It has been a while since the Pittsburgh Steelers have had multiple speedsters on the roster, but a younger and faster roster has been on display this season on both sides of the ball. Calvin Austin III had a 55-yard catch-and-run touchdown last week in which he had to outrun the entire Los Angeles Chargers defense to score and put the game away for the Steelers.
He ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash coming out of college, which was definitely on display for the long score. But the Steelers also added a speedster on defense in veteran CB Donte Jackson, who also ran a 4.32 coming out of LSU in 2018.
Austin was the Steelers’ 2023 Ed Block Courage Award recipient, while Jackson was the Panthers recipient last year. Austin appeared on the Ed Block Courage Award YouTube channel this past week to discuss his career performance, and he was asked who would win in a footrace between himself and Jackson.
“You know I gotta bet on me,” Austin said with a laugh. “I’m gonna go with me all day long, baby.”
It sounds like the host, Brett Dickinson, intends on following up with Jackson to get a response from him on this question. I doubt it will happen, but it would be fun to see the two race each other.
You could also add rookie WR Roman Wilson into that mix. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, but has said multiple times that he was disappointed with that time and could have done better. The speed in the wide receiver room is very real, and we finally got to see some of that in action in Week 3.
Austin was asked how it feels knowing he is the fastest guy on the field after a big score like the one he had against the Chargers.
“Confirmation of how I feel going into the game,” Austin said. That’s kind of always my mindset. That’s my God-given gift. So being able to put it on display is always fun. Like I said, it was a good call, good concept, good ball, and so I just got it and did what I do best: run.”
With very little coming from the wide receivers not named George Pickens so far, the hope is that Austin can use this momentum and continue to emerge as one of the top targets on the team. As Justin Fields gets more comfortable in the Steelers’ offense, there will be plenty of opportunities for a deep connection between the two.
