Most football players bulk up significantly between high school and the NFL, but for Steelers rookie defensive tackle Daniel McCullers, the key to becoming a professional was turning pro.
McCullers weighed 414 pounds during his senior year in high school, and the major college football programs weren’t interested in him. So he enrolled at Georgia Military College, and that turned out to be just the thing he needed.
“Waking up 5 o’clock every morning, running, working out with military officers, having formation every morning, marching every day, wearing uniforms,” McCullers told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I did it all. At first, I thought it was a lot with the uniform and everything, but it was my only option.”
By the time the 6-foot-7 McCullers had spent two years at Georgia Military College, he had lost more than 50 pounds and had plenty of scholarship offers, and he ended up at Tennessee. He played well enough there that the Steelers took him in the sixth round of the NFL draft, and at 352 pounds, he looks like he’s just the right size to play nose tackle in Pittsburgh.
