Smoked one of these tonight. I used the Santa Maria rub and injected with Worcestersire. It was outstanding. Mine looked just like yours in the finished grilled pictures. I think I might back off the fresh ground pepper as you have mentioned. But it was still outstanding. My son took one look at it as it came off the grill and said "you burned it Dad". I said "oh no son, not at all, wait till you taste it" Haha, he loved it.