‘I don’t want to be embarrassed’ Tony Boselli brought competitiveness to Jacksonville

It didn't take a new teammate long to give Tony Boselli a nickname.

As soon as offensive tacke Leon Searcy joined the Jacksonsville Jaguars in 1996, he knew his fellow tackle, Boselli, was not just another lineman.

The first pick by the expansion Jaguars in their first NFL Draft in 1995, Boselli was chosen to be their franchise cornerstone. He was special and he was treated as such, receiving a lot of attention. He was like the favorite child of the new team.

To Searcy, an obvious nickname came to mind ... First Born.

The Jaguars "First Born" will be their first former player to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend in Canton.

"To be among all the great player who ever played the game ... is mind boggling," Boselli said recently. " ... I was the kid who grew up wanting to be those guys and now to be alongside them is amazing."

His journey to being a Hall of Famer, though, was not an easy one for the native of Boulder, Colorado.

A dominant player in college (three-time All-American at USC) who rapidly became one of the NFL's top left tackles, injuries cut his pro career short. That in turn led to Boselli waiting until his 16th year of eligibility to finally get voted into the Hall. He was a finalist six straight years without getting inducted until this year.

"There were hard moments and moments of disappointment," Boselli said.

He understood that his seven-year career which limited him to 91 NFL games worked against him. He missed only eight games through his first six seasons before shoulder problems limited him to three games in 2001 (his final season) and led to his retirement.

"i knew .. the elephant in the room was the length of my career," he said. "And that was the thing that was being debated back and forth. ... I get it, I get the debate. But that was always hard for me."

What was not debated was how good Boselli was during his seven seasons.

An agile athlete at 6-foot-7, 324 pounds, he mixed with that an intense competitiveness. He sought perfection every game he played.

Boselli became a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro pick. He helped the Jaguars reach the playoffs four straight seasons from 1996-99. When the Jags won their first division title in 1998, he was selected team MVP.

And despite only playing the last half of the 1990s, he was selected to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1990s.

Searcy saw Boselli's rise to becoming an elite player up close.

When he arrived in Jacksonville as a free agent from Pittsburgh, Searcy figured out Boselli was the favorite child of Mike Maser, the team's late offensive line coach. Searcy, along with the rest of his teammates took notice of that.

“Mike Maser would never say anything bad about Boselli,” Searcy said. “I don’t care if he jumped offsides or had a holding penalty, he would never say anything, and the players would pick up on it the first couple of weeks. “

Searcy said Boselli was a fierce competitor not only against other teams but in practice, too. While Boselli was in his second year with the Jags, Searcy was a big free-agent signee in 1996. Searcy didn’t expect Boselli to outwork him in practice and not back down to anyone.

Searcy took it personally when the young Boselli called him out.

To Boselli, it was all about competing and striving for perfection.

"To get to the NFL," he said, "you've got to be a great competitor ... you've got to have a conviction in what you're doing."

Searcy was no stranger to playing with elite teammates. During his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he played with future Hall of Farmers Rod Woodson, Dermontti Dawson and the late Kevin Greene. It became apparent to Searcy his young new teammate was at their level.

“When I signed my deal with the Jaguars, I was supposed to be the man," Searcy said. "The season started rocky for me. I didn’t play as well as I should’ve been playing and Boselli to the left of me was just getting it done.”

During the 1996 season, the Jaguars won five in a row after a 4-7 start, clinching a playoff spot, and made a run in the playoffs by beating the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos to reach the AFC championship game. For the next three seasons, the Jags established themselves as a top team, making the playoffs every year.

Boselli faced premier pass rushers with different skills and he treated them all the same.

“I didn’t care if it was a great player or an average player, I don’t take that for granted because I don’t want to be embarrassed,” Boselli said.

Boselli took the field with a simple mindset: "My expectation was to play perfect."

As a left tackle, he knew "the best pass rusher was gonna be that right defensive end 95% of the time." And to him, that meant even if he did his job 69 of 70 plays but gave up a game-changing sack, "I had a bad game."

Playing perfect was all that mattered.

"For me, I can't have any negatives," Boselli said.

That made him far from relaxed heading into games.

"I'm a nervous wreck every game I ever played just because I had set that standard and I knew I had to be perfect," he said.

Some of the edge rushers he has faced over the years are now in the Hall of Fame, such as Jason Taylor, Kevin Greene, and Reggie White. But his most memorable matchup was  the 1996 AFC wild card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills when Boselli shut down the Bills legend Bruce Smith.

“The reason Boselli is in the Hall is because he doesn’t care who you are, as a competitor or who you are up against, he’s going to give you his very best no matter what,” Searcy said. "And that’s why I respect him so much, because Tony doesn’t want to just block, he wants to embarrass you."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tony Boselli sought perfection, reached Pro Football Hall of Fame