Sammie Coates Cameron Belcher interview on the Kick Six and coaching

The Sammie Coates Cameron Belcher interview covered Coates’s game-tying touchdown before Auburn’s Kick Six, the knee injury he believes affected his NFL Draft position and his decision to coach Columbia High School. The former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver also explained why he stopped playing, what he wants his students to gain from winning and how he views today’s Auburn Tigers.

Why did Sammie Coates choose football and Auburn University?

Sammie Coates chose football over baseball partly because baseball reminded him of his father, who had died. He had grown up playing both sports, but football offered something different. His route to Auburn University then changed at a camp where he arrived with Alabama Crimson Tide stickers on his car.

Choosing football after his father’s death

Sports filled Coates’s childhood. He played football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball afterward, with no break during high school. Baseball came first, and he said he was more of a baseball fan than a football fan when he was young. It had also been something he shared with his father.

As college approached, Coates had options in both sports. He said returning to baseball brought back childhood memories he did not want to revisit, while football kept him active and gave him more action than baseball’s slower pace. Some people still tell him he was the better baseball player, he said, but he chose football.

The Auburn camp offer

Coates committed to Southern Miss in 10th grade and said he had received about three offers during his recruitment. In the summer before his senior year, he and his best friend drove to an Auburn camp. In the parking lot, he noticed Alabama stickers on his car, pulled them off and threw them away.

During the camp, Auburn coaches took him off the field and brought him to Gene Chizik’s office, where he received a scholarship offer that day. Coates had grown up following Alabama, in part because people around him did. Going to Auburn changed that allegiance. He credits his effort at the camp with an offer that changed his life.

What did Sammie Coates say about the Kick Six and his touchdown against Alabama?

Sammie Coates said his touchdown tied the 2013 Iron Bowl before Chris Davis’s Kick Six won it for Auburn. Coates also pointed to Alabama’s effort to have one second restored to the clock as the decision that made the return possible, though he acknowledged that an overtime game might have gone differently.

Nick Marshall’s game-tying pass

On the touchdown, Coates said Nick Marshall rolled toward the edge and found him wide open. He recalled an argument over whether Marshall had crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing. Coates’s understanding was that the pass counted because part of Marshall’s body remained behind the line. Coates scored to tie the game.

Chris Davis’s return

Coates said he did not initially realize Davis was back to receive Alabama’s long field-goal attempt. He became aware of the return as the crowd grew louder with each yard Davis gained. By the time Davis scored, fans were rushing onto the field. Coates remembered how quickly it filled and called being part of that Auburn season and its finish a feeling that has stayed with him.

What did Sammie Coates say about the Pittsburgh Steelers and his draft injury?

Sammie Coates valued playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers alongside Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, but said the NFL was demanding physically, mentally and professionally. He also believes a knee injury discovered during the pre-draft process moved him from a possible first- or second-round selection to the third round.

Playing for Mike Tomlin’s Steelers

Coates described the chance to play under Mike Tomlin and with established Steelers players as an experience nobody could take from him. He felt one stretch of his time in Pittsburgh was among his best as a player, while injuries affected him and other members of the team. He also learned to treat the NFL as a business and to look after his own career accordingly.

The knee injury and the draft call

After his final college game against the Wisconsin Badgers, Coates returned to Auburn and began preparing for the draft. He said the combine involved early starts, late finishes and extensive medical examinations. He had hurt his knee against Arkansas, played in a brace and had not had it repaired. Coates said teams found a torn meniscus during the process, and he believes that finding cost him roughly two rounds despite his strong testing.

Draft day brought a less serious complication: poor phone service. Coates said Tomlin called about three times before they connected. He was with his family when his name and picture appeared on ESPN, a moment he described as unlike anything else.

Why did Sammie Coates retire and take the Columbia High School coaching job?

Sammie Coates said he stopped playing after realizing in Canada that he no longer loved putting his body through football. Travel, mental fatigue and repeated surgeries had taken their toll. He took the Columbia High School head coaching job because he wanted its players to experience a winning culture.

Leaving the playing field

Coates said he went to Canada after his time in the XFL and a long period away from playing. Once there, he no longer wanted to continue the physical and mental demands of the sport. He estimated that he had undergone about seven surgeries. Coaching offered a way to pass on what he had learned from teammates and coaches without continuing to play.

Changing Columbia’s culture

Columbia’s history drew Coates to the job. He spoke about a long run of losses and said he did not want young players to become accustomed to accepting them. When explaining why the work matters beyond the scoreboard, Coates put his central belief plainly:

Everybody should experience a winning culture

He said the team earned its first win after a long losing stretch, then won a second game. Coates did not present that as a completed turnaround: he said Columbia still had substantial work to do. What encouraged him was seeing players accept the program’s direction and grow. For him, building a winning approach includes how they handle life away from football.

What did Sammie Coates say about NIL deals and his former teammates?

Sammie Coates said his ideal Auburn-era NIL partners would have matched his interest in the outdoors, not shoes or fashion. Asked about favorite teammates, he resisted narrowing the list to three and instead recalled players from several NFL locker rooms whom he found grounded and welcoming.

Outdoor brands instead of sneakers

Coates said he would have pursued Bass Pro Shops, Polaris, Wrangler or a vehicle partnership if NIL deals had been available during his college career. Boots, fishing equipment and a boat suited him better than Jordans, he explained. He described himself as a country boy who was not particularly interested in clothes or other material purchases.

Friends across NFL locker rooms

Chris Boswell was someone Coates grew close to in Pittsburgh. He also mentioned Ricardo Louis from the Cleveland Browns, teammates with the Houston Texans and Jacoby Jones, whom he remembered sharing a locker room with in Pittsburgh. Coates spoke warmly of DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown as well. The number of people he valued, he said, made choosing only three difficult.

How did Sammie Coates assess Auburn, the Steelers and the quarterbacks he played with?

Sammie Coates said Auburn needs to adapt its recruiting to a changed college game, while the Steelers’ prospects depend on sustaining the rhythm he saw developing. Looking back at NFL quarterbacks, he wished he had played with Tom Brady but treasured his time around Patrick Mahomes and his first touchdown catch from Ben Roethlisberger.

Auburn’s recruiting challenge

Coates said rebuilding at Auburn is difficult because the Tigers regularly face strong Southeastern Conference opponents, including Alabama and the Georgia Bulldogs. In his view, recruiting can no longer rely on bringing in high school players and waiting to develop them. He argued that Auburn must also compete for established college players and be willing to change older methods.

Pittsburgh’s identity and the quarterbacks

Coates praised the Steelers’ tight ends, defense and physical identity, and said Aaron Rodgers could be difficult to beat once he found a rhythm. His assessment was conditional: Pittsburgh had to keep playing at that level. He remembered the organization’s owners as approachable and its facilities as a place that felt focused on football.

Although Coates never played with Brady, he spent a few months with the Kansas City Chiefs and recalled Mahomes’s work ethic. He also played with Deshaun Watson. Catching his first NFL touchdown from Roethlisberger remains one of the personal moments he said he will carry with him. Away from coaching, Coates has also made a podcast about football, sports and life.

Who is Sammie Coates?

Sammie Coates is the head football coach at Columbia High School. An Auburn University alumnus, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2015 NFL Draft.