Steve “Air” McNair was a fan-favorite quarterback from the time he burst onto the scene in the NFL to his tragic murder, and Netflix is featuring the former Houston Oilers, Tennessee Titans, and Baltimore Ravens player in an episode of “Untold.”
Set to release Aug. 20, “Untold” will “track the rise of legendary NFL quarterback Steve McNair and the perplexing details surrounding his shocking murder in 2009.”
Before he was NFL royalty, McNair was one of the best HBCU quarterbacks ever. Where did he play college football on his journey to the pros?
Where Did Steve McNair Go to College?
Most star NFL quarterbacks have been stars their whole lives, going from elite recruit to elite college prospect to elite professional, but there are certainly exceptions.
McNair is one of the best.
McNair had a full-ride scholarship offer to play at the University of Florida — but with a caveat of suiting up at running back. The four-sport athlete from Mount Olive High School in Mississippi wanted to play quarterback, so he went to a school where that would be an option.
Scorning a few offers from national powerhouses, McNair chose to go instead to Alcorn State, a local HBCU that competed in the Southwestern Athletic Conference of Division I-AA (now the FCS).
He was immediately a superstar.
After winning SWAC Freshman of the Year and making All-SWAC First Team in 1991, McNair exploded for 3,541 passing yards and 29 touchdowns in 1992, adding 10 scores on the ground. Despite playing injured in the latter half of the season, he led the Braves to a Division I-AA playoff berth.
It was more of the same in 1993, as McNair threw for another 3,000 yards and 30 TDs, leading the Braves to an 8-3 record.
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Then, 1994 came. In what many believe to be the greatest individual single season in the history of college football, McNair threw for 5,377 yards and added 904 rushing yards for a record 6,281 total yards in 11 games; it is a mark that has only since been broken by players who have played in more games.
McNair’s single-season average of 571 yards per game still stands to this day. His 56 total TDs earned him All-American honors, the Walter Payton Award (given to the nation’s best Division I-AA player), and a third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy race.
To this day, his 15,010 passing yards and 17,305 total yards are still division records.
From Alcorn State Brave to Houston Oiler
McNair’s work did not go unnoticed, as the Houston Oilers selected him third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft, making him the highest-selected African American quarterback at the time and one of the highest-selected FCS/Division I-AA prospects ever.
He spent most of the 1995 and 1996 campaigns on the bench, but when the franchise moved to Tennessee in 1997, McNair became the full-time starter and the first quarterback in Titans history in 1999 after the team changed its name. He led the Titans to a Super Bowl appearance that season and signed a new contract afterward.
McNair went on to have an excellent NFL career, winning a co-Most Valuable Player award in 2003 and racking up over 30,000 passing yards. He was tragically murdered in 2009 and was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
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