When the 4-2 Steelers take the field on Sunday, something special is going to happen. A young man with an already rich history will start for the first time in his professional football career. And as much fanfare may – or may not – be made of this news, I assure you the story behind Alejandro Villanueva’s journey to this moment is like few others.

I had the pleasure of being his coach at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and I’d like to share the story of a man – a friend – I know as ‘Ali.’

Our Meeting at West Point

The story begins more than six years ago when I found myself as a position coach at the United States Military Academy at West Point in January 2009. So much of the successes and failures of football have to do with the fit of a head coach – in the culture and in the fabric of an institution. But on a smaller scale, this is also true for a position coach.

As a staff, our first season was off to a fast start and I quickly found myself with the opportunity to coach Ali – a 6-foot 9-inch 290-pound giant. He’d had three other coaches and played three different positions before our staff arrived. It was now his senior year, and I was tasked with turning him into a Wide Receiver.

Ali had never played wide receiver at any level and just came off a season as an offensive lineman. Remember – this is his final collegiate season. And – he is 6-foot 9-inches tall… The clock was ticking and – I will admit – we were not sure we could make this happen.

No matter how you sliced it, Ali and I were in uncharted territory. He instantly became the tallest Wide Receiver in the history of college football. Not surprisingly, he was elected captain of the Army team. And there was the no-small-matter that he needed an eligible number – jerseys numbers in the 80s don’t come in his size…

When I think back at what we asked of this young man – this cadet – I am still astounded. It was one thing to ask a guy to move from guard to tackle. It was something completely different to move from tackle to Wide Receiver.

Imagine asking a very good player to change positions for what was going to be the last year of his football career. There is just one word that describes his attitude and character: selfless.

Coaching Ali Villanueva Takes On a New Look

As it turned out, I was the right fit to guide Ali through this transition. We both had engineering and analytical backgrounds, so we approached problems and created solutions in a very similar fashion.

So how did we attack the monumental endeavor? We went to practice 45 minutes early every day, and I would throw him ball after ball after ball.

Catch, tuck, get up-field. Over and over again. Day after day. Rep after rep.

Ali would learn a skill, extend and refine it. We’d then come back to it again the next day while trying to add more in other areas. Make no mistake: it was a lot of work to get him ready to play Wide Receiver. We started with the basics and worked from there. No looking back – no regrets.

“Whatever you need coach” was Ali’s mantra.

To say this was a long shot was probably an understatement. I knew there was a Plan-B but neither Ali nor I was going to let that happen. Besides, coaching him was a new adventure – a new challenge – for me. Yes, some of the techniques he used were different – but just look at him – he is different.

So, even if we made it through spring ball – which we did – the road to fall camp loomed… And then there was the no-small-matter of actually having him play in a Division I football game.

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In Part Two of my story on Alejandro Villanueva, I’ll share with you some of my favorite stories of his historical year at Wide Receiver.

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Part One – USMA

Part Two – Wide Receiver

Part Three – Service

Part Four – NFL