FRISCO, TX — The Pittsburgh Steelers have a significant presence from their front office at the Shrine Bowl for the start of the significant NFL Draft Bowl season. In the past, Pittsburgh has leaned heavily on the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl to scout players. Last year, they selected Spencer Anderson and Keeanu Benton from those events. In the past, Najee Harris and Kenny Pickett have been first-round picks that appeared at those events.
The front office staff I have seen in Frisco already includes — Director of Player Scouting Mark Sadowski, Director of College Scouting Dan Colbert, Senior Scouting assistants Kelvin Fisher and Phil Kriedler, and Scout Chidi Iwouma. According to Josh Carney of Steelers Depot, scout Mark Bruener, BLESTO scout Fawaaz Izzudin, and scouting intern Brauson Williams are also in Frisco. If any other members are spotted, they will be added here.
That’s not the top dogs of the organization, but there are enough scouts here to take this event with heavy consideration. For example, the breadcrumbs for drafting Benton became apparent almost immediately in Mobile. There will be updates on Steelers Now throughout the week on interest and prospect performance from the event.
They will host four practices for each team, starting on Saturday and running through Tuesday before having the game on Thursday. This is the first year that the Shrine Bowl is in Frisco after being in Las Vegas for the last few seasons.