Steelers' Great Troy Polamalu Was Surprised That He Played Safety Instead Of RB At USC

Troy Polamalu is arguably the greatest Pittsburgh Steelers' safety and maybe even the greatest safety of all-time. What if I told you he almost never even played that position in college? Yes, the man with 32 career interceptions, over 100 pass deflections, and 783 total tackles was almost a running back when he played for the USC Trojans.

Pittsburgh Steelers would trade up

Before Polamalu was dominating against our division rivals, he was killing it at the college scene. He was so good that during the 2003 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers would trade up from 27th to 16th to secure the prominent force. From there, the rest is history, two Super Bowls, a NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, and a legacy left in the city of Pittsburgh.

For college however, he was a two-time All-American, a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019. This insane college career made me want to dig a little deeper into his collegiate tenure and from there, while Polamalu was at USC, there was one huge thing that stood out that he said.

"I always dreamed of coming to USC and playing running back"

Polamalu was First Team All-State for Oregon while at Douglas High School. As a running back during his junior season, he would rush for 1,040 yards and had 22 rushing touchdowns. This is when his recruiting would start to pick up, as he got better, the idea of him becoming a college running back looked more than likely in his future.

One man however is what influenced Polamalu's' decision-making on why he wanted to be a running back and that was his uncle Kennedy Polamalu. Kennedy is currently the running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders and was previously the offensive coordinator for USC. While Troy was going through the recruiting process, Kennedy was at the University of Colorado, as well as San Diego State until 2000 when he would make it to USC and got the chance to coach Troy.

With Kennedy being a running backs coach, this surely played an effect into why Troy thought that he would end up being a running back. Another big reason was when USC came calling, he looked at the legacy his uncle left at USC as he was a former fullback there.

The real reason why Polamalu's switch to safety happened is because of the humility he has, not only as a player, but as a person in general. I think every Steelers fan realized this not only through his time in Pittsburgh, but afterwards as well. Now with his time being done in the NFL, we see that he had created the Troy and Theodora Polamalu Foundation that goes to things such as the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, American Samoa, and much more.

Throughout his entire career however, I think this was Polamalu's vision. He wanted to make a difference in this world, even in the college level with his aspirations of being a teacher.

"I want to be a role model for kids." Polamalu then stated, "Being an athlete, you are automatically a role model. But this will end one day, so I've always wanted to become a teacher. I've always dreamed about kids saying, 'Mom, Dad, guess who our teacher is? It's Troy Polamalu!"

So, what do you think, Steeler Nation? Would Troy Polamalu be an elite running back in the NFL? Let me know in the comments below!

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