Former Steelers LB Ryan Shazier Talked with Duke Basketball Team about His Injury, Experiences

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier attended a Duke basketball game on Saturday against Syracuse and wore Blue Devils  attire to match.

Shazier played college football for Ohio State and while it may seem strange to see him dressed in Duke blue, he has recently developed a relationship with Duke head coach, Mike Krzyzewski. This happened after Duke played at Ohio State in November  and the two met, with Shazier giving Krzyzewski his book, “Walking Miracle: How Faith, Positive Thinking, and Passion for Football Brought Me Back from Paralysis…and Helped Me Find Purpose.”

Former NFL linebacker @RyanShazier in attendance at the @Cuse_MBB–@DukeMBB game 🙌 pic.twitter.com/LGTkGqUTmO

— ESPN (@espn) January 22, 2022

Shazier suffered a spinal contusion after a hit in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2017, which left him paralyzed as he could not move his legs.

Krzyzewski brought in Shazier to talk to his team on Friday and he talked about his experiences with being paralyzed and his journey to being able to walk and move again, and was even spotted shooting some free throws at Cameron Indoor Stadium. 

After spending two seasons on the team’s physically unable to perform list, in March 2020, the Steelers placed Shazier on the retired list, a move that allowed him to continue to serve with the team in a professional capacity while no longer impacting the Steelers’ salary cap figure. He then officially retired from football in September of that season

A first-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2014, Shazier started 41 games in four seasons for the Steelers and finished his career with 299 tackles, seven sacks, seven interceptions, seven forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.