From Lincoln to the Super Bowl

By Gary Libman (Reprinted from the Summer Edition of Nebraska Magazine)

After he started at left guard for them in the Super Bowl, the champion New England Patriots gave Russ Hochstein a three-year contract.

Nevertheless, the unassuming Hochstein remained insecure about his place in the National Football League.

"(The contract) just means that if you’re there for three years, they’ll pay you such and such amount," said Hochstein, 26. "I have to go into camp and compete for a job. There’s always someone coming up...who might be younger, more talented or stronger."

The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Hochstein may feel insecure because he barely survived his first two NFL seasons. In his third season, he played sparingly before bursting from obscurity in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Before Hochstein proved himself, his former Tampa Bay teammate Warren Sapp told two ESPN interviewers that Hochstein couldn’t block them. Hochstein responded by playing extensively on an offensive line that allowed no sacks of New England quarterback Tom Brady in the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

The former Nebraska star had been battling for acceptance since he was selected by Tampa Bay in the fifth round of the 2001 National Football League draft. The Bucs stockpiled him on the inactive list in 2001 and released him early in 2002. Signed by the Patriots, he appeared in only two games that season.

"Tampa Bay didn’t believe I was ready," Hochstein said by phone from his hometown of Hartington, Neb., recently. "...But probably I didn’t believe it either. It was a whole different world coming from college to the NFL. Knowing the system and things like that ? it takes time... Even when I got to New England, I had to learn another system and probably wasn’t ready to play."

But after two years of working and studying with teams, his prospects improved. He played as a reserve for New England in 2003 and started one game.

Then came his improbable success. In the divisional playoff against Tennessee starting New England left guard Damien Woody suffered a serious knee injury. Hochstein replaced Woody and started in the AFC championship victory over Baltimore and in the Super Bowl triumph over Carolina.

Despite minimal NFL experience heading into the Super Bowl, Hochstein said he wasn’t nervous.

"I had played more and more each game as the (2003) season went along," he said. "...More than anything I got more nervous early in the week...Then it would go away because we’d start practicing and seeing what looks they (the Carolina defense) were going to give us... Every game got bigger during the playoffs so I got more excited to play. I couldn’t wait to get to the games because those weeks seemed really long in between.

"The coaches told me not to worry about why I hadn’t played and just to go out and take care of what you have to as a player and good things will happen, and that’s what I did."

Winning the Super Bowl, said Hochstein, who now lives in North Attleboro, Mass., south of Boston, "is something that will always be part of me and something that few people get to experience." It’s also raised his media profile. "People know who I am that didn’t know me before, and want to know my story, and that’s...never happened."

Well, maybe occasionally. Before he played in the NFL, the Sporting News named Hochstein first-team All American at Nebraska in his senior year of 2000.

While starring on the field, Hochstein avidly pursued his degree, again in part because he wasn’t sure how far he’d go in the NFL.

"Graduation was always important to me," said Hochstein, who graduated in business management in December 2000. "...I thought I would get a chance to go to an NFL camp, but I didn’t know if I’d make a team. If I didn’t make it, the degree would hopefully help me get a job.

"It (the degree) is still important because after football, I’m going to have to find a job like most people do. When I put on the resume that I have a bachelor’s degree, I think that’s (important)."

Hochstein probably won’t seek jobs soon now that he’s signed a multi-year contract with New England. Nor will he face Sapp’s questions about his ability. As a member of the media before the Super Bowl, Sapp asked Hochstein for his reaction to Sapp’s criticisms.

"No more questions," Hochstein replied, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, ending the interview.

"This was an issue that had no bearing on that game," Hochstein said, "so it wasn’t worth my time."