As the torrential rains continued and the casualties mounted

He signed a free-agent contract with the new Baltimore Ravens jerseys but was released before the season began. It only furthered his desire to coach.

Since then, he has worked with about 150 kickers on technique, fundamentals and the psychology and pressure of kicking.

"What he does best is he takes video of you and critiques you through the video — what you're doing wrong and what you're doing right," said Brian Davis, a former Brentwood kicker who has been working with Wilhoit since last summer and has signed with Arkansas State. "With me, it was more that the psychology of kicking is huge, just being technically sound and in the zone and not having anything outside pressure you. He's been in some big games, and he's got a lot of experience."

Kicking in front of more than 100,000 fans in the SEC provided Wilhoit with an understanding of kicking in the most stressful situations, but he also learned from his short time in Baltimore.

 At the time, it had been nearly 10 months since McNair had died in what police have called a murder-suicide last July 4 at his downtown Nashville condominium. Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the night police say McNair was shot four times by his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, who police say then killed herself.

Those conflicting images — the football hero who became Ravens jerseys well-respected for his humanitarian efforts in Nashville as well his home state of Misssissippi following Hurricane Katrina, and the millionaire athlete who was well-known in town for hanging out at bars and clubs and having relationships with Kazemi and other women — remain strong a year after his death.

As expected, his friends choose to remember the philanthropist and not the philanderer, Walker said.

"The fabric that Steve McNair was cut from represented an era in the National Football League that I wouldn't say doesn't exist, because there are some amazing guys that are in the league now, but the era that Steve came up in, those guys really understood life beyond the game, how to touch the community outside the football field," Walker said.