Pittsburg, PA
Steelers Senior Bowl Thoughts: Top needs revealed, Pittsburgh targets breakout star
MOBILE, Ala. — The Pittsburgh Steelers love themselves some Senior Bowl players, and that looks primed to continue in 2025. With such heavy focus on the defensive line in the first two days, what happened on the third day? Here are my notes from the practices:
– Assistant general manager Andy Weidl showed up for the Steelers on Thursday. Head coach Mike Tomlin, general manager Omar Khan, and others have left to head ack to Pittsburgh. Weidl was at the Shrine Bowl last week and is now in Mobile, conducting interviews and getting to know the players. Tracking Weidl, he spent time at just about every need, including quarterback, wide receiver, running back, defensive line, and cornerback. So, it is no surprise to see the Steelers trace what are their top five needs in a class deep at three of them and shallow in two (quarterback and wide receiver).
– A member of the strength and conditioning staff, Rod Moore, was another member on the field for the Steelers. Other scouts, such as Sheldon White, remained in a booth, but Moore watched exclusively defensive linemen. At one point, he talked to Tennessee’s Omarr Norman-Lott.
– Weidl, on the other hand, spent a lot of time on the star of the week, Toledo’s Darius Alexander. Alexander is explosive and dominated the entire week. Out of the players down here, he may have been the biggest winner from the defensive line crop. He was once a day-three pick, but this is the start of a strong process that will likely get him into day two. He said he met with Weidl on Thursday night and is firmly on the team’s radar.
– Florida State cornerback Azareye’h Thomas has only furthered his stock this year to me. He looks like a player who will end up a first-round pick. The combination of size and speed at the position, plus ball skills, is necessary in an NFL where receivers are better than ever, and man coverage is being deployed with a lot of blitz-heavy schemes. Thomas can do all of that, but not only is he a press-man corner, but he is comfortable in off-man coverage and has good eyes in zone coverage. This is a complete cornerback.
– Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten is someone who I have talked up a lot this week, and for a good reason. Tuten is a dynamic zone running back with breakaway speed. That speed is rare, and it alone puts him on the Steelers’ radar, given their needs. However, Tuten’s pass-protection ability was a nice surprise. In backs-on-backers, Tuten stunned just about everyone he went up against with great fight and surprising hand punch. That gives him some unique three-down ability that I am not sure I knew he had, but he could, an that only furthers his stock.
– I do like Miami running back Damien Martinez. He is the opposite of Tuten, and no one will confuse him for a burner. However, he does the little things of the position right. He presses the line of scrimmage and creates extra yards for himself. In terms of identification and overall technique, his pass protection is some of the best in the entire class. On top of that, Martinez is just a solid football player. The Steelers could go for dependability with someone like him rather than true speed.
– Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals is a fun player. His thicker build allows him to create yards after the catch, and his explosiveness in and out of breaks pops off the tape immediately. Royals won consistently this week. He, along with TCU’s Jack Bech, really grabbed my attention. I like Bech’s fit a little more in the Steelers’ offense, but Royals is a dynamic weapon.
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Pittsburg, PA
Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick
Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.
Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.
A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month.
No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man’s identity has not been released.
Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”
Pittsburg, PA
Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County
In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.
The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction.
Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021.
The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that.
People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away.
Pittsburg, PA
Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings
Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport.
Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations.
Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.
According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.
KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store.
Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street. The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.
The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.
At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street.
Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on. The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.
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