Former Mountaineer Dorrell Jalloh Making an Impact - WVU Football, WVU Basketball, News - Mountaineer Sports

Dorrell Jalloh has always been pulled in multiple directions.

Never one to be content with a single defining role as an athlete on the West Virginia University football team, the former Mountaineer found himself dabbling in many other interests during his time in Morgantown.

So it comes as no surprise that in the three years since he graduated from WVU and its football team, Jalloh has again tried his hand at a number of other areas outside of sports.

When his initial attempt at playing professionally in the NFL failed, the former receiver tried to make it in the sport he loved a different way. He signed on for a television show called Pros vs. Joes, in which Jalloh himself was a "Joe" trying to beat three professional football players in a series of drills.

And he did.

Along with two "Joe" teammates, Jalloh beat out LaVar Arrington, Michael Vick and Isaac Bruce. As it turns out, it was the closest he got to playing on that level.

But no matter, there was modeling and acting to be done, and Jalloh jumped at different offers, including a cameo in the upcoming Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises – more on that at a later date.

Through all the excitement of new endeavors, Jalloh was able to meet many new people, experience new things and ultimately narrow down his focus to one specific field that he would devote his attention to.

"There are so many different things that I would love to do," says Jalloh. "I think it's actually a plus to have your hands in different things, but now that I'm actually settling into a career right now, I think that's also a blessing."

Jalloh, a Greensboro, N.C. native, finds himself now in Pittsburgh, where he serves on an administrative team and as the assistant vice principal at a charter school called Urban Pathways.

"Our demographic is African American students from a lower socioeconomic status," he says. "I take pride in helping people in the inner city and trying to bring a lot more knowledge and bring strength to the city, giving them the opportunity to get an education."

Jalloh says one of the biggest lessons he has learned through while at Urban Pathways is how to maintain discipline and stick to a schedule.

When he was a student, all the way through his courses at WVU, he took that sort of thing for granted. But now, he understands its importance and is helping to pass that along to the young people he encounters on a daily basis.

"It's helped me with my career because now you have to have proposals and plans and curriculums and that type of thing that you don't think you'll have to use until it hits you," says Jalloh.

In addition to the work he does in education, Jalloh has continued his interest in football by helping coach the team at Westinghouse High School. Again, he is able to learn from his past and use those lessons to teach the young athletes he works with on the football field.

"The kids really believe in me and they trust in me and my experience," he says. "I try to bring a sense of morals and values to the team and I think the kids are really receptive to that."

Jalloh says there are times when he will be strolling the aisles at Walgreens or Giant Eagle and he is mistaken for a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He has to tell the excited fan that he is in fact no longer a football player, but he does so now with the knowledge that what he is doing can have an even greater impact on the youth in the city.

Still, he finds his attitude and character present him with many other opportunities, including a chance at the end of June to host the Miss West Virginia pageant, a gig he graciously accepted.

His reception in the state where he made his most significant memories as an athlete still strikes him as one of his biggest sources of pride.

"It's fantastic. I can't tell you how good it feels for the fans to embrace you," says Jalloh. "It feels like you never leave home and this is a place that I'll never forget. It's done so much for me and I'm so appreciative of everything that they have done for me and for other players in the community."

Just a few miles up the road from his college campus, Jalloh is beginning the process of giving his time and energy to prepare the next generation of athletes, models, actors, assistant vice principals and whatever else his students grow up to pursue.

He is finally settling down, taking his vast array of interests and sharing them with the local youth in hopes that they too will follow their dreams, wherever they made lead.