Oregon State defensive end Scott Crichton has been traveling making several pre draft visits over the course of the last several weeks and one of those visits was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During a Tuesday interview on SiriusXM Radio, Crichton revealed that he’s been a fan of the black and gold ever since he was a kid.
“I was one of those kids that wanted to play for the Steelers,” said Crichton. “I’m a big Pittsburgh Steelers fan. That was my team growing up.
“When I went over there it was like a dream come true. I just fell in love with the place, especially with the coaches. I had one-on-one talk with (Mike) Tomlin and he’s just a great guy. Great coach, great guy. And the whole faculty, I met a couple of players, too, and it was just unbelievable when I was over there.”
Despite playing defensive end in college, Crichton said several 3-4 teams are looking at converting him to outside linebacker if they draft him. As a result, several are putting him through drills designed to make sure he is adequate at dropping into coverage.
Crichton also said that his recent medical recheck in Indianapolis for a neck stinger problem went fine and that he’s healthy and ready to go.
“It was good,” said Crichton. “They were just concerned about the stingers that I had in the past. I did pass with flying colors and it is what it is.”
As far as his weight goes, Crichton, who weighed in at 273 pounds at the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine, said that he knows he might have to drop a few pounds if drafted as an outside linebacker by a team that plays the 3-4 and he has no problem doing that. He said he’s currently maintaining his weight between 265 and 270 pounds until he finds out which team he’ll be playing for at the NFL level.
Crichton is regarded as a second-round prospect after registering 7.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss in 2013.
