Thursday, February 02, 2006Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DETROIT -- For most young kids who grow up playing football, getting to the Super Bowl is the biggest part of the dream.
Not for Jeff Hartings, the Steelers' Pro Bowl center who will be playing in his first Super Bowl on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. Growing up in St. Henry, Ohio, population about 2,000, Hartings didn't dare dream the dream.
How could a kid from St. Henry High, Hartings incorrectly reasoned, get the kind of exposure necessary to eventually make it to the NFL?
"I didn't think it would be possible to go to a school like Penn State, much less the NFL, because I was from such a small town," Hartings said at the Steelers media session at Ford Field on Tuesday. "I was like a David, and I thought all the guys who go to play big-time college football at places like Notre Dame and Penn State were Goliaths from the big towns, and I couldn't compare to them."
Jim Lachey made the dream possible.
Lachey was an offensive lineman in the NFL from 1985-1994 with the San Diego Chargers and the Washington Redskins. He played in Super Bowl XXVI with the Redskins. Before that he played for Ohio State, and before that, for St. Henry High.
"Jim Lachey was the guy who made me realize it was possible," said Hartings, who, at 33, is nine years younger than Lachey. "When he got to the NFL, I started working harder to get better. I remember him playing in the Super Bowl.
"I said, 'If he can do it, I can do it.' And I started working even harder."
The hard work, and an abundance of natural talent, earned Hartings the kind of recognition at St. Henry, which also has sent quarterback Bobby Hoying to the NFL, that brought the big schools around. Hartings accepted a scholarship to Penn State, which put him on the fast track to the NFL. So did being a two-time All-American guard and three-time all-Big Ten selection. Being a first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions didn't exactly put Hartings on the fast track to the Super Bowl but he remedied that by signing as a free agent with the Steelers before the 2001 season.
Now as the Steelers are three days away from the biggest game in sports, Hartings finds himself living a dream and wants to make certain it doesn't become a nightmare. The Steelers' running game has been unsatisfactory in their past two victories against Indianapolis and Denver. Rather than winning by the strength of their power running game, the Steelers have won on the strength of Ben Roethlisberger's arm and their passing game.
Against the Seahawks, the team whose 13-3 record was second best in the NFL, the Steelers figure to need to be able to run and pass. They need their offensive line to move people.
"We'll be ready," Hartings said. "We want to be able to do whatever our game plan calls for."
There were plenty of times early in his tenure with the Steelers that Hartings never thought he would be around for the 2005 season or Super Bowl XL. He had knee surgery after the 2002 season and the recovery was slow and painful.
"I considered retirement three years in a row because of my knee," he said. "This is probably the first year I haven't considered retirement."
To listen to Hartings, the pain was excruciating.
"I was in so much pain, it made me call out to God literally every single night in my bed, 'How am I going to get through tomorrow, much less through a football game.'
"I still look back to this day, and I have no idea how I played in some of those games."
The pain has abated considerably, and games are made bearable by anti-inflammatory medication. Hartings isn't talking retirement. He wants to play at least one more season, and he wants to play for the Steelers.
There's one problem with that plan.
Because of his knee problems, the Steelers never expected Hartings to play out the life of his contract, which expires after next season. He's due a $750,000 roster bonus in March and will earn a salary of $4 million for the 2006 season. That might be palatable for the Steelers. What isn't is Hartings' salary cap figure, which will be $8.13 million.
Under no circumstances will the Steelers bring Hartings back with that kind of cap number.
"I'm definitely willing to consider reworking the contract," Hartings said. "That's how the business works. You always look to the guys with the biggest cap number, and I think I have the biggest. I fully expect [a renegotiation] to happen after this season."
But that's something for another day. For the rest of this week, Hartings will continue to live out a dream he never thought he'd have.
(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1468.)
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