'It's time': How this Freeport native earned a shot to play pro football in the XFL
Freeport's Steve McShane is not ready to give up on his dream of playing professional football, and he just earned at least one more shot.
McShane, the former high school multi-sport star who started for the baseball and football teams at Western Illinois, had a strong showing at an XFL showcase late last month. He was invited to the XFL Draft Pool, which makes him a near lock to make a roster in the newly revamped league.
The third ever XFL season is expected to start on Feb. 18, 2023, this time under a new ownership group that is led by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The league was created by Vince McMahon in 2001, revived by McMahon in 2020, but was cut short due to COVID-19. Now The Rock is looking to build a new brand.
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McShane is one of the more recognizable stars from Freeport, becoming the first sophomore in NIC-10 history to break the 1,000-yard barrier when he ran for 1,140 yards and going on to chalk up 3,240 yards rushing in his prep career, which is No. 4 in NIC-10 history.
He went on to rush for 2,375 yards in four years at Western Illinois, and played four years of college baseball as well, twice earning first-team All-Summit League honors as an outfielder.
McShane was offered a spot in the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers minicamp, but didn't make the cut and never caught on with another NFL team. He was picked up by the XFL's Houston Roughnecks in December 2019, however, and just in time for their final training camp in preparation for the 2020 season.
But just two days after arriving at training camp he suffered a torn Achilles tendon that required surgery, putting him on the XFL injured reserve list for the rest of the season.
Now he's coming back again.
"I was out for about a year, or more, and that's tough at any age," said McShane, now 25. "But I stayed in San Antonio (Texas) and kept training, and I feel good. ... I'm ready to go after this again."
So as his brothers Deion and Xavier McShane are both getting set for their senior seasons at Northern Iowa, Steve is looking to revive his football career in the XFL.
"I think this league could catch on," he said. "The Rock is a well-known name and a football guy. ... I just want to be a part of it, and show what I can really do.
"What I can still do."
The XFL draft is expected to be held in early November, and XFL training camps should begin on Jan. 4, 2023. In 2019 minicamps for individual teams at their home locations took place in December, then all the teams went to Houston for a final round of camp. There is no word on whether this version of the XFL will do the same.
Until then, there's not McShane can do. The showcases are all over with, now he just has to hope he's done enough.
"Now I just wait until the draft, and see where I go," he said. "This is my time. It's definitely time for me to step up and go get it. No one is going to just give it to me, I know I have to go out and get it. It's time."
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, for more than 20 years at the Register Star, and for nearly 30 years all together. He was a four-sport athlete himself, and is the father of five that went on to be jocks of some kind as well.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Freeport's Steve McShane invited to XFL Draft Pool, expects to play
