Rookie minicamp was all right for Max Iheanachor in more ways than one.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round draft pick practiced exclusively at right tackle, and he finished the minicamp feeling rightfully pleased by his first couple of days as a pro.
“It’s a blessing to be out here,” he said Saturday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “It was crazy, for sure, the first time I put on a (Steelers) jersey, just going out there on the field didn’t feel real. But I’m getting the work in and soaking in the moment, just being grateful to be here.”
The 6-foot-6, 321-pounder said he prepared in recent months to play either tackle spot, before Steelers coaches told him to focus on the right side. That was his more familiar position, having started 30 games at right tackle for Arizona State.
“I’ve done it the whole offseason, just preparing (for both). Never know where I’m going to be,” Iheanachor said. “But coming here, they told me, ‘right side.’ I played that my whole college career.”
Iheanachor was part of a 10-person draft class that is the Steelers’ largest since 2010. He already knew at least one of his fellow draft picks. He and third-round guard Gennings Dunker got acquainted at the Senior Bowl and formed a friendship.
In all, the team invited 40 players to the South Side practice facility for rookie minicamp.
“It’s nice to have somebody I’m already familiar with and coming in with,” Dunker said. “He’s an awesome dude.”
McCarthy cut minicamp one day short to give the rookies a free Sunday. Iheanachor said he hadn’t explored much of Pittsburgh over the past two days, so he and Dunker planned to go fishing.
“I told him he has to kiss the first fish he catches,” Dunker said.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said they both “look like Pittsburgh Steelers linemen … (who can) play the style of football we want to play.”
A former Iowa tackle, Dunker might fill an opening at left guard after last year’s starter Isaac Seumalo left in free agency. But Iheanachor’s path to playing time at right tackle seems blocked by returning starter Troy Fautanu.
The Steelers have questions to answer at left tackle, where Broderick Jones missed the final six weeks of last season with a neck injury that needed surgery. It’s unclear when Jones might return. First-time starter Dylan Cook, an undrafted free agent, finished last season at left tackle.
Fautanu has experience on the left side, having started there two years at Washington. For his part, Iheanachor said he’ll play wherever needed: “Whatever the coaches want, that’s what I’ll do.”
The team begins OTA workouts May 18.
The 22-year-old rookie has played football for only five seasons. He spent two at a junior college in his hometown of Los Angeles and later three at Arizona State. That inexperience makes him somewhat of a project, but also potentially gives him a higher ceiling for growth than most.
So far, the jump from college to pro hasn’t proven too daunting for a player who earned second-team all-Big 12 honors last season. He played 484 pass-block snaps last season without allowing a sack.
“Everybody here is very detailed,” he said. “At ASU, we were very detailed, too, so that transition was pretty good. Playbook is fine. … We ran the same plays at ASU, just different terminologies here.”
Iheanachor is working under veteran offensive line coach James Campen, who enters his 21st season in the NFL. Campen won a Super Bowl in Green Bay with McCarthy in 2011. Four-time All-Pro guard Jahri Evans, who won a Super Bowl with the Saints in 2010, is the assistant offensive line coach.
He said coaches wanted him to better anchor his toes in the ground. Hand placement on blocks was another area of focus in minicamp.
“There’s been some new stuff that we’ve been doing, but it’s still very similar,” Iheanachor said. “Our coach at Arizona State taught the same thing but just emphasizing it more here.”