Long before they were Pittsburgh Steelers teammates, Justin Fields and George Pickens played high school football just a couple hours away from each other. As both were five-star prospects in the same region, it’s possible they attended various regional camps together in the offseason. Pickens was a class behind Fields, but they were both earning regional accolades in 2017.
Pickens was named to the All-Birmingham team and a 7A first-team All-State offensive player as a junior in 2017 while Fields was named the 6A Offensive Player of the Year and Mr. Georgia Football by the Touchdown Club of Atlanta.
Both attended the University of Georgia, but they missed each other by a year as Fields transferred to Ohio State.
They were never quite teammates, but they were familiar with each other, and by the sound of it, they practiced together at some point in their youth.
“He literally moves the exact same way as high school, so it’s pretty easy to read him in and out of his breaks,” Fields said in an interview after Sunday’s practice posted by Yardbarker’s Aaron Becker on X. “We’ve known each other for a long time now to where it didn’t really take that long for that connection to build back up.”
Their connection has been evident over the first half of practices at training camp. Alex Kozora tabulated the stats over the first nine practices. From practices one through six they linked up for 9 completions on 16 targets for 116 yards and a touchdown. But in practices seven through nine, they sharply improved with 15 completions on 18 targets for 144 yards and five touchdowns.
Fields was asked in what ways has Pickens improved since they first met each other in high school.
“Every part. He was a high school kid when I first threw with him,” Fields said in a separate clip posted by Yardbarker’s Becker on X. “He’s just a whole ‘nother level.”
Pickens was also asked about his connection with Fields in an interview with Prospect Media on YouTube.
“Justin been doing good, bro. Scrambling, making plays. Certain routes that I be running now that I have to adjust ’cause now he can run with the ball for real,” Pickens said. “I been knowing him for a long time, too. Going back to Georgia. He was a great, great dude. We been at practice together for a long time. I feel like we gonna be special this year, too.”
We will see how the quarterback situation plays out when Russell Wilson returns to practice, which could be as soon as this week. But if there is a case to be made for Fields at this point, it would heavily involve his success and connection with Pickens through the first 10 practices. A connection that dates back to way before either player was in the NFL. Even if that doesn’t end up being a connection during the regular season this year, the Steelers may have seen enough to extend Fields next offseason and set up the Fields-Pickens duo for 2025.
Update: 5:08 p.m.
Fields clarified in a fuller video of the interview posted by Post-Gazette Sports on YouTube that their youth connection was via a Cam Newton 7-on-7 high school football team.
