Darryl Drake sat with arms folded across his chest and spent 13 minutes telling a roomful of reporters how an undersized receiver from a mid-sized conference would prove worthy of a third-round pick.
The Steelers had just selected Diontae Johnson in the 2019 NFL Draft, and the receivers coach had been the biggest champion of the wiry 5-foot-10, 183-pound wideout from the University of Toledo.
Never mind Johnson lacked high-end speed or that the conference he represented played some of its games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights when most Americans were watching “The Voice” and “Modern Family.” Drake was adamant about the selection. He spoke like a man who had peered into the future.
"I’ve been in this thing a long time,” Drake said. “It doesn’t matter where you go to school at, it doesn’t matter the level of competition. If you can play, you can play. It’s up to guys who evaluate, the scouts, to see those things. I’m very excited about (Johnson). Don’t even think because he’s from a small school in the (Mid-American Conference) that this cat can’t play. Because he can play. Our quarterback is from the MAC. He’s a Hall of Famer.”
Drake died on Aug. 11, 2019, at age 62. He never got to see his prophesy come true regarding Johnson, who caught 59 passes for 680 yards as a rookie and, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, created the most separation per target (3.6 yards) of any receiver in the league. He also was second-team All-Pro as a punt returner, becoming the first Steelers player since the 1960s to lead the league in punt return average.
But Drake’s projection added to a rich organizational history of uncovering talent in the MAC. While the mid-major supplies good players to other NFL teams, none has been a bigger benefactor than the Steelers.
Jack Lambert, Ben Roethlisberger, James Harrison and Antonio Brown are the headliners, but there have been other solid contributors, as well.
The Steelers have led the league in MAC alums on NFL rosters the past few seasons. There are six players from the Midwest conference on the team’s active roster, including three offensive starters — Roethlisberger (Miami University), Johnson and now-starting right tackle Chuks Okorafor (Western Michigan). A seventh player, linebacker Jayrone Elliott (Toledo) is a practice-squad participant.
Pittsburgh is like every team that drafts and signs the majority of its players from Power 5 conferences. Over the last 50 years, however, few have found greater value in the MAC.
“The Steelers have a strong batting average in coming away with quality players,” said Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s draft guru.
There’s no one reason for the success rate. Some of it can be attributed to dogged scouting, relationship building, organizational stability and proximity. Some of it is simply remarkable good fortune. Just ask the Browns how their decision to sign free agent Jeff Garcia and pass over Roethlisberger in the 2004 draft has worked out for them.
It’s not as though every pick from the MAC has been a hit. Running back Dri Archer from Kent State didn’t live up to his third-round selection in 2014. But a fair percentage of the 18 draft picks since 1970 — mostly taken in the later rounds — have been at least serviceable. Brown was a sixth-round gem from Central Michigan in 2010 who appeared destined for Canton until spells of erratic behavior jeopardized his career.
“There are a lot of blue-collar kids on our roster and throughout the MAC,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said. “The mentality of Toledo is very similar to Pittsburgh. You’ve got to work for every inch you get, and nobody is going to hand you anything.”
‘BASICALLY FELL IN LOVE’
The skinny kid who grew strong working on his grandfather’s northeast Ohio farm had one full scholarship offer in 1970. It came from Kent State — and it was only available because an upperclassman from New Jersey decided to get married that summer and not return to the program.
That’s all the opening Jack Lambert needed.
By the time the 6-foot-4, 217-pound linebacker became draft eligible in 1974, the ferocious Lambert was attracting interest from multiple teams, but it was the Steelers who were willing invest a second-round pick.
Pittsburgh’s draft report on the gap-toothed defender read: “Intense, great nose for the ball, needs to add weight.”
The most memorable description came from Art Rooney Jr. as told to Sports Illustrated’s Paul Zimmerman: “The field was muddy. They were practicing in a parking lot, with cinders. Lambert dived at someone and when he got up, all these cinders were sticking to him. He went back to the huddle picking cinders off.”
That iconic draft class — one that includes Lynn Swann, Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster — produced four Hall of Famers. Five if you add undrafted free agent Donnie Shell.
The organization was building a reputation for unearthing major contributors from small colleges and historical black universities, thanks in part to the legendary Bill Nunn. And the MAC was becoming one of its favorite dive bars for talent.
In 1978, the Steelers drafted defensive back Ron Johnson in the opening round out of Eastern Michigan. He and Roethlisberger remain franchise’s only MAC first rounders.
“It’s no different from recruiting if you think about it,” Western Michigan coach Tim Lester said. “If you get a really good kid from a school or an area, you keep going back to that area. We got a really good kid out of Pittsburgh (receiver Skyy Moore) a couple years ago. We had never really recruited much in Pittsburgh. Now, we’ve taken four kids from Pittsburgh in a two-year span.”
In 2019, three of the Steelers’ nine draft picks hailed from MAC schools, including Johnson, defensive lineman Sutton Smith (Northern Illinois, sixth round) and linebacker Ulysses Gilbert III (Akron, sixth round). A year earlier, they had grabbed Lester’s big offensive tackle Okorafor.
All NFL teams scout the MAC, but multiple sources told DK Pittsburgh Sports the Steelers are among the most diligent. One former MAC executive said no franchise staffed the conference’s championship game with more regularity than the Steelers over the past decade.
“Being present and seeing guys multiple times helps your evaluations,” Lester said. “The Steelers are consistent. They send scouts around a couple times a year and, of course, during pro-day workouts.”
Again, an NFL franchise cannot survive on a steady diet of small-school players and undrafted free agents. But the Steelers’ backfield in their 2005 Super Bowl win over the Seahawks included a quarterback from Miami University, and two undrafted free agents, Willie Parker and Dan Kreider (New Hampshire), to go along with Jerome Bettis.
MAC schools provide players early-season opportunities to compete against elite opponents from Power Five conferences.
“The MAC has been good to us,” Kevin Colbert told reporters last year. “Those players stand out at that level. They play some bigger schools, some bigger conferences, and they usually hold their own. Those players show up in those games. I don’t consider the MAC to be a small conference. It’s not a Power Five conference, but again, we’ve been pretty fortunate with players, starting with our quarterback.”
Colbert’s son, Dan, works as a team scout, and his MAC connections run deep. He graduated from Miami University and has scouted the conference extensively.
Many large college programs, who routinely send players to the NFL, deal with pro scouts begrudgingly. Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer famously hassled ones showing up in blue shirts, apparently due to the program’s distaste for Michigan.
It’s a different story in smaller conferences like the MAC, which makes more time and grants greater access because of the prestige associated with having a player drafted.
Drake told the tale of visiting Diontae Johnson at Toledo and forming a relationship.
“I basically fell in love with him,” Drake said.
The feeling became mutual.
“We had a hunch it might be the Steelers,” Candle said. “Pittsburgh kept coming. As the draft approached, I talked to Diontae about it, and I can tell you he was hoping the Steelers would take him.”
‘SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS’
Former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Elton Alexander covered the MAC for 33 years and he was at windswept Dix Stadium in Kent on Nov. 21, 2001 for the unforgettable collisions involving two future Steelers’ stars.
Roethlisberger was a redshirt freshman starting to burnish a first-round resume. Harrison was undersized senior eager to finish his college career with an emphatic statement.
The menacing linebacker pursued Roethlisberger that day as though the quarterback had snatched his grandmother’s purse.
“(Kent State coaches) let Harrison line up anywhere he wanted, wherever he thought he had the edge,” Alexander recalled. “He had Roethlisberger in his sights the whole game. If he sacked him five times, he hit him 20 times.”
Harrison was credited with four sacks, including ones on the final two plays of the game to preserve a 24-20 win for the Flashes.
“To be honest with you, I just know my numbers,” Harrison told the Bengals’ team website in 2013. “(Roethlisberger) jokes about it that he’s the reason I’m in the league.”
The Steelers signed Harrison as an undrafted free agent the following year, but the linebacker endured multiple releases and a trip to NFL Europe before finding a home with Pittsburgh in 2004.
Alexander said Steelers scouts were a frequent presence at MAC games during his time covering the league, and believes they had ample insight into the mercurial Harrison.
“The MAC is almost in their backyard,” Alexander said. “They can come to Akron, Kent, any school in Ohio, and catch a game. If it’s an early game, they might even have time to drive to Columbus or somewhere else for a Big Ten game or see Notre Dame play.”
Proximity enables AFC North teams to send multiple scouts and decision makers to see promising MAC players. One NFL scout said that’s important with small-college prospects.
“You can learn a lot from the tape, but with guys like that you want to see them in person,” the scout said. “A player might look a bit rigid on tape, but you can really see if that’s true watching him live.”
The Steelers’ continuity means they seldom need to rush players into the lineup, allowing small-college draft choices the luxury of marinating on special teams. Okorafor is in his third season and is just now getting a shot to start at right tackle. Early returns are promising.
Meanwhile, the MAC compares to the Big Ten in at least one aspect. Scouts from cold-weather teams get to see how a player responds in bitter conditions.
“Diontae is a Florida kid and sometimes those guys from the South aren’t crazy about the weather up here,” Candle said. “We play in a league where it’s not sunshine and rainbows in late October and November when championships are won. That was never an issue with Diontae.”
Johnson is still developing chemistry with Roethlisberger. The majority of his receptions last season came from Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges as the franchise quarterback sat out all but two games due to an elbow surgery.
The receiver collected 14 catches in the first two weeks of this season before suffering a concussion early against the Texans last Sunday.
It’s ridiculously premature to think the Steelers can recreate the pitch-and-catch, all-MAC magic Roethlisberger and Brown enjoyed for nine seasons. Yet Drake hinted as much during his glowing draft-day assessment of Johnson.
“He doesn’t have great (stop-watch) speed, but he plays the game fast,” Drake said. “He’s really good against press defense. He’s very elusive at the line of scrimmage . . . and he can get in and out of breaks as well as anyone I’ve seen in a long time.”
One thing is for sure. When the MAC returns to competition — the conference is eyeing an early November start date — the Steelers will be bird-dogging its talent.
Modern football doesn’t allow for any more practices on cinder parking lots, but Pittsburgh scouts will be looking for the type of grit that’s epitomized many of their MAC selections.