One school Steelers should must consider drafting from this April

One school stands out above most others when it comes to who exactly the Steelers need in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Every April, whenever a team is on the clock, fanatics and spectators are picking apart which player should go to which franchise. When looking at exactly where a particular prospect is coming from, both the size and notoriety of their university goes a long way. Occasionally, one can see a talent come out of a typically overlooked college, maybe even as small as Division II (almost never Division III). Usually, the blue-blooded powerhouses, the NFL factories, are going to see their wares get sampled more than almost any other inferior university. The Pittsburgh Steelers going mainly for the biggest alma mater really necessary?

This year, it’s not. As previously established by myself and others, some top needs for the Steel City heading into the 2021-22 NFL season is reinforcement on the offensive line and defensive back units. To surely no surprise, the godfathers of college football–Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, etc.–have got Pittsburgh covered on anything they need and then some. However, the same guarantee applies to the 31 other teams in the league. With the Steelers picking later in the rounds than the vast majority of the NFL, they cannot afford to rely on teams of such hefty reputations, as everyone getting their turn before them is susceptible to doing just that. So who can Pittsburgh look to for some available help of their own? I’ll tell you who: Georgia.

Georgia players line up with Steelers needs

Now I am fully aware that the University of Georgia is not some no-name school, especially in the department of NFL talent production. However, they do not hold a single candle to the historical and current reliability that the aforementioned powers possess. In this last college football season, Georgia performed notably worse than the others as well (they didn’t play bad, just not as good).

What makes the Bulldogs a more suitable option for the Steelers to seek talent from this year than most previous is the positions they have present on the draft board. These positions are center (Trey Hill), cornerback (Tyson Campbell/Eric Stokes), and safety (Richard LeCounte). CBS Sports ranks these prospects lower than a multitude of others who play the same roles. I see this as a blessing in disguise, as it is bound to increase the number of opportunities that Pittsburgh will have to scoop them up to at least some degree.

I have always held the belief that an organization should draft a player with his use speaking louder volumes than his school. Considering that Georgia is the “dark horse” in question, even that should not give the Steelers any hesitation in deciding to pick any of these talents if the chances to do so arise.

An old but accurate adage is that everyone plays great at a team like Alabama, and subsequently, anyone from a team of such dominance can be prioritized with little regard to their individual uniqueness. So this time around, it just might be a team in the Tide’s shadow that can help get Pittsburgh back on top.