Beaver Falls’ Donovan Jeter, Duquesne’s Jake Dixon among 10 Steelers UDFAs
Donovan Jeter and Jake Dixon are players with local ties among the 10 undrafted free agents the Pittsburgh Steelers added to their rookie class in the hours after the draft ended Saturday.
Two each outside linebackers, running backs, offensive linemen and cornberbacks also were signed, allowing the Steelers to shore up four positions on the roster that were not addressed among the seven players they selected in the draft.
Jeter is a Beaver Falls High School alumnus who played four seasons as a rotational defensive lineman at Michigan. The 6-foot-3, 325-pound Jeter made four starts during the 2020 season and was a backup during the Wolverines’ run to the College Football Playoffs this past fall.
Dixon was an all-conference offensive tackle the past two seasons at Duquesne. The 6-6, 290-pound Bethel Park native appeared in a school-record 50 games for the Dukes, the first three seasons as a tight end.
The Steelers’ search for a complementary running back for last year’s first-round pick, Najee Harris, bared no fruit in the draft, but they added two productive college running backs: Duke’s Mataeo Durant and Oklahoma State’s Jaylen Warren as rookie free agents.
After two junior-college seasons and two at Utah State, Warren had 1,216 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in addition to 25 receptions his final college season. Durant was first-team all-ACC after breaking Duke’s season rushing record with 1,241 yards.
The outside linebackers the Steelers added were Texas A&M’s Tyree Johnson and Auburn’s T.D. Moultry. The 6-2, 248-pound Johnson had 8 ½ sacks as a senior, and Moultry played in a program-record 59 games for Auburn.
Alabama guard Chris Owens, North Carolina tackle Jordan Tucker, USC cornerback Chris Steele and UMass corrnerback Bryce Watts also were signed after the draft. Owens began his college career as a guard but made starts at center and tackle before graduating. Tucker was a three-year starter, mostly at right tackle.
Steele (6-0, 187) was highly recruited coming out of high school and was a 2 ½-year starter in college. Watts began his college career at Virginia Tech, and enrolled at North Carolina but never played a game there before finishing at UMass in 2021.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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