Imagine a player stacked up 123 total tackles, added 5.5 tackles for loss, picked off three passes, and forced two fumbles in his final year at the University of Iowa. And just as he made it to the NFL, his career collapsed before it ever reached a regular-season snap. The story centers on James Harrison’s former teammate, Mike Humpal, which Harrison recently shared.

“I was in Pittsburgh in 2008,” James Harrison recalled on the Deebo & Joe podcast. “The special teams coach goes and tells Mike Humphrey, I think he was from Iowa, a linebacker. We’re going through practice, and he goes and tells this man to hit the wedge square. This is back when they had the big offensive linemen as the two- and three-man wedges. They locked up hands… shoulder to shoulder. You tell them after you hit it, and then you turn your hip. I say if you do that sh-t, one, you might go to sleep.”

Harrison said he warned Humpal about the risks, but Humpal chose to listen to the coach instead.

“I say, and two, you go get a hip pointer because they go bang the sh-t out your hip. Then I say, ‘Don’t hit that wedge square.’ You make it look like you go hit it square, but you pick one. You take that shoulder or this shoulder, and you, while I’m into him, the bounce actually puts you into the hole because the other dude is going to be trying to hit you. He’s going to miss out. Mike didn’t listen. His career started and ended in preseason on the first kickoff.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Humpal in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft with the 188th overall pick. The former Iowa linebacker signed a three-year deal that summer. However, a neck injury in an August preseason game forced the team to waive him with an injury designation before placing him on injured reserve.

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Even so, he stayed with the Black and Gold throughout the year. The Steelers, on the other hand, marched through the playoffs and beat the Arizona Cardinals 27 to 23 in Super Bowl XLIII. Humpal earned a ring in a non-playing role. Shortly after, the team released him, and no franchise brought him in again.

Later, Humpal also reflected on how fast it all slipped away.

“It was a lot shorter than I wanted it to be,” Humpal said on Dailyiowan back in 2020. “The NFL, Not For Long. I was drafted in the sixth round by the Steelers, and then I was injured on a kickoff in a preseason game, so I ended up being put on injured reserve that year after the Super Bowl. I didn’t get a ring; people always ask. I didn’t really contribute much. I was released.”

“So, then I tried out for another year, trained, had multiple tryouts, and I couldn’t get signed. I couldn’t pass physicals to get signed due to the injury that I had, a neck injury. That was kind of my exit from my football-playing days. Fast forward now, and I’m a chiropractor to help fix people’s necks and backs.”

However, Humpal refused to let that moment define him. Instead, he chose a new path and built a career helping others heal.

How injuries led Mike Humpal to a new career

A few years after stepping away from football, Mike Humpal chose to reset his life seriously. About four years after retirement, he enrolled at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, building on his health and sports studies degree from the University of Iowa.

He committed to the full four-year Doctor of Chiropractic program and graduated in 2017 with summa cum laude honors. In other words, he did not just pivot careers; he excelled in it.

Back in 2020, Humpal made it clear that his injuries pushed him toward that decision.

“Largely because of it, yeah, and I found relief from chiropractors myself,” he said. “So, yeah, it was effective. My personal approach to health care and health is a more natural approach. It fit well with me, and healthcare’s always been something I’ve been interested in. I decided it was a good fit.”

During school, he trained in Active Release Techniques for the spine in 2016 and learned the Flexion Distraction Technique in 2017, both of which focused on injury rehab. Soon after, he founded Humpal Chiropractic in North Liberty, Iowa, opening the doors on January 2, 2018.

He uses Gonstead, Diversified, and Thompson methods, along with soft tissue work like Active Release and trigger point therapy. In addition, the clinic provides electrical stimulation, cryotherapy, nutrition guidance, corrective exercises, and care for patients of all ages, including injury and auto accident cases.