Read more about the article Johnson’s DB teammates showing him path to the NFL

Johnson’s DB teammates showing him path to the NFL

PHOTO (Duke Athletics): Third-year starting cornerback Leonard Johnson. Visit my website homepage, TomShanahan.Report By TOM SHANAHAN DURHAM – Two NFL rookie defensive backs from Duke are impressing their respective teams with their training camp and preseason play – Michael Carter II with the New York Jets and Mark Gilbert with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nobody is watching them closer in preseason games, texting them and calling them than redshirt senior Leonard Johnson, Duke’s third-year starting cornerback. “That’s motivation,” Johnson…

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Read more about the article Steelers’ Bill Nunn gains his due, joining Donnie Shell and other HBCU players in Pro Football Hall of Fame

Steelers’ Bill Nunn gains his due, joining Donnie Shell and other HBCU players in Pro Football Hall of Fame

PHOTO: Bill Nunn with the Pittsburgh dynasty's four Super Bowl trophies from the 1974 (IX), 1975 (X), 1978 (XIII) and 1979 (XIV) seasons. I interviewed Donnie Shell on the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2015 for my former website. Since then, Shell (2020) and Bill Nunn have been named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2021). Shell’s quotes on playing at an HBCU and Nunn finding him are still good for a story in 2021.…

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Read more about the article The Rooney Rule needs a Schottenheimer addendum

The Rooney Rule needs a Schottenheimer addendum

By TOM SHANAHAN Pro Football Hall of Famers Bill Walsh of the San Francisco 49ers and Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers receive the lion’s share of credit among NFL coaches for having provided Black coaching opportunities. And rightly so. The NFL, left on its own, moved at a glacial pace. It needed to be prodded. When Jimmy Raye was hired in 1977 by then-49ers head coach Ken Meyer, there were only seven other Black assistants in a…

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