Tag: Pittsburgh

2023 NFL Draft: February Top 10 Running Backs

by James Layton

I really like the depth of this year’s running back class. With the league going with a more balance offense and running the ball more, we might get a few backs drafted with in the top 50 picks.

The senior bowl really highlighted the depth this year. Tulane’s Tyjae Spears really improved his draft stock this past week.

Let’s get into the rankings.

  1. Bijan Robinson, Texas
  2. Jahmry Gibbs, Alabama
  3. Zach Charbonnett, UCLA
  4. Israel Abanikanda, Pittsburgh
  5. Zach Evans, Ole Miss
  6. Devin Achane, Texas A&M
  7. Kenny McIntosh, Georgia
  8. Tyjae Spears, Tulane
  9. Tank Bigsby, Auburn
  10. Chase Brown, Illinois

A couple of names that were so close to making this list are Oklahoma’s Eric Gray and Texas Roschon Johnson.

Let me know how you would have ranked them.

If you like what you see. Here are February’s top Quarterbacks. 2023 NFL Draft: February Top 10 Quarterback Rankings

Draft Prospects to Watch in Today’s Games Week 2

by James Layton

This a good week to get a good look at some of the Quarterback prospects for the 2023 NFL Draft. Four of the top ten Quarterbacks are going against some good defenses.

Some of the players I really want to get a better look at this week are DL Calijah Kancy (Pittsburgh), QB Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), Edge Will McDonald (Iowa State), and Safety Demani Richardson.

Let’s get in to the Prospects.

Appalachian State @ Texas A&M

Appalachian State

  • Nick Hampton, LB
  • Steven Jones Jr, CB
  • Camerun Peoples, RB

Texas A&M

  • Myles Jones, CB
  • Demani Richardson, S
  • Ainias Smith, WR

#24 Tennessee @ #17 Pittsburgh

Tennessee

  • Jeremy Banks, LB
  • Jerome Carvin, OL
  • Princeton Fant, TE
  • Trevon Flowers, S
  • Hendon Hooker, QB
  • Cedric Tillman, WR
  • Darnell Wright, OL
  • Byron Young, Edge

Pittsburgh

  • Habakkuk Baldonado, Edge
  • Sirvocea Dennis, LB
  • Marcus Minor, OL
  • Kedon Slovis, QB
  • Carter Warren, OT
  • Marquis Williams, CB
  • MJ Devonshire, CB
  • John Morgan III, DE
  • Calijah Kancy, DT
  • Bangally Kamara, LB
  • Israel Abanikada, RB
  • Jared Wayne, WR
  • Bub Means, WR
  • Konata Mumfield, WR

#25 Houston @ Texas Tech

Houston

  • KeSean Carter, WR
  • Nathaniel Dell, WR
  • Donovan Mutin, LB
  • Gervarrius Owens, S
  • Derek Parish, FB
  • Clayton Tune, QB

Texas Tech

  • Adrian Frye, S
  • Reggie Pearson Jr, S
  • Tyler Shough, QB
  • SaRodorick Thompson, RB
  • Tyree Wilson, Edge

Iowa State @ Iowa

Iowa State

  • Trevor Downing, OL
  • Xavier Hutchinson, WR
  • Anthony Johnson Jr, S
  • Will McDonald IV, Edge
  • Jared Rus, FB

Iowa

  • Seth Benson, LB
  • Jack Campbell, LB
  • Sam LaPorta, TE
  • Kaevon Merriweather, S
  • Riley Moss, CB
  • Spencer Petras, QB
  • Monte Pottebaum, FB

#20 Kentucky @ #12 Florida

Kentucky

  • Brenden Bates, TE
  • Kenneth Horsey, OL
  • Jacquez Jones, LB
  • Will Levis, QB
  • Tashawn Manning, OL
  • Tayvion Robinson, WR
  • Chris Rodriquez Jr, RB
  • DeAndre Square, LB
  • Keaton Upshaw, TE
  • Jordan Wright, LB

Florida

  • Anthony Richardson, QB
  • Brenton Cox Jr, Edge
  • Trey Dean III, S
  • Richard Gouraige, OL
  • Ventrell Miller, LB
  • Justin Shorter, WR
  • O’Cyrus Torrence, OL

#10 USC @ Stanford

USC

  • Mekhi Blackmon, CB
  • Terrell Bynum, WR
  • Travis Dye, RB
  • Shane Lee, LB
  • Brett Neilon, OL
  • Andrew Vorhees, OL

Stanford

  • Elijah Higgins, WR
  • Kyu Blu Kelly, CB
  • Jacob Mangum-Farrar, LB
  • Walter Rouse, OL
  • Kendall Williamson, S
  • Michael Wilson, WR

Top College Games for Week 2

by James Layton

This week’s games are still a lot of the power five schools’ playing lower division schools or a non-power five school. But there are some games that are going to be good matchups. And that will show be some good game film for the 2023 NFL Draft Prospects.

Let’s get into the Games.

  • Appalachian State @ Texas A&M 3:30 pm EST ESPN 2
  • #24 Tennessee @ #17 Pittsburgh 3:30 pm EST ABC
  • #25 Houston @ Texas Tech 4:00 pm EST FS1
  • Iowa State @ Iowa 4:00 pm EST Big Ten Network
  • #20 Kentucky @ #12 Florida 7:00 pm EST ESPN
  • #10 USC @ Stanford 7:30 pm EST ABC

Top College Games to Watch Week 2

by Barb Layton

I have tried to find games that people from many regions of the country will enjoy watching. Each week I will venture to try and find the games that will be the most entertaining.

Saturday, September 10

  • #1 Alabama @ Texas 12:00
  • #24 Tennessee @ #17 Pittsburgh 3:30
  • #25 Houston @ Texas Tech 4:00
  • Iowa State @ Iowa 4:00
  • R0bert Morris @ Miami (OH) 6:00
  • #20 Kentucky @ #12 Florida 7:00
  • #10 USC @ Stanford 7:30
  • Boston College @ Virginia Tech 8:00
  • #9 Baylor @ #21 BYU 10:15

Top College Games in Week 1

by Barb Layton

This week’s biggest game is most likely the “Backyard Brawl” between the 17th ranked Pitt Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Like many others in Western PA, West Virginia and Northeast Ohio, I can’t wait to watch this game. It has been a number of years since the 2 teams have met. With the demise of the Big East the Pitt Panthers joined the ACC and the WV Mountaineers joined the Big 12. This ended the “Backyard Brawl”. Tonight, it is back.

Here is the list of the games to watch this week:

Thursday, September 1

  • West Virginia @ #17 Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
  • Penn State @ Purdue 8:00 PM

Friday, September 2

  • Western Michigan @ #15 Michigan State 7:00PM
  • TCU @ Colorado 10:00PM

Saturday, September 3

  • #11 Oregon @ #3 Georgia 3:30 PM
  • #23 Cincinnati @ #19 Arkansas 3:30 PM
  • #5 Notre Dame @ #2 Ohio State 7:30 PM

Sunday, September 4

  • Florida State @ LSU 7:30 PM

Steelers 7-Round Mock Draft 1.0: Pre-Training Camp

by James Layton

With the players reporting to training camp in nine days. It’s never too early to do a mock draft.

I find one way to learn about the prospects for NFL Draft is from mock drafts, it makes it easier to get an idea of who some of the prospects will be.

Team needs: DL, S, OT, OLB depth, RB, ILB, CB, WR, and IOL.

Let’s get into the mock draft. I used the PFN Draft Simulator.

Round 1, Pick 11: Brandon Joseph, S Notre Dame

Round 2, Pick 43: Calijah Kancey, DT Pittsburgh

Round 3, Pick 75: Sean Tucker, RB Syracuse

Round 4, Pick 111: Carter Warren, OT Pittsburgh

Round 5: Traded to the Seahawks for CB Ahkello Witherspoon.

Round 6, Pick 175: Will McDonald IV, Edge Iowa State

Round 7, Pick 207: Arquon Bush, CB Cincinnati

Pittsburgh Panthers 2023 NFL Draft Prospects

by James Layton

It’s never too early to start looking at the upcoming draft prospects. So today we start with the Pittsburgh Panthers. The panthers have been on the rise in producing NFL talent the past few seasons.

This year a couple of players I’m really high on this year are DE Habakkuk Baldonado, DT Calijah Kancey, and OT Carter Warren.

Let’s get into it.

Seniors

  • 22 Vincent Davis, RB
  • 5 Jared Wayne, WR
  • 31 Erick Hallett, S
  • 7 Sirvocea Dennis, LB
  • 25 AJ Woods, CB
  • 87 Habakkuk Baldonado, DE
  • 14 Marquis Williams, CB
  • 30 Brandon George, LB
  • 92 Tyler Bentley, DT
  • 5 Deslin Alexandre, DE
  • 6 John Morgan, DE
  • 53 Jake Kradel, G/C
  • 55 Marcus Minor, G
  • 57 Gabe Houy, T/G
  • 60 Owen Drexel, C
  • 77 Carter Warren, OT

Underclassmen

  • 2 Isreal Abanikanda, RB Junior
  • 9 Brandon Hill, S Redshirt Junior
  • 12 MJ Devonshire, CB Redshirt Junior
  • 8 Calijah Kancey, DT Redshirt Junior
  • 50 Dayon Hayes, DE Junior
  • 91 Sam Scarton, K Redshirt Junior

2023 NFL Draft: Summer Top 50

by James Layton

It’s never too late to start looking at the prospects for the 2023 NFL Draft. It might be June but scouting the next class of NFL players never stops. As soon as the Draft ends teams start the scouting process for the following draft.

This year’s class is going to be a good one. There is some real talent at Defensive Line and Edge Rusher. At this point there is a lot of talent in the Quarterback group.

This is going to be a good year for Wide Receivers, and again like last season Ohio State has the top receiver with Jaxon Smith-Njiba.

Let’s get into the Top 50.

  1. Will Anderson Jr, Edge Alabama
  2. Jalen Carter, DL Georgia
  3. Bryce Young, QB Alabama
  4. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR Ohio State
  5. CJ Stroud, QB Ohio State
  6. Bryan Bresee, DL Clemson
  7. Peter Skoronski, OT Northwestern
  8. Malachi Moore, S Alabama
  9. Kayshon Boutte, WR LSU
  10. Paris Jackson Jr, OT Ohio State
  11. Michael Mayer, TE Notre Dame
  12. Eli Ricks, CB Alabama
  13. Bijan Robinson, RB Texas
  14. Nolan Smith, Edge Clemson
  15. Jordan Addison, WR USC
  16. BJ Ojulari, Edge LSU
  17. Robert Scott Jr, OT Florida State
  18. Kelee Ringo, CB Georgia
  19. Jermaine Burton, WR Alabama
  20. Zach Evans, RB Ole Miss
  21. Anthony Richardson, QB Florida
  22. Habakkuk Baldonado, Edge Pittsburgh
  23. Avery Young, CB Rutgers
  24. Tyler Van Dyke, QB Miami (FL)
  25. Jordan Battle, S Alabama
  26. Branden Joseph, S Notre Dame
  27. Zion Nelson, OT Miami (FL)
  28. Will Levis, QB Kentucky
  29. Calijah Kancey, DL Pittsburgh
  30. Henry To’o To’o, LB Alabama
  31. Andrew Raym, C Oklahoma
  32. DeMarvion Overshown, LB Texas
  33. Javion Cohen, G Alabama
  34. Noah Sewell, LB Oregon
  35. Joey Porter Jr, Penn State
  36. Tank Bigsby, RB Auburn
  37. Josh Downs, WR North Carolina
  38. Cam Smith, CB South Carolina
  39. Jaquelin Roy, DL LSU
  40. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB Alabama
  41. Zay Flowers, WR Boston College
  42. Will McDonald, Edge Iowa State
  43. Jaheim Bell, TE South Carolina
  44. Isaiah Foskey, Edge Notre Dame
  45. PJ Mustipher, DL Penn State
  46. Zach Harrison, Edge Ohio State
  47. Clark Phillips, CB Utah
  48. Rakim Jarrett, WR Maryland
  49. Andrew Vorhees, G USC
  50. Hendon Hooker, QB Tennessee

2022 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft Class

By James Layton

Meet your Pittsburgh Steelers 2022 Draft Class. Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert out did themselves with this one. They found players that were leaders for their teams and know what it means to be a team player.

Round 1 Pick 20: Kenny Pickett, QB Pittsburgh

Round 2 Pick 52: George Pickens, WR Georgia

Round 3 Pick 87: DeMarvin Leal, DL Texas A&M

Round 4 Pick 138: Calvin Austin III, WR Memphis

Round 6 Pick 208: Connor Heyward, TE Michigan State

Round 7 Pick 225: Mark Robinson, LB Ole Miss

Round 7 Pick 241: Chris Oladokun, QB South Dakota State

In the words Anthony Molina “This was a Great Draft!”

Final Quarterback Rankings

By Barb Layton

My final 5 quarterback rankings have changed. I had Desmond Ridder 6 in my last rankings. He moved up, so let’s see how it falls now. I feel that it could go any way in the draft it is so close for these 5 quarterbacks as to who will be the first one off the board.

  1. Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh
  2. Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
  3. Malik Willis, Liberty
  4. Sam Howell, North Carolina
  5. Matt Corral, Ole Miss

Sleeper player: Skyler Thompson, Kansas State