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Steelers Name Ray Sherman Interim WR Coach

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The Steelers announced the hiring of longtime NFL assistant Ray Sherman as interim wide receivers coach for the 2018 season.

Sherman, 67, who has been with the team as a guest coach since the beginning of training camp, began working more closely with the wide receivers in the wake of the death of coach Darryl Drake on Aug. 11.

He’s been helped out by coaching assistant Blaine Stewart and coaching intern William Gay.

This will be Sherman’s second stint with the Steelers. He was the team’s offensive coordinator under Bill Cowher in 1998. He’s also coached for the Houston Oilers, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Rams. Most of his tenure has been as a wide receivers coach or offensive coordinator. Sherman hasn’t coached since working with the Rams wide receivers from 2012-15.

A native of Berkley, California, Sherman played collegiately as a wide receiver and defensive back at Fresno State. He got his coaching start at San Jos State jut out of college and also coached at California, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Purdue and Georgia.

“A guy who has been here,” Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said in a press release. “He has coached everybody from Jerry Rice to young guys like us. It’s the best opportunity to have him step up and play that role for us. Also, Blaine (Stewart) is doing a great job. It just takes all of us together. We are in this together.

“To go through this at a young age, 22 years old, there are no words that can explain what we are going through. For Ray, he was retired, for him to come out of his way to be here it means a lot not only to myself but to the receivers in the room. We don’t want to change that.”