{"id":188695,"date":"2026-05-10T15:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188695\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:39:09","slug":"max-iheanchor-is-pittsburghs-first-sun-devil-draft-pick-in-decades-the-steelers-hope-hell-be-as-good-as-the-last-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/188695\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Iheanchor Is Pittsburgh’s First Sun Devil Draft Pick In Decades. The Steelers Hope He’ll Be As Good As The Last One"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re looking for draft fun facts, consider this. From 2001 to 2025, Arizona State has had 58 players selected by 26 different teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers picked none of them. That changed late last month when the team tabbed Sun Devil OT Max Iheanachor as the franchise\u2019s first-round pick.<\/a> He\u2019s the first Arizona State prospect taken by Pittsburgh since another offensive tackle heard his name called more than 20 years ago. That was Marvel Smith, and if Max Iheanachor can become the talent Smith was, the Steelers will have hit a home run.<\/p>\n

Round Two of the 2000 NFL Draft. Kevin Colbert\u2019s first draft. Michigan State WR Plaxico Burress was the team\u2019s first-round selection. Smith was next in line.<\/p>\n

The 2000 draft had familiar hallmarks and its own distinctions. It was held in New York City, though located at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. It wouldn\u2019t be until 2006 that the draft moved to its well-known location, Radio City Music Hall, and then was taken on the road when the Rockettes booked the venue, forcing the NFL to figure something else out. One of the most fruitful scheduling conflicts in sports history.<\/p>\n

The draft had plenty of fanfare. ESPN covered the event with gusto. Mel Kiper Jr. was a household name. But the draft was held over a marathon weekend, 8-plus hours, with a half-hour break between the first and second rounds.<\/p>\n

Draft picks looked different back then. Quarterbacks weren\u2019t always the prize. The first didn\u2019t hear his name called until Marshall\u2019s Chad Pennington went 18th overall. The next wouldn\u2019t go until Giovanni Carmazzi, the second of the \u201cBrady Six\u201d taken between Rounds 1-6, ahead of Michigan\u2019s overlooked arm who would become a legend.<\/p>\n

Defense ruled the day. Defensive end Courtney Brown went first to the Browns. Linebacker LaVarr Arrington second to the Redskins. Two Penn State players with wildly different careers. Arrington a great player. Brown a total whiff.<\/p>\n

Arizona RB Trung Candidate closed out the first round. The draft flipped the page into its second. ESPN hit an early commercial break. That\u2019s when Smith was drafted. Like Nikola Joki\u0107,<\/a> Smith was drafted during a Taco Bell commercial.<\/p>\n

Flickering back on television, host Chris Berman tasked Kiper with recapping the missed selections. Kiper talked up Virginia Tech DE John Engelberger, 35th to the 49ers. He praised skinny Southern Miss WR Todd Pinkston \u2013 all 168 pounds of him \u2013 and liked his chances of NFL success. A quick recap of OG Travis Claridge followed before Kiper turned to Smith.<\/p>\n

The clip of his analysis, with some video and music underneath to hit peak nostalgia, is below.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Smith was Kiper\u2019s 35th-ranked prospect.<\/a> Pittsburgh got him 38th.<\/p>\n

He started nine games as a rookie, opposite left tackle Wayne Gandy, and would\u2019ve been there the whole year if not for a knee injury. Smith started every game the next two seasons and quickly transformed himself into a steady tackle.<\/p>\n

It earned Smith a six-year, $26 million extension ahead of the 2023 season, flipping to left tackle in the process. A contract earned but one he wouldn\u2019t fully live up to. Injuries nagged him again, and he played just six games that year. Healthy for all of 2004\u2019s magical run up until the AFC Title Game, Smith made his first \u2013 and only \u2013 Pro Bowl. He missed another four games in 2005, although he was healthy and played in every postseason win en route to Pittsburgh\u2019s fifth Lombardi.<\/p>\n

By 2007, Smith\u2019s back had become a serious issue. He played in only 12 games that year and had back surgery that December. He started the first five games of 2008 before being knocked out with \u201ccramps\u201d against Jacksonville. But that was an injury-report fib. Smith\u2019s back issues returned. This time for good. Pittsburgh didn\u2019t bring him back for 2009. San Francisco took a chance on him that offseason, but by August 1st, Smith announced his retirement.<\/p>\n

Though he started just 108 games and was riddled with injuries, Smith is one of the best tackles in franchise history. Pittsburgh is a franchise much more known for its interior linemen \u2013 Mike Webster, Dirt Dawson, Maurkice Pouncey, Alan Faneca, David DeCastro \u2013 than its tackles. Smith is arguably a top-five tackle the Steelers have ever had. His main competition consists of Jon Kolb, Tunch Ilkin, and Frank Varrichione. Order them as you see fit.<\/p>\n

Max Iheanachor can carve out a name for himself. Hopefully, he isn\u2019t hampered by the injuries that ailed Smith. That\u2019s not the comparison to focus on. But in talent and pedigree, the two are similar.<\/p>\n

Scouting the helmet means little. Smith\u2019s successes and failures all those years ago have no bearing on what Max Iheanachor will and won\u2019t accomplish. He wasn\u2019t even born until 2003, four months after Smith signed his six-year extension with Pittsburgh. But there is a roadmap ahead of him. Reach Smith\u2019s potential and avoid his poor health, and the Steelers will get exactly what they wanted in Smith 26 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re looking for draft fun facts, consider this. From 2001 to 2025, Arizona State has had 58…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[84119,84120,76713,79031,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-188695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-chris-berman","tag-marvel-smith","tag-max-iheanachor","tag-mel-kiper-jr","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}