Pouncey brothers want to remake image

Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey and his twin brother, Miami Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, once wore attire emblazoned with the phrase "Free (Aaron) Hernandez" to the club. They're still living it down.

The pair are successful pros, each with multiple Pro Bowl nods and contracts worth in excess of $45 million, but they don't exactly have sterling reputations. They've been accused of assaulting men and women, uttering homophobic slurs, and, in Mike's case, locker-room bullying.

Now, they want to change their image.

"We made some mistakes in the past and we learned from them," Maurkice told Brady Fredericksen of The Ledger at the twins' annual football and cheer camp over the weekend. "I'm glad they happened because you always got to learn in life. We were young … then, but we're grown up and trying to be the positive role models - something for these kids back in Lakeland to look up to - and it means a lot to us.

"Anytime we did get in trouble in the past, it hit us in the heart. We learned the hard way, but now that we're able to give back every single year, it's a blessing."

As they near their 26th birthday, Mike says the twins have learned much about how to behave under the spotlight that comes with being an NFL player.

"The world has changed so much that the public eye is everything," Mike said. "It's perception over reality. We know that you've got to do the things right on and off the football field, and we learned over the course of our careers to do that now."

"It's a process," Maurkice added. "There are a lot of people to change minds, but it's all a building process. We try to do the right thing. We're young still and we're still growing every single day."