Shane Lechler was a roommate of Dan Campbell's at Texas A&M.
The Texans punter and the Miami Dolphins head coach played football together for the Aggies in the late 1990's. Campbell was a top-notch tight end who went on to play for a decade in the NFL after college.
Campbell loved, and still loves, the band Metallica.
Lechler's musical taste leans far more heavily to the country and western side of things.
But Lechler's the roommate who actually broke bread with the heavy metal band's lead singer, James Hetfield.
"I was with Robert Gallery, the lineman from Iowa who was with us in Oakland," Lechler said. "He has a house in Tahoe and so does Hetfield and he came over for dinner and got to meet him and hang out with him and his family. Dan still won't talk to me too much about that. That's funny."
Campbell, who's nicknamed 'Dan-tallica', still laughs over that turn of events.
"That makes me mad," Campbell said. "And now I am going to find a way to get to James Hetfield and tell him that he got to meet Shane Lechler and he's not even a fan of you guys. But I can sure see Lechler, he was hob-knobbing it with him, he was just loving life."
Campbell's a big admirer of Lechler's, and said the punter should be headed to Canton, Ohio when his career is over.
"He's already earned that as far as I am concerned," Campbell said. "I mean the numbers he has put up and the longevity and everything that he has been able to do, I don't know how you keep him out of the Hall of Fame."
Lechler and the Texans face Campbell's Dolphins on Sunday at noon CT in Sun Life Stadium.
Check out photos from Shane Lechler's homecoming and NFL Golden Ball ceremony at East Bernard High School on Friday night. This was part of the Texans 'Friday Night Football' program presented by Nike.
