PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Last year he was a substitute teacher at a middle school in California. Now with numerous injuries to the Steelers backfield, Harvard graduate Aaron Shampklin not only was elevated and played his first NFL game in Indy Sunday, he’s now on the active roster.
Shampklin has been working at this for a couple of years bouncing around with Dallas, the Colts and Chargers before signing with the Steelers on January 17. Released after training camp in August, he was signed back, elevated, demoted and then joined Najee Harris and Cordarrelle Patterson in the backfield Sunday.
The 5’10”, 195-pound running back would play 13 snaps, he did have a carry for five yards.
“It feels good to knock it out and get the feel from real game speed which is a change from college,” Shampklin said. “I haven’t made an impact like I wanted to. I’m still trying to make a name for myself and that I deserve to be here.”
Confidence has grown from his opportunity against the Colts and now he’s hoping for more. That ultimately will depend on the health of Patterson, but he’s right there.
“Anything can happen, you just got to take it day-by-day,” Shampklin said. “Don’t look at the long run, look at the moment you have this practice. Like it’s a championship day and you don’t know what may happen.”
He had gone back home before this season and was working at a middle school in his hometown of Long Beach, California. He started in the office of the school, but would be assigned to classrooms when a teacher was unavailable. They realized he’s good at math, an economics degree from Harvard, and taught mostly sixth graders, although he had one week with a group from eighth grade. He said he appreciated being home and giving back to his hometown.
“It’s kind of good to be like a walking example that they can make a difference,” Shampklin said.
He’s hoping to go back to California and see some of the kids during the bye week, saying as long as he’s still on the team.
“I always believed it was going to happen,” Shampklin said. “I didn’t know when or how long. I always thought if it wasn’t here, I was going to play somewhere. Find a way to play for somebody’s team.”
He didn’t just play at Harvard, he was a star, earning All-Ivy League honors rushing for 2,251 yards and 23 touchdowns and catching 29 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns in just 29 career games.
“That Harvard choice was not a deterrent for me wanting to be in the NFL,” Shampklin said. “I knew that would always be an option. I knew it would be a harder route to get here, which it has been, but I don’t take anything for granted. I still have the Harvard degree and now I’m able to play still.”
The effort to get the degree with long nights trying to balance a life between school and football. It set an example for him on how to deal with adversity. That resilience paid off, even if not immediately.
“Sometimes it felt like the goalposts kept getting moved,” Shampklin said. “Every time I tried to do something else, God kept putting me back, like ‘no, football is still there, you need to be patient’.”
“God works in mysterious ways.”
While at Long Beach Polytechnique HS Shampklin had offers to bigger schools-Washington State, Boise State, New Mexico among them. He went to Harvard to see there was more to life than just football. There will be that day again, but right now it’s all about football and fulfilling his other dream.
“One of my dreams has always been to be in Madden,” Shampklin said.
He wants to see his name as a running back option in the video game.
“Hopefully that day is coming soon.”