This article originally appeared on SteelersNOW.com.
To Kaleb Johnson, it almost didn’t feel real. Getting home after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 2 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks last season, the then-rookie tailback didn’t run from the nightmare he wasn’t waking up from.
He pulled up the film, seeing himself let a kickoff go through his hands and bounce into the end zone. Johnson briefly turned to watch it settle before venturing toward his team’s sideline while a host of white jerseys whizzing by after it.
The result — a Seahawks touchdown — put Pittsburgh down 10, rendering the game out of reach.
“I watched it over and over and over again,” Johnson said Friday after a training camp practice at St. Vincent College. “It was just unbelievable. … That stuff never happened to me before. I didn’t know how to react at first.”
Johnson didn’t jog out on kick return again the rest of the season. The third-round draft pick finished his novice campaign with 28 carries for 69 yards and no touchdowns. The numbers didn’t show it, but he “took it to the chin and just kept moving,” he said.
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