The 23rd player on this list is at the top of perhaps a tougher list - the greatest McShane - at least so far.
McShane was the fifth of 10 kids in his family - nine boys and one girl - and the McShanes have dominated Freeport football for two decades.
Robert was an all-NIC-9 linebacker in 2003. Miles was an all-NIC-10 offensive lineman in 2006. Brandon was an all-NIC-10 wide receiver in 2010. Steve starred for the Pretzels in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Vance and Deion followed as all-conference running backs in 2015 and 2017.
Vance and Deion are still trying to play their way on to this list. The two are teammates at Northern Iowa. Vance had 61 carries for 331 yards and a team-high five TD runs this season. Deion has moved to receiver. He had 35 catches for 408 yards and two TDs.
They have a ways to go to match Steve's career in this system.
Steve was a three-year starter for the Pretzels. He dominated from the beginning. He finished fourth in the NIC-10 with 1,140 yards as a sophomore. He missed a game as a junior and again finished fourth in the conference with 879 yards rushing. He had 1,221 yards on 160 carries as a senior, finishing second. He was special mention all-conference as a sophomore, first team all-conference as a junior and first team and offensive MVP as a senior.
McShane finished his high school career with 3,240 yards, which was third all-time when he graduated behind Austin Smaha of Belvidere North and Rob Dal Santo of Belvidere. He undoubtedly would have broken the career rushing record if Freeport had played any playoff games. The Pretzels were 11-16 in his varsity career.
Despite the gaudy statistics, there was little interest in the 5-8 McShane at the highest levels of college football. McShane originally committed to play for Illinois State but then changed his mind and went to Western Illinois University, a Division I FCS school in the Missouri Valley Conference.
At Western, McShane played both football and baseball. In baseball, he played 146 games over four years, batting .257 as an outfielder and using his speed to steal 35 bases.
In football, he played in every game from 2015 to 2018. His best year was 2016 when he rushed for 917 yards in 11 games and had 234 yards receiving. He ended up gaining 2,375 yards on the ground with 22 touchdowns and adding 1,031 yards receiving with another nine scores. He was second team All-Missouri Valley in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
McShane's versatility earned him an NFL look. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed him to a free agent contract in 2019. He didn't make Pittsburgh. He was training for 2020 when he was contacted by the XFL, which was making a comeback under the WWE's Vince McMahon.
McShane signed with the Houston Roughnecks with the goal of building more video to show NFL teams. Unfortunately, he suffered a serious injury on the second day of practice and had to have surgery.
The dream isn't dead, though. McShane, who now lives in Texas, spent the past year posting his rehabilitation videos online to show friends and family that he's putting in the work for another shot at pro football. He hopes that comes in 2022 - either the NFL or the XFL, which is planning a return under Duane "The Rock" Johnson.
| No. 23 - Steve McShane, Freeport | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | School | Accomplishments | Points |
| 2012 | High School | Freeport | Special Mention All-NIC-10 | 1 |
| 2013 | High School | Freeport | First Team All-NIC-10 | 2 |
| 2014 | High School | Freeport | First Team All-NIC-10 | 1 |
| Conference MVP | 1 | |||
| 2015 | College | Western Illinois | Letter Winner on NCAA FCS | 3 |
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Playoffs | 1 | |||
| 2016 | College | Western Illinois | Letter Winner on NCAA FCS | 3 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| All-Conference | 1 | |||
| 2017 | College | Western Illinois | Letter Winner on NCAA FCS | 3 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Playoff Team | 1 | |||
| All-Conference | 1 | |||
| 2018 | College | Western Illinois | Letter Winner on NCAA FCS | 3 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| All-Conference | 1 | |||
| 2019 | NFL | Pittsburgh | Signed Free Agent Contract | 1 |
| 2020 | XFL | Houston | Signed Free Agent Contract | 0.5 |
| Total | 30.5 | |||
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