Pickett refuses to play underdog
Pittsburgh pivot has beaten the odds his entire life
There was something about Kenny Pickett. Even back then.
There was something about the way the then-undersized kid from the Jersey Shore carried himself. A swagger that didn’t bleed into overconfidence. A relentlessness difficult to measure but impossible to miss.
Tim Salem could see what other college recruiters more consumed by Pickett’s relative lack of size during the early portion of his high school career could not.
The University of Pittsburgh tight end’s coach kept tabs on the quarterback who seemed to think he was a linebacker, waiting for Pickett’s physical attributes to catch up to the things you can’t teach.
“He had, you know, the ‘It’ factor,” Salem said. “I mean, he had quarterback mentality, quarterback demeanour, anticipation, moxie. All those words you want to hear. You know, he had it.”
Eventually, Pickett grew. The scrawny five-foot-eight project evolved into a sturdy six-foot-three playmaker, replete with professional-wrestler hair and a chip on his shoulder that has never gone away.
That weight of that chip propelled Pickett from the bottom of the Pitt depth chart in January 2017 to the first round of the NFL draft last spring to the spotlight that comes with being the starting quarterback of a marquee franchise.
Pickett’s jog onto the field on Sunday when the Steelers (1-3) face Buffalo (3-1) marks the next chapter in his remarkable journey, one that few saw coming when Pickett arrived at Pitt a little less than six years ago.
Salem, however, believed. So did Panthers defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, who kept noticing how the kid running the scout team offence in the spring and summer of 2017 seemed to relish getting hit by the first string.
“Kenny almost loved it,” Partridge said. “And so it’s like he thrived on the contact.”
That hasn’t changed, though the stage has shifted considerably from the practice field tucked toward the back of the facility the Panthers share with the Steelers.
Yes, that was Pickett jawing with Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams during his NFL debut last Sunday after throwing an 18-yard strike to Pat Freiermuth despite the 300-pound Williams launching himself directly — and cleanly — into Pickett’s chest.
“I grew up playing defence,” Pickett said Wednesday after his first full practice as the starter. “I was taught to play that way. I was raised that way and carry it into how I play quarterback. I kept that aspect from both sides of the ball from my dad when I was playing on offence.”
It’s the kind of nervy play Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was looking for when he turned to Pickett at halftime last Sunday with Pittsburgh trailing by four points. Tomlin and Mitch Trubisky tried to hold that moment at bay as long as they could.
Yet they have discovered — as has just about everyone else during Pickett’s rise — that eventually, he is going to win. This is the same player, after all, who began his freshman year at Pitt as a third-stringer and finished it by orchestrating a stunning upset of undefeated and No. 2-ranked Miami.
No wonder he hardly seems fazed by taking on a Super Bowl favourite in his first start. He’s been underestimated his entire life. Why stop now?
“Everybody else thinks we’re underdogs,” he said. “We don’t.”
‘‘ I grew up playing defence. I was taught to play that way. I was raised that way and carry it into how I play quarterback. I kept that aspect from both sides of the ball from my dad when I was playing on offence.
KENNY PI CKETT PI TTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK