‘I fell in love with it.’ Unforeseen path brought star QB back to Kentucky as a coach.
Just a few short years ago, the thought of a career on the college football sidelines had never crossed the mind of new Eastern Kentucky University quarterbacks coach Trent Steelman.
“I never really had aspirations to coach when I was a player,” the Bowling Green native told the Herald-Leader in a recent phone interview.
While Steelman was busy setting program records in college as a four-year starting quarterback for Army, he nurtured dreams of playing in the NFL.
“Coaching was never really part of the equation in my mind, but when I finally got involved I fell in love with it quickly.”
Steelman, 30, got involved with the profession he’s come to love after a few post-college detours. He joined the staff of first-year EKU head coach Walt Wells in January after a busy three-year run at Jacksonville University, where he coached wide receivers, quarterbacks and special teams before taking on the role of offensive coordinator in 2019.
Under Steelman, Jacksonville’s rushing offense ranked fifth in the nation among FCS schools last season. That caught the attention of Wells, who extended to Steelman the opportunity to return to his home state and help the Colonels transition to a new coaching staff.
“I was born and raised in Bowling Green and the chance to return to Kentucky factored into my decision (to take the job with EKU) 100 percent,” Steelman said. “I spent the majority of my life in the state of Kentucky and it’s a place I hold near and dear to my heart.”
Steelman has a brother and sister in Lexington, while his parents and another brother still call Bowling Green home.
“It was hard to pass up the chance to get back closer to the family,” he said.
Steelman’s journey back to the Bluegrass began more than a decade ago at West Point.
Army days
Army was the only Division I program to offer Steelman a scholarship after his standout career at Bowling Green High School, and he jumped at the opportunity. Steelman became the first freshman to start at quarterback for the Black Knights and he etched his name throughout the program record book over the next four years.
Piloting Army’s run-heavy option offense, Steelman set West Point records for career rushing touchdowns, single-season rushing touchdowns and career rushing yards by a quarterback. He’s the only Army quarterback to throw for more than 2,000 yards and he ended his college career ranked No. 15 all-time in the NCAA for rushing yards by a quarterback.
Steelman has leaned on his experience as Army’s signal caller while developing his coaching repertoire, but he’s learned a flexible approach is best.
“It’s been a bit of an adjustment since my playing days at Army. The majority of my life and during my time at Army I lived in the ‘option’ world,” Steelman said. “But I’ve been able to carry over a lot of great lessons I learned there and a lot of things I learned running that offense. I think that’s helped me see some things from a different perspective. But learning offense outside of the option world has been very eye-opening. I’ve learned a lot about how to run a spread offense from both the passing-game standpoint and a running-game standpoint.”
That willingness to expand his comfort zone helped Steelman achieve his dream of donning an NFL uniform. After completing his senior campaign at Army, he switched positions and played wide receiver in the 2013 East-West Shrine Game, an all-star showcase for college seniors that’s intensely studied by NFL scouting departments.
Steelman scored a touchdown in the game and caught the attention of the Baltimore Ravens, who wanted to sign him as a free agent after the 2013 NFL Draft. But Steelman’s foray into pro football was delayed by his military obligations.
Two years on duty
Graduates of the five U.S. service academies are typically required to spend five years on active duty after college. After graduating from West Point with a degree in engineering management, Steelman served as a maintenance platoon leader at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. After two years, the Army released him from active duty so he could pursue an NFL career.
In 2015, Steelman spent training camp with the Ravens as a wide receiver. Though he didn’t make it onto Baltimore’s regular-season roster, Steelman nonetheless gained valuable experience and perspective during his time in camp. He spent countless hours around 16-year NFL veteran and five-time Pro Bowl receiver Steve Smith, who spent the twilight of his legendary career with the Ravens.
“When you’re able to be around some of the greats of the game you make a point of learning from them. When I was in Baltimore, I was in the same room as Steve Smith, which was just incredible,” Steelman said. “Just seeing his mentality, his work ethic and how he approached the game and carried himself on and off the field showed you what it takes day in and day out to perform at the highest level. When you’re around that type of mindset and mentality, especially with a guy that would be considered undersized but he plays much bigger than his physical attributes should allow him to, that really changes how you think and it raises the level of play among the guys around you.”
After his release from the Ravens, Steelman bounced around a few other professional leagues before settling down with his wife in her hometown of Atlanta. He accepted a commercial real estate job working with a fellow West Point graduate, but after a few months the football itch returned.
“I got the fever again,” Steelman said. “I missed the game too much and I had to find a way to get back involved.”
Fortunately, a former mentor had the answer. Steelman’s offensive coordinator at Army, Ian Shields, became head coach at Jacksonville University in 2016. Shields reached out to his former signal caller with a job offer, and Steelman’s new career was spawned.
“I just knew I wanted to get back into the game in some shape or form and coaching was the door that was open, and I’m glad I walked through. I fell in love with coaching and I haven’t looked back,” Steelman said.
Back home
Steelman got settled in Richmond with his wife, Elise, and their two young sons, Brady and Camden, just before the coronavirus pandemic upended life throughout the country.
“The timing was pretty fortunate for us, all things considered. We had time to find a place, get moved and get settled in,” Steelman said.
While the pandemic has made it challenging to prepare for a fall football season that’s very much in limbo, Steelman said the Colonels are making progress. And his first priority as quarterbacks coach is to identify and mold the signal caller that will be the face of the program.
“It’s a position that needs a solidified leader. The rest of the guys on the team need to be able to look to somebody to lead them,” Steelman said. “When you’re rolling two or three different faces into that huddle consistently, it’s hard for the team to grab hold of somebody and trust them to lead them down the field in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line.”
Steelman hopes to bring to the Colonels’ huddle an element that’s been missing for the last few years: predictability.
During the four-year tenure of previous head coach Mark Elder, EKU seemed stuck on an endless quarterback carousel. In the last two seasons combined, six different quarterbacks threw at least 50 passes for the Colonels. Steelman hopes to end that trend.
“I want to find a guy to emerge as a leader and a solidified starter. I think that’s been one thing that’s weighed on this team in the past, they’ve gone through a few different quarterbacks,” Steelman said. “In my experience from playing the position, I know it can take a toll on a quarterback when you are on a short leash. You need to be able to have the freedom to go out there and not be afraid to make a mistake. My job is to instill the confidence in whoever emerges as our starter and our leader.
“Right now we’re in the process of a quarterback competition and we feel like we have five guys that can play. It’s going to be a fun competition, but ideally we want to find a solidified starter and commit to him.”
Finding and forging that starter will be the first big test of Steelman’s EKU coaching career. It’s a challenge he relishes, along with the opportunity to pass along his football knowledge, that only came about because he took a chance on a career that never occurred to him when he was busy busting records as a player.
“The chance to be able to mentor kids who, at one time I was in their shoes, was really appealing to me,” Steelman said. “Being a younger coach and not being too far removed from the game, I felt like I had an obligation to give back because of what football has given me in many different ways. Being able to pass that love on to them and mentor them and help them grow into men who will contribute to society: That opportunity is what I fell in love with.”
