Steelers wide receivers coach Darryl Drake dies at 62

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Darryl Drake has died. He was 62.

The team said Drake, who joined the coaching staff in 2018, died early Sunday morning.

“Darryl had such an impact on the players he coached and everyone he worked with throughout his entire career,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said. “He was a passionate coach and had a tremendous spirit toward life, his family, his faith and the game of football.”

Drake, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, played collegiately at Western Kentucky. He spent one season in the Canadian Football League and participated in a pair of NFL training camps before returning to Western Kentucky to pursue a master’s degree. He went into coaching as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky in 1983, the beginning of a career that included stops in the college ranks at Georgia, Baylor and Texas.

Drake reached the NFL as a receivers coach in 2004 with the Chicago Bears. He moved on to the same position with the Arizona Cardinals in 2013 before joining Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s staff in 2018. Drake’s pupils through the years include Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald, longtime NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall and Antonio Brown, who played for Drake in 2018 before being traded to Oakland last spring.

“Darryl was a close friend and had a tremendous impact on my coaching career,” Tomlin said. “He was an amazing husband, father and grandfather, and it is difficult to put into words the grief our entire team is going through right now. Darryl loved the game of football and every player he ever coached. We will use our faith to guide us and help his family throughout the difficult time.”

Drake is survived by his wife, Sheila, daughters Shanice, Felisha and Marian as well as two grandchildren.

Pittsburgh cancelled its scheduled practice at Saint Vincent College after announcing Drake’s death.