Los Angeles Rams sign Turtle Creek firefighter as undrafted free agent
TURTLE CREEK, Pa. (KDKA) -- The Woodland Hills High School football team has put more than a half dozen of its players into the NFL and they're about to add another. Mike McAllister from Turtle Creek will soon join that list.
When you meet Mike McAllister, the first thing you realized is he's a massive human being, but ever since he was a young boy, he's been hanging out at the Turtle Creek Fire Department and at the same time becoming a stand-out football player. Now he's headed from Turtle Creek to Tinseltown to try his hand at playing for the Los Angeles Rams.
At 6-foot-3 and 308 pounds, McAllister is one of the biggest stories to come out of Turtle Creek in some time. But before he ever donned the helmet of Woodland Hills High School then Youngstown State, McAllister wore the helmet and gear of a Turtle Creek firefighter.
"It's like a second home, a second family. I joined when I was 16 and have been here ever since," he said.
McAllister says attacking a fire and putting a nose guard on his back are similar in a way: it can't be done alone.
"We have to work together to achieve a goal. Football is an 11-man sport. If one man screws up, it could jeopardize the situation that's the same way in football," he said.
To understand his football journey, you have to understand that being a pro football player for McAllister wasn't a wish, it was an absolute.
"Absolutely. I've been saying I was going to play football since I was 9 years old. I've always believed it," he said.
His confidence and hard work paid off.
"I'm going to Los Angeles, just signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Rams," he said. "Going to go out there and prove that I deserve to play in the NFL."
But McAllister says this is just the start.
"It's great that I'm on the roster. My goal isn't just to make the team, my goal is to make the team, be a contributor, become a starter and God willing, be a Hall of Fame player and ultimately win the big game."
McAllister said he'll head off to LA Friday for rookie camp, then be back here for a few weeks and then head right back out to the West Coast and do his best to become Los Angeles Ram.