C-M grad Hull looking to make mark at NFL Scouting Combine
Canon-McMillan High School graduate Mike Hull was forced to pull out of the Senior Bowl last month after just one practice due to minor knee injury that had required surgery following his final bowl game at Penn State.
Hull, a linebacker, will get an opportunity to show that knee is completely healed this week when he reports to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, which begins Wednesday.
It will be the biggest interview of his life.
There hasn’t been a high school football player from a school from Washington or Greene counties selected in the NFL draft since Ringgold’s Anthony Peterson was taken in the fifth round in 1994 by San Francisco.
And the area hasn’t had a player stick on a team’s regular roster since the 1999 season, when Peterson played his final year for the 49ers and Scott Zolak, another Ringgold graduate, ended his nine-year career.
There’s a good chance Hull, who is currently projected as a mid-round draft pick, will break both of those streaks. A solid workout and, perhaps more importantly, getting through the grueling interview process, will go a long way toward making that happen.
• This year’s draft is considered deep in pass rushers, with some high-end talent available, and at cornerback, though the value at the latter is more in its depth than it is at the top of the class.
That’s good news for the Steelers, who will be looking to add talent in both of those areas.
And while typically the Steelers are looking only at pass rushers who they can convert to outside linebackers, that won’t necessarily be the case this year.
General Manager Kevin Colbert said last week that the team won’t take a player who fits as a 4-3 defensive end off its draft board simply because he doesn’t fit the team’s 3-4 scheme.
The Steelers play enough nickel defense – nearly 60 percent of the time – that they can afford to draft a player who would line up only at defensive end on obvious passing downs. If, that is, he can help improve the team’s sack numbers.as been more buzz surounding this team than any Pirates team in recent memory.
In fact, just last week, ESPN.com ranked the Pirates as the third best team in Major League Baseball heading into spring training.
That’s heady stuff for a team that went 20 seasons without a winning record, a streak that was snapped just two seasons ago.
In the past two seasons, the Pirates have thrived in the role of everyone’s underdog. Can they now do the same in the role of favorite?
We’ll see. They’ve got 162 games to prove it.
• As hard as it might be to believe right now given the current weather, local college baseball and softball programs all ready to kick off their respective seasons.
California University’s baseball team is scheduled to host a doubleheader at Consol Energy Field against Penn State-Greater Allegheny on Saturday and has games scheduled at home against West Liberty and Clarion next week.
Cal’s softball team will wait to start its season in Florida March 7 against West Virginia Weslyan.
Washington & Jefferson’s baseball team will open March 1 with a home game against Thiel, while the softball team is set to begin its season March 4 at Pitt-Greensburg.
Waynesburg’s baseball team is scheduled to host LaRoche for a doubleheader Feb. 28, while the softball team, like the one at California, will wait and open its season in Florida March 9 against Ave Maria.
• The Pirates will report to spring training in Bradenton, Fla., Wednesday, though a large portion of the team is already there.
There hSome of those games might or might not be played. But the fact that they are even on the schedule – coupled with the Pirates reporting for spring training – gives hope that spring is right around the corner.
F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.
That’s right, spring must be right around the corner.