After completing a pre-draft visit with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this month, former Virginia safety Joey Blount discussed his experience this passed week.
In a recent interview for Time2Football’s Path to the Draft series, Blount elaborated upon the visit and even shared an anecdote about the first time he met head coach Mike Tomlin.
“I visited the Steelers, had a top 30 visit there. I love what they have going on up there,” Blount said.
It was the second time Blount had met Tomlin, as the two had actually run into each other back in 2019 when the Cavaliers were in town to play Pitt.
“We’re in a team hotel. And we saw Mike Tomlin walking out the hotel, I guess there was some Steelers thing they were doing, but my best friend’s dad at the time ran up to him, started talking to him and we were all embarrassed,” Blount said. “You know, Mike Tomlin, all of a sudden we see my friend’s dad was over there and we all go over there. And we started talking to him, telling him we’re from UVA, we’re playing Pitt.”
Tomlin snapped a picture with Blount and his teams and the safety assured him they would meeting again during the draft process down the road.
“And when I went and visited Pittsburgh, I pulled up that same picture and I showed him and I asked him, ‘do you remember me? Do you remember where we first met?’ And he didn’t and I showed him the picture and he was like ‘I love that you’re true to your word.’ I was like ‘I promised you I’d be here. And I’m here,’” Blount said.
Blount now finds himself on the cusp of achieving his professional football dream with the NFL Draft coming up next Thursday.
A three-year starter for the Cavaliers, Blount earned Third-Team All-ACC honors in 2019. He was a Campbell Trophy finalist in 2020.
Blount totaled 303 combined tackles, 19.5 tackles-for-loss, 12 passes defended and nine interceptions over his five seasons in Charlottesville.