Pittsburgh Steelers OLB Julius Welschof has taken a circuitous route to the NFL. He began playing American football at a much later age than most due in large part to being from Germany. Then he made his way to the United States to play college football first with the University of Michigan then UNC Charlotte.
It was Welschof’s time in North Carolina that helped forge a bond with another Charlotte alumni, fellow OLB Alex Highsmith. While the two never played together in Charlotte, the experience of playing for the same small school meant Welschof had a friendly face when he came to Pittsburgh.
“Alex came up to me right away when he saw me,” Welschof said in an interview with the Charlotte Observer. “He’s kind of taken me under his wing here — helping me a lot during practice and afterward. It’s been really good so far.”
Welschof and Highsmith had two very different college careers. Highsmith played in 48 career games for the 49ers. He accumulated 115 total tackles, 46 tackles for loss, and 20 sacks. 14 of those sacks came in his senior year.
Welschof spent the first four years of his college career at Michigan and appeared in 35 games before transferring to UNC Charlotte. However, he only appeared in four games for the 49ers and had four total tackles.
That’s why Welschof was an undrafted free agent this year and Highsmith a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. But evidently, Highsmith doesn’t care about how little Welschof played. All that mattered was that they both played for Charlotte.
Highsmith also thinks that Welschof’s size gives him the potential for sticking around, saying that his “bigger, physical frame will give him an opportunity during training camp.” Welschof’s international exemption means that he doesn’t have to blow the coaching staff away to stick in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers thought highly enough of Welschof that despite him being an undrafted free agent, he deserved a call from general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin to let him know they wanted him in Pittsburgh. And Highsmith is doing his best to help Welschof stick.
