“First Call” for Thursday looks at increased prospects of a Deebo Samuel trade. We introduce you to another running back to remember on NFL Draft weekend for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Max Talbot expands the legend of the “Shhh!” The Duquesne basketball teams pull off a mid-week sweep.

And Robert Morris’ men’s team tries to stay hot.

Doing what they can

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel has asked for a trade, and general manager John Lynch insists he is trying to make it happen.

That’s despite Lynch’s assertion that Samuel was one of his “favorite draft picks” as Niners GM.

“We’re on good terms with Deebo,” Lynch said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “He’s asked for a fresh start, and I think we’re going to honor that. (We) don’t like seeing great players (leave). He is a great player.”

The receiver-starved Steelers could be a destination for Samuel. At the very least, he could be a better, more versatile version of Cordarrelle Patterson in Arthur Smith’s offense. The club was reportedly interested in Samuel around draft time last year. But nothing manifested.

The 29-year-old only had 51 catches for 670 yards and three touchdowns. His rushing totals were down too, posting 136 yards and one score.

Samuel is slated to receive a $15.4 million option bonus on March 22. So if the 49ers really are willing to trade him, they’ll likely want to do so by then.

Name to remember

Another running back name has surfaced as a potential point of interest in the draft for the Steelers. Ryan Fowler of the Draft Network claims that the team will have a formal combine meeting with running back Ollie Gordon II.

Pittsburgh is allegedly one of six teams interested in speaking with the Oklahoma State Cowboy.

Gordon (6-foot-2, 225) had 1,732 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns as a sophomore en route to winning the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back.

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Last year in Stillwater, he rushed for 880 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and 13 touchdowns to go along with 29 catches for 179 yards and a score. CBS Sports projects him as a fourth-rounder and the ninth-best RB in the draft.

The Steelers also have a meeting set with the draft’s top back, Ashton Jeanty of Boise State.

‘Shhhh!’

The Penguins are using a visit by the Flyers on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) to immortalize a fan-favorite moment in franchise history. The team is handing out bobbleheads of Max Talbot giving the “Shhh!” gesture to Philadelphia fans during the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The first 7,500 fans get a bobblehead of Talbot holding his finger to his lips after his infamous fight with Philly’s Dan Carcillo during Game 6 of the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinals. They are selling shirts with an image of Talbot doing the “Shhh!” as well.

On April 25, down 3-0 in the second period with the Flyers looking to stay alive and force a Game 7 in the first round, Talbot memorably baited Carcillo into a fight that Carcillo won.

But the Penguins seemed to feed off the momentum of the brawl, while the Flyers (and their fans) may have crested at that moment. Pittsburgh scored their first goal moments later and then rattled off four more in a row to eliminate the Flyers and move on to the second round.

About seven weeks later, Talbot would score two goals in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to beat Detroit 2-1 and bring a title back to Pittsburgh for the first time since 1992.

When Talbot joined me on the “Breakfast With Benz” podcast last summer to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his Cup-clinching performance, I asked him if the fame he generated from that moment in Philly rivaled what he did in Detroit to secure a championship.

“It’s a close tie,” Talbot insists. “I haven’t seen any people tattooed with my second goal (in Detroit) on them. But I have seen some with the ‘Shhh!’ tattoos around the city. So I feel like it is a very special moment also.”

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Talbot also had an empty net goal in that Flyers series to secure Game 4. Ironically, he later played 127 games as a Flyer from 2011-13.

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Dukes double-dip

The Duquesne basketball teams pulled off a sweep Wednesday. The women (18-10, 9-8 Atlantic 10) won an 11 a.m. tipoff at home over St. Bonaventure 74-48 (6-22, 2-15). It was the Dukes’ “Education Day” event, in front of 3,115 fans — many of them screaming kids who got to attend a basketball game on school day.

The Dukes’ only deficit was at 13-11. Then they led the rest of the way. Senior guard Megan McConnell posted 25 points and nine rebounds in the final game of her illustrious career on the Bluff. The Chartiers Valley alum passed Candace Futrell (2001–04) to move into fourth place All-Time on the Dukes’ scoring list with 1,691 points.

McConnell and company go to George Mason (23-5, 13-4) to close out the regular season Saturday. Then it’s the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Virginia next week.

As for the men (12-16, 7-8), they won at La Salle (12-16, 4-11) by a final of 67-62. Cam Crawford had 15 points to lead Duquesne.

Dru Joyce III’s players now have a brutal stretch to wrap up the regular season. They have to host George Mason on Saturday and VCU on Tuesday. Those two schools are tied for the A-10 lead at 13-2 in conference play. Then they must travel to Saint Louis (tied for fourth place) on March 8 to wrap up the regular season.

First thing’s first

The first-place Robert Morris Colonials (22-8, 14-5) put their Horizon League-leading status on the line Thursday night (6:30) against the IU Indianapolis Jaguars.

That’s a road game for the Colonials. They have six straight wins.

The Jags are 9-20 and 5-13 in league play. RMU won the first meeting between the schools 106-53 on Jan. 30. This is the regular season finale for Andy Toole’s team as they look to lock up the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.

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The women (13-15, 9-10) played Wednesday and won 76-53 at home over Youngstown State. Noa Givon had 20 points to lead all scorers.

The Colonials wrap up their regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday at Wright State.

Listen: Tim Benz and Max Talbot relive the 2009 Stanley Cup run