Usually when the Pittsburgh Steelers begin their rookie minicamp, we only know a handful of the tryout players. But at this rate, we’ll know a good chunk of the list for the start of Friday’s practice. Memphis CB Sylvonta Oliver is the latest name to be added to Pittsburgh’s list of tryout/invite players, confirming a Tuesday report via his Twitter account.
As the tweet notes, Oliver was in the New York Giants’ rookie minicamp this past weekend but did not sign. It’ll give him a small leg up on the others with his second go-around this weekend.
After spending two years at Itawamba Community College, Oliver transferred to Memphis for the 2020 season. Over the past three seasons, he’s recorded 92 tackles for the Tigers with 12 pass breakups and five interceptions. 2022 was his best season, picking off three passes, including two in his final collegiate game against Utah State and a 71-yard return versus Navy.
Here’s one of his two against Utah State.
He projects as a nickel/slot corner, weighing in a 5093, 170 pounds at his Tigers’ Pro Day. There, he ran a solid 4.49 with a 36 inch vertical, 10’4″ broad, and put up 14 reps on the bench press. All around, good numbers.
Pittsburgh is looking for additional slot corner help though Oliver is obviously a long shot to be in the mix. Part of minicamp is rounding out a roster to practice with. Still, there’s usually at least one player who is signed out of rookie minicamp and the Steelers will enter the weekend with three open roster spots. There’s likely to be some roster shuffling early next week.
Oliver makes for the 14th player we know attending minicamp on a tryout basis. Pittsburgh usually has between 20-25 tryout players invited to camp. You can see the full list at the link here.
