Hokies put on reunion at OTAs
Former teammates compete for jobs
Coming off the Steelers practice field Tuesday afternoon, rookie running back Travon McMillian was asked if he ever goes by just “Tray” as a nickname.
“I can’t be Tray,” McMillian said, then pointed to his left. “Because he’s Trey.”
Same way it was five years ago, when McMillian arrived at Virginia Tech, in a backfield where Trey Edmunds was already established as a ballcarrier. Now, as OTAs wind down across the NFL, McMillian and Edmunds find themselves competing with each other again, a reminder of how the small world of professional football can work in strange and mysterious ways.
Of all the undrafted freeagent running backs the Steelers could have signed, they chose McMillian, who spent two seasons alongside Edmunds with the Hokies and battled him for touches in 2015. But Edmunds, entering his third year in the NFL, didn’t bother wondering why he has to feel the heat from this guy a second time around.
“Man, I’m a firm believer in if everybody goes out there and everybody competes, there’s always room for everybody to eat,” Edmunds said.
“Exactly,” McMillian agreed.
Edmunds, 24, is best known in this city for being the older brother of secondyear Steelers safety Terrell, a former first-round pick. The NFL life hasn’t been nearly as glamorous for Trey, undrafted the year before his two younger brothers went in the top 30. But the eldest Edmunds made it out of training camp with New Orleans as a rookie, and has nine carries, 48 yards and a touchdown in the NFL to his name.
That production wasn’t enough to get him a second season with the Saints, but the Steelers snagged him for their practice squad in September, and promoted him to the active roster for the final four games of 2018. He’s
still here, still fighting to stay, although it’s not likely that both he and McMillian will make the team.
“It’s just a blessing to be playing with this guy and competing with him,” McMillian said with a smile, patting Edmunds on the chest. “It’s a healthy competition.”
So, there isn’t any friction left over from their time in college, when they had breakout seasons as redshirt freshmen two years apart?
“No, not at all,” McMillian said.
The similarities between the two go beyond where they chose to play in college.
Edmunds was recruited as an athlete but started at tailback in 2013 and led the Hokies in rushing before falling into the background a year later. McMillian was recruited as an athlete, but started at tailback in 2015 and led the Hokies in rushing until his production slipped as a redshirt sophomore. By then, Edmunds had gone to Maryland as a graduate transfer. McMillian would do the same, only to Colorado, after his junior season.
“When I came in [at Virginia Tech], he brought me under his wing, showed me the ins and outs of the game,” McMillian, who rushed for 1,009 yards last season at Colorado, said of Edmunds.
Speaking of those highly touted brothers, Terrell Edmunds called it “amazing” that McMillian and Trey are reunited in Pittsburgh. He remembers being in college, thinking that these are the moments you need to cherish with your teammates because it’ll be the only time you have them.
As it turns out, he was kind of wrong about that.
“We got another Hokie brother out here, somebody we once played with, so it’s always good to have that bond, that camaraderie from college to come up here in the big leagues,” said Terrell.