1-on-1: George Pickens - May 4, 2022

1-on-1: George Pickens - May 4, 2022

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
UM, take me through you know when you were drafted,
where you were, who you were with, and who called you. Um.
I was with my family, uh who was in Florida,
like me and mar around the Florida Panhandle. And uh,
I was really just thinking like, uh, you know, glad
to be a Steeler, but you know, it was all
happening so fast, so like he really couldn't think too much.
So but it was just a great feeling, to be honest,

(00:22):
did you know as coach coming right away? Yeah, it
was like a certain voice George, what's going on? Mike
Tomlin and Pittsburgh Steels. So I was like yeah, and uh,
after that, it was just so it happened so fast,
or it's like after you get the call, you kind
of you know what I mean, Like it's on from there.
So it was pretty a good experience too. Um. How

(00:43):
much interest do you feel the Steelers had in you
in terms of, you know, meeting different people from the
organization in your pro day? Um, I'll probably say I
wouldn't say a lot, because you know, it's like a
lot of other coaches there are too, from another lot
of other champs, but like, uh, as far as like
just helping me during the workout through a pro day,
you can kind of see like those were like the

(01:03):
only that was like the only guys that was really
trying to help. The other guys are just you know, watching,
So you can't really make a judgment off of that,
but you know you kind of have a gist of
like what's going on. Everybody talks about your pro day,
you know, especially coming back from the injury. Take me
through what that was like and how you felt you did,
you know, especially when you were done with it, you'd
be like, all right, happened? It was. It was kind

(01:24):
of like a shocking to me because that was my
first time like running without a brace or anything like that.
But I've actually been like preparing myself for that point,
so like every route was really like a oh, this's
my first time running routes again. But it felt so
good and like after the first or second route, I
was good to go after that, and I knew I
was gonna have like a special day. Did you surprise

(01:46):
yourself how fast you were able to come back from
that injury? Uh? Not really, But then again yeah, because
like it wasn't like it was It wasn't like I
was rushing it and I'm not ready. It was actually
like it just happened so quick, you know, I mean
like it happened quick. I was actually helped and when
I got back on the field, I just want to
be back to my guys again. So like that's really
what it was. Offensive coordinator mat Matt Canada kept saying explosive.

(02:11):
Tell us what's so explosive about your game? Really? Everything?
I'll probably say my catch radius, I'm tall, my arms alone,
like you were just talking about them fast too, so
like uh strong, physical, I can block, I can really
do everything. And uh, I think when they said explosive,
like that's like an overall aspect of my game. So yeah,

(02:32):
And do you have a preference where you play? Uh no,
not really. Uh just go with the flow. That's kind
of like my personality to like just go with the flow.
Do you feel comfortable though, Yeah, I played like a practice.
I would always play slide and uh instead of just
outside because that was like my game. You know, when
I get in the game, I'll play that. But like practice,

(02:53):
I always play slot cash like jack, sweep screen and
stuff like that. So yeah, I was always comfortable with
you know, entice acist I was just always bigger, so
it forced me to the outside, you know what I mean.
What do you know about the Steeler's offense and maybe
the transitioning it's making with you know, Ben Roethlisberger retiring. Yeah,
I think it's making it into like a you know,
like a modern a modern type of offense and modern

(03:14):
type of game style. Uh, like the new quarterbacks coming
in such as Kenny got your bisky, you know what
I mean, got a few other guys too. So Ben
brought like a really you know, like a I wouldn't
say old school, but a different style of play to
like the Steelers. He was a big body. You don't
got to really move around the pocket because he just
you're not gonna bring him to the ground, you know
what I mean. So like it was a different type

(03:35):
of play style. But now I feel like it's a
r P oh you know what I mean, Run pass option, uh,
play action pass. Everything is gonna be a lot faster
for sure. How excited are you to work with people
like Ketty pickt Nagi Harris and Pat Fryer moved from
last year and just a young group of guys. Yeah,
that's really like the best way I've you know, to

(03:57):
be honest, I like it because, like those are the
guys that if anything does go happen or anything good
does happen, we were there, you know what I mean,
because we're all you know, we all around the same
age group, so like you feel like you're closer Barn.
All right, well, thanks for your time. Welcome to Pittsburgh.
Thank you,