Evaluating the 2014 Steelers Draft, Part III

In Part I of this series Ryan Shazier, Dri Archer, Jordan Zumwalt and Rob Blanchflower were evaluated according to their BLA worthiness, as well as some footbally stuff. Part II was supposed to finish up the draftees. Instead it turned into a lengthy commentary on Daniel McCullers, and a rant. Sorry about that. Hopefully Part III can stay the course...

Next up, the man at least two sites (WalterFootball and Draftsite) actually mocked to the Steelers—Stephon Tuitt. Not too surprisingly, Tuitt was not on Momma's radar—her picks were (depending on the first-round pick,) either Phillip Gaines or Austin Seferian-Jenkins. (For the record, A S-J was taken with the sixth pick of Round Two, but Gaines was passed up by the Steelers in Round Two, going in Round Three eight picks before the Steelers chose Dri Archer.)

Tuitt has some intriguing characteristics, that's for sure. This was a pick some in Steeler Nation would have even been okay with in Round One. Before injuries derailed his 2013 season he seemed on course to be a high first round pick, so to get him in Round Two was pretty sweet.

I won't go into the footbally stuff with Tuitt, as he's a fairly obvious pick for the Steelers. What inquiring minds want to know is, how does he fit into BLA?

Well, as I said the other day, Momma enjoys a well-turned ankle (in the old, Victorian sense, rather than the injury sense, which she hates,) but she really adores a well-cultivated character, and is always happy when the Steelers draft one.

When looking for evidence of said character, one way or other, I determined that when he takes off the MASK OF DOOM (or whatever that cage thing he was wearing at Notre Dame is) Stephon Tuitt is a lovely young man. I also had a look at his Twitter account. I was very happy to see that, at least so far, he is using his account with discretion, including items such as the following:

IT IS BETTER TO ATTEMPT SOMETHING GREAT AND FAIL, THAN TO ATTEMPT NOTHING AND SUCCEED!!!

— stephon tuitt (@DOCnation_7) May 11, 2014

Here's what Profootballscout.com had to say about Tuitt:

A classic overachiever, discipline has been instilled in his character by his mother, Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett, who serves as a deputy sheriff back home in Monroe. While Stephon was a freshman in high school, he once walked 10 miles to a workout session after his mother refused to let him attend, but the player felt he had a commitment to his team and made the "most of a bad situation," after his coaches had explained to him he had to attend as a requirement to make the team.

That discipline and work ethic allowed her son to mature quickly, both on and off the football field. Well-respected in the locker room, the quiet leader had to become more vocal on the gridiron this year, thanks to a departing graduation class from last season that saw quite a few first-time starters appear for the Irish on the defensive side of the ball in 2013.

Momma is of course torn between admiration for his walking ten miles to practice and dismay that he was defying his mother by doing so. But ten miles is an awfully long way to walk, especially knowing that once you get there you're going to have to expend a great deal of energy in the workout session, and shows a sort of grit and determination and, yes, commitment that is admirable. (And Momma is the first to admit that mothers can, on occasion, be wrong.)

And this seems an appropriate point to put in a plug for you Pittsburgh-based folks to get a sense of what that felt like for Stephon to walk 10 miles, for a great cause. This Saturday is Tunch (Ilkin) and Wolf's (Craig Wolfley) Walk for the Homeless, which benefits Light of Life. It is a 10K walk which begins and ends at Heinz Field and proceeds along the north shore of the Allegheny River. It's beautiful and fun and your feet will hurt like crazy at the end of it, at least if you are as unaccustomed to walking that much all at once as Momma unfortunately is.

If you would like to sign up, click on this link for more information.  You're welcome to join up as part of "Team Momma." If you can't, or don't want to join us but would like to donate through my team, you can find it (under "Rebecca Rollett") on the same page.

The "us" you would be joining is Momma plus her wonderful husband. Although Mr. Momma (or Dr. Momma, I suppose it would be) doesn't know (or care) much about football, he knows an awful lot about many other things, especially as they pertain to aluminum, and he has a lovely British accent he says them in, which adds to the interest. It's going to be a beautiful day. Tunch and Wolf are really nice guys. Come on down!

And if the charming young Mr. Tuitt would like to join us, six miles would be as nothing, at least in comparison to ten, and he's welcome to join my team!

At any rate, I'm sure all of us at BTSC would like to extend him a warm welcome to Pittsburgh, best wishes for a happy birthday today, and the hope that he will eventually fill the hole in our hearts left by Brett Keisel. That's a lot of man to live up to, but I think perhaps Mr. Tuitt has the potential!

UPDATE: Here's his birthday tweet;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>It all started with a dream. Being able to say I&#39;m 21, doing my dream job is a blessing. I&#39;m very… <a href="http://t.co/w6fSIfNcll">http://t.co/w6fSIfNcll</a></p>&mdash; stephon tuitt (@DOCnation_7) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOCnation_7/statuses/469857454092591105">May 23, 2014</a></blockquote>

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