, interview, football interview, James Harrison interview, exclusive, Steelers alumni, Steelers legend, James Harrison Steelers, James Harrison college, exclusive interview

Id: 5lNpx-_P4AE

Length: 15min 3sec (903 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2024