Fear the turtle: Maryland developing strong pipeline to Steelers

There is no truth to the rumor the Great Allegheny Passage biking and hiking trail that runs southeast from Pittsburgh was forged by a convoy of future Steelers. But in recent years, it seems as if it could have been.

The Steelers have taken three University of Maryland players over the past two NFL Drafts. Over the past five drafts, they have taken three safeties who were standouts at Maryland high schools and/or colleges. And no other college is more well-represented on the Steelers current 90-man roster than Maryland.

“Yep, a lot of Maryland guys, man,” recent fourth-round pick Anthony McFarland said. “Definitely happy to get drafted and add to it.”

This man @AnttMacc_ is ELECTRIC ⚡️

The @steelers got a baller#ProTerps x #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/HPMfkLi1DJ

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) April 25, 2020

McFarland, a running back, joined sixth-round safety Antoine Brooks as former Terrapins who soon will make the move north across the Mason-Dixon Line once government and league officials allow UPMC Rooney Sports Complex to open to players amid concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this year, one of their former head coaches at Maryland, Matt Canada, joined the Steelers coaching staff as quarterbacks coach. Already in the building was last year’s seventh-round pick, offensive lineman Derwin Gray, and running back Trey Edmunds. They practiced and played together at the College Park, Md., campus.

Another former Maryland player, defensive lineman Cavon Walker, was signed by the Steelers after the collapse of the XFL.

And none of that counts Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s son, Dino, a freshman wide receiver for the Terrapins. Nor does it account for 2019 training camp participant Damian Prince, nor the recent Steelers tenures of former Terps Darrius Heyward-Bey (2014-18) and Sean Davis (2016-19).

The @steelers got a guy that is relentless ?

We can't wait to watch what @TwanDoee does next!#ProTerps x #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/0Pe112Vokm

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) April 25, 2020

Davis, a 2016 second-round pick, ended up at Maryland after going to high school in Washington, D.C. There, he got to know another one of the top safeties in the area who was two years younger: 2018 Steelers draft pick Marcus Allen, a Penn State product from Upper Marlboro, Md.

That makes three safeties with strong Maryland ties to join the Steelers in recent years alone.

“It does seem kind of weird,” said Brooks, who was a standout quarterback and defensive back for DuVal High School in Lanham, about a half-hour east of Washington, D.C. “I most definitely know Sean Davis. I watched him a lot when he was here at Maryland.

“Marcus Allen, I played against him in high school for like two years. Very good player.”

There are 10 colleges with more than two former players each on the Steelers 90-man roster. The only two of those with more than three ex-players are Michigan and Maryland, with five each.

Maryland has supplanted Tennessee as a college that dominates the Steelers locker room after former Volunteers Josh Dobbs and Ramon Foster left the team over the past eight months.

Gray helped block for McFarland during his 298-yard rushing game against Ohio State in November 2018. McFarland said Gray was among the first to reach out after the Steelers drafted him.

“He just congratulated me,” McFarland said. “He’s been like a mentor to me in college, somebody that I always went to about life sort of things or just ball. So I am happy I get to play with him at a professional level.”

Gray isn’t the only former Terrapin he can say that about.

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