PITTSBURGH -- It wasn't quite like Nick Boyle practiced.
A week ago, he stood over the football on the practice field at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, twirled it into just the right place and then sent it flying between his legs, sailing yards behind him to the waiting hands of other Pittsburgh Steelers hopefuls at the team's rookie minicamp.
A couple of days earlier, Boyle went through the familiar motions in the driveway of his Owings Mills, Maryland, home. But the former Baltimore Ravens tight end wasn't snapping to players on the precipice of an NFL career.