Alejandro Villanueva (football player)

Alejandro Villanueva

Villanueva with the Steelers (2015)
Pittsburgh Steelers - No. 78
Offensive tackle
Date of birth: September 22, 1988
Place of birth: Meridian , Mississippi
Height: 2.06 m	Weight: 145 kg
NFL debut
2015 for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Career
College : US Army
Not drafted in 2010
Teams: Philadelphia Eagles ( 2014 ) * Pittsburgh Steelers ( 2014- today) * only offseason / no regular season assignments
Current status: active
Career highlights and awards
2 × Pro Bowl ( 2017 , 2018 )
Selected NFL stats as of week 17 of the 2019 season
Games	80
as a starter	74
Touchdowns	1
Statistics at NFL.com
Statistics at pro-football-reference.com

Alejandro Villanueva (born September 22, 1988 in Meridian , Mississippi , USA ) is a Spanish-American football player of the National Football League (NFL). He plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers team on the offensive tackle position . Villanueva was in the US Army and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for bravery.

childhood

Villanueva was born on an army base in Meridian, Mississippi. His father was a lieutenant commander in the Spanish Navy and deployed across Europe for NATO . Alejandro is the oldest of four children. His parents and siblings are Spanish. He spent parts of his childhood in Spain and Rhode Island .

Start with football

It grew very quickly: "When I was 12 years old, I showed up in my classroom and people thought I was the teacher." He started playing rugby in Spain at the age of 15 . A year later, he started playing football in high school in Belgium. "At first I often criticized football and said rugby was better," said Villanueva later. "I didn't understand all the rules until I came to West Point."

Villanueva was initially recruited as a tight end , but he played his first season in the position of defensive lineman . Then he was placed on the offensive line , where he stayed for the next 3 seasons. For his senior year he came to West Point , where he changed positions repeatedly. He was scheduled as the left guard and gained weight for this position, but changed to the position of the wide receiver as he was adept at handling the ball. In total, he played four seasons at the Academy in West Point. Due to his excellent academic performance, he was able to shorten his training time there by one year.

army

Villanueva signed up for the US Army and completed several combat missions in Afghanistan .

NFL

In 2010 he was not drafted in the NFL , but could have tried his hand at the Cincinnati Bengals on the position of tight end, but he decided to fulfill his obligations in the Army.

He took hiatus from the Army to pursue his dream of the NFL. In 2014 he signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles , where he was supposed to play defensive end. On August 21, 2014, Villanueva fell on the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin in a pre-season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Eight days later, the Steelers signed him for their training team. In the 2014 season he stayed in the training team and was trained for the offensive tackle position . He made his debut in 2015 against the New England Patriots . In January 2015, he signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ashley Fox: Alejandro Villanueva's long NFL path. In: ESPN.com. May 22, 2014, accessed November 21, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tim Volkmann: A Tall Order. Things are looking up for the Army football team. (No longer available online.) In: Army Black Knight. CBS Interactive, September 12, 2009; archived from the original on May 13, 2014 ; accessed on March 3, 2019 . 
3. ^ Albert Breer: Super Regional Combine: Army veteran giving NFL one last shot. NFL Productions LLC, April 14, 2014, accessed November 24, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Joe Starkey: Starkey: Army vet earns instant respect with Steelers. In: Trib Live. Trib Total Media, LLC, September 3, 2014, accessed November 25, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Matthew Marczi: Todd Haley Finds New Tackle Eligible In Alejandro Villanueva. In: Steelers Depot. Steelersdepot.com, September 14, 2015, accessed November 25, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Alejandro Villanueva. Spotrac, accessed November 25, 2017 .