The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers nabbed a wide receiver from USC in one of the first two rounds of the NFL draft, the selection paid off.
Lynn Swann, taken with the 21st overall pick in 1974, was a key part of the franchise’s four Super Bowl winning teams over the following decade and ultimately ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On a Friday evening 43 years later, Pittsburgh again looked west, drafting JuJu Smith-Schuster with the 62nd overall pick, the third to last of the second round.
Smith-Schuster was one of the Trojans’ most productive pass catchers before he decided to forego his final season of eligibility in January to enter the draft. In three seasons, he caught 213 passes, the fourth most in program history, along with 3,092 yards and 25 touchdowns. Before arriving at USC, he starred at Long Beach Poly.
He followed his college teammate Adoree’ Jackson, the dynamic cornerback who was taken in the first round by the Tennessee Titans the previous day.
While Jackson attended the draft in Philadelphia, Smith-Schuster remained in Southern California to watch the event on television with his family and friends. He wore a gray suit with a kukui nut necklace. Television cameras captured him weeping for several seconds after the announcement and later diving into the Pacific Ocean.
Outside of Swann, who is also the current USC athletic director, the Steelers drafted one other USC receiver in the fourth round in 1979 — Calvin Sweeney, who ended up playing eight seasons for them.
The selection of Smith-Schuster on Friday was announced by Hall of Fame fullback Franco Harris, one of Swann’s former teammates.
Smith-Schuster’s physical play and toughness are expected to make him a favorable target for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He measured at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds at the NFL scouting combine earlier this year and can fight off defensive backs. One of his most celebrated plays came during an upset of Utah in 2015. Smith-Schuster caught a pass from quarterback Cody Kessler and ran toward the sideline, pointing at Dominique Hatfield, a cornerback for the Utes, as if he was begging for him to run at him. Smith-Schuster then extended a stiff arm, pushing Hatfield out of bounds.
Throughout his career at USC, he often played through injuries, including a broken hand late in his sophomore season in 2015, but never missed a game. Last season, his list of setbacks included injuries to his hip, shoulder, back, wrist and pinkie, which was dislocated.
He heads to Pittsburgh with notable upside, too. After turning 20 years old last November, he was the youngest player in the draft.
Rather than sliding into the first round or being taken higher into the second round, remaining behind five other receivers, some draft analysts raised concerns over speed.
“He’s kind of power forward that gets position,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said on a teleconference with reporters late last year. “He doesn’t get a lot of separation. You like to see a little more burst, a little better explosiveness out of his break.”
Smith-Schuster is among several recent USC receivers to be taken early in the draft.
Over the past five years, Nelson Agholor, Marqise Lee and Robert Woods were all drafted in the first two rounds.
The rest of the Trojans’ draft eligible players, such as offensive tackles Zach Banner and Chad Wheeler and defensive tackle Stevie Tu’ikolovatu, were left to wait to hear their names called until the final day of the draft on Saturday, beginning with the fourth round.