Steelers WR Holmes: I used to sell drugs.

Steelers WR Santonio Holmes made a startling admission this week during an interview with a Miami Herald reporter.

Holmes, who grew up in Belle Glade, Florida. Admitted this week that as a teenager he sold drugs on the street. He explained that he became exposed to the lifestyle while growing up. Some family members and friends made money selling drugs, he said, and he found it an easy way to make money, too, though he didn't specify what he sold.

"My friends were always doing it and I felt comfortable doing it at the time," Holmes said. "As the years grew older, I just felt like that wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to play football. I don't want to end up like a lot of my friends, in jail, standing on the corner, not going to school."

By revealing his secret, Holmes hopes he might persuade other at-risk youth to choose a path that leads to the athletic field and a classroom. Holmes explained "I feel it's time to share things. I'm on the biggest stage, everybody's going to be watching. I'm pretty sure some kids can get a feel for changing their lives and not doing those type of things and can get an opportunity to get out of the ghetto, the 'hood, to be successful."