Freeport's Steve McShane is officially a pro football player now
Freeport's Steve McShane is back on the field, and he's officially a professional football player.
He made his comeback in Prague, Czech Republic.
The former Pretzel star who went on to be a two-sport standout at Western Illinois University, not only played in his first pro football game last Sunday, but he scored his first pro touchdown and earned his first professional win as well.
His Leipzig (Germany) Kings knocked off the Prague Lions 18-15 in the season opener for the European League of Football, and McShane got off to a decent start in his first real football game since November of 2018.
"Sure, I wanted to do a little bit more than I did, but I got to show some things," said McShane, who had a 51-yard touchdown catch that tied the game at 9-all in the third quarter. "It was good a game for me to get back into it, and to get back into the flow of things."
More: Former Freeport star joining Rockford area standout on German football team
McShane graduated from Freeport in 2015 with 3,240 yards rushing, No. 4 in NIC-10 history. He probably would have been higher but he missed time his junior season with injuries. Injuries struck again a couple of years ago.
He played football and baseball at WIU and graduated in 2019, when he was invited to an NFL rookie training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn't latch on and signed on to play in the XFL in 2020 but tore his Achilles tendon before the first game. The league folded shortly after.
"It was surreal to be back out there again, and it felt like I was back where I was supposed to be," said McShane, who rushed for 32 yards on 12 carries on Sunday. "It really felt like I never left the field... And playing in a different country didn't matter. It's just football."
McShane also had a 20-yard kickoff return and tallied a game-high 137 all-purpose yards.
His Kings will host the Panthers Wroclaw Sunday in McShane's first home game as a pro. One of the Panthers' wide receivers is DeKalb's Tony Tate, a former teammate of McShane's at WIU.
"And not just that, but he's one of my better buddies," McShane said. "It's going to be crazy. ... But we both know that when we step onto that field, we're both focused on our goals, and it's all about showing what we deserve."
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a wide variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears to youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star, and for over 30 years all together.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Freeport football player makes professional comeback overseas
