New Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Senquez Golson isn’t going to magically grow two inches now that he’s in the NFL and general manager Kevin Colbert is probably fully aware of that. If he’s not, he’ll be reminded over the course of the next several weeks that the former Mississippi cornerback is just shy of 5-foot, 9-inches. During a Monday interview with David Todd on 970 ESPN, Colbert was again asked about Golson’s lack of height and what it was that attracted them to him.
“With the lack of height, there’s always going to be issues, especially when you play in the league and you’re going to have to go up against bigger receivers,” said Colbert. “So there’s going to be times when Senquez has a ball caught over his head. We certainly understand that and acknowledge it.
“We’ll see where it goes, but with him, he had to have some type of compensating factors for the lack of height and his is instincts, reaction time and hands. You couple that with a willingness to be physical at his size and we thought he was definitely as well-rounded player that he could be, even though he was five-eight and a half.”
By now, you all have probably seen the highlights on Youtube of the game between Auburn and Mississippi in which wide receiver Sammie Coates, who just so happened to be drafted by the Steelers in the third-round, caught five passes for 122 yards and a touchdown against Golson. Colbert referenced that game when talking about Golson and his lack of size.
“We know there’s going to be balls caught over his head,” Colbert repeated. “I think one of the highlights you saw on Sammie Coates was Sammie out-sizing him on a skinny-post type of route and making a catch in front of him. But if a ball is going to be close to a receiver, there’s a good chance that Senquez will be in the same vicinity and he’ll have a good chance at intercepting it.”
Golson will have plenty more opportunities to cover Coates during his career as the two are likely to go against each other during practices quite a bit over the course of the next several years. Additionally, Golson will get to test his skills against even taller wide receivers during practice as he’s sure to cover the 6-foot, 4-inch Martavis Bryant during practices as well.
Golson is sure to give up catches to both tall and short receivers during his NFL career, but if he’s able to pick off several along the way like he did in college, people might eventually forget about is height, or in his case, the lack of it.
