COLUMBUS, Ohio — James Pierre likes to wake up at 5:30 every morning and spend about 30 minutes getting his "mind right” before his feet ever hit the floor.
In that quiet time, ahead of dawn’s early light, the Steelers’ defensive back can contemplate the journey that’s delivered him from the hardscrabble neighborhoods of South Florida. He can think about the people in his life who helped him overcome so many obstacles. About the mother who picked him up from the detention center and kept him from becoming another “statistic,” about the high school coaches who served as father figures years after his dad had been incarcerated, deported and killed, about the little brother whose life he hopes to enrich.