The Duck’s first Pittsburgh flight came at one. A Super Bowl hero’s NFL career began at one, too, as did one for a two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver.
The seven draft picks will draw the headlines when the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp opens Friday, and for good reason. After all, the high-profile likes of Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr. taking the field at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex will represent their first official participation in NFL team drills.
But while the draft picks and undrafted free agent signees will be getting their first work in as professionals, roughly two dozen others who recently finished college careers — or played in a spring league or had failed shots at an NFL contract last year — will be participating in the rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.
Will any become the next Devlin “Duck” Hodges, who started six games as a rookie after earning a contract as a tryout? Or the next Malcolm Butler, the cornerback who needed a tryout to make the New England Patriots’ roster in May 2014 — and nine months later was making the clinching interception to win Super Bowl XLIX?
Maybe among the 2023 Steelers tryouts is another Adam Thielen, the small-college wideout who went the tryout route to make the Minnesota Vikings in 2013 and was second-team AP NFL All Pro by 2017.
The Steelers have yet to release the list of tryouts for their three-day rookie minicamp this weekend, but reports by media outlets or social-media posts by the players themselves or their alma maters have allowed several to leak already.
Among them are some players from local colleges, big and small, as well as some who starred during the XFL season. The biggest name, perhaps, is a quarterback who when coming out of high school was considered one of the most sought-after talents in the country, Hunter Johnson, formerly of Clemson.
Mr. Football-winning QB Hunter Johnson of Brownsburg, who played at Northwestern and Clemson, has accepted invites to rookie minicamps with @Giants and @steelers. Five-star QB whose college career didn't go as planned. It happens. My story a few weeks ago:https://t.co/obsPJzx0ag
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) April 30, 2023
A list of the Steelers’ reported rookie invites:
- Kentucky defensive back Tyrell Ajian (per The Draft Network)
- Virginia Union offensive lineman Darian Bryant (per the VUU program)
- Temple defensive end Xach Gill (per his agents, Perez Sports Associates)
- Clemson QB Hunter Johnson (per the Indianapolis Star)
- Rutgers P Adam Korsak (per Houston’s KPRC-TV)
- Duquesne WR Dwayne Menders (per the Dukes program)
- Texas Tech defensive lineman Gabe Oladipo (per the Texas Tech program)
- Memphis CB Sylvonta Oliver (per Oliver’s Twitter account)
- Millersville OLB Tyler Tate (per Steelers Takeaways)
- Nevada running back Toa Taua (per The Draft Network)
- Pitt LB Tylar Wiltz (per Houston’s KPRC-TV)
- North Carolina A&T offensive lineman Dacquari Wilson (per the NCATSU program)
- West Florida H-back Maverick Wolfley (per the University of Western Florida program)
And veterans from the XFL invited to take part:
- WR Hakeem Butler (previously acknowledged by the XFL)
- OT Chidi Okeke (per Houston’s KPRC-TV)
- C Mike Panasiuk (per Houston’s KPRC-TV)
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