Over the last several years, my postgame rituals have changed a bit. For one thing, I no longer get stuck in stairwells.

After my first start against Eastern Kentucky, I was asked to go up and talk to the media. Media Relations would go get us from the locker room and tell us to go to the lobby, where the press was waiting, before Chuck Amato came out. I was a local kid and they wanted to talk to me after that game.

However, I didn’t quite make it there. I didn’t have the key to get up and down in the elevator so I tried to take the stairs. What I didn’t know was that all the doors lock up after a certain time, so I was stuck. I was really freaked out, a little freshman just off the field and still wearing my shoulder pads, stuck in the stairwell, knowing I was supposed to be somewhere and not knowing what would happen if I missed it. Everyone else was probably even more freaked because they couldn’t find me.

I seem to remember it being five or 10 minutes, but others say it was more like 20 – in any case, someone eventually came looking for me and got me out. Now, whenever there’s a freshman on the team, everyone makes sure he knows where he’s going.

Media Relations still teases me about it all the time about that night. They say when I’m a Pro-Bowler, they’re still going to remember that time I got locked in the stairwell.

Though my life still revolves around football, it has gotten much more relaxed since that night. Actually, it’s the same pretty much every day. I’m like a robot – school, football practice, film. The routine is pretty much the same. I don’t really do much after the game. I just come back, watch some ESPN, check the scores, go to sleep. I don’t go out as much as I did during my freshman and sophomore years.

The same story goes for the rest of the team – we’ve become more concerned with how we’re viewed, on and off the field, since Coach O’Brien came along. In Coach O’Brien’s program, he treats us like men. We’re going to do what we do, but at the same time, you have responsibilities and you’re held accountable. People know they wouldn’t just be letting the coaches down; they’d be letting their team leaders and teammates down as well.

People really take that into consideration. They think about things before they do them now.

Now back to this coming weekend. Personally, I feel like I’m getting back into a groove, just in time for Pittsburgh. It was great getting back into the end zone again last week – actually, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever flipped into the end zone.

From what I’ve seen, Pitt has a really good defensive line. They think they’re really tough guys and they’re going to come down here and try and get physical, but if we keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we’ll be fine.

Especially if we remember to avoid stairwells.

We’ll see you at the game.

-As told to Kate Shefte