The Steelers selected offensive tackle Max Iheanachor from Arizona State with the 21st pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
“It meant the world. It was a surreal feeling,” said Iheanachor. “Can’t describe it. No other feeling like that. It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure. I am still very emotional right now. Just really grateful for the opportunity. Ready to come in and get some work.”<\/p>\n
Iheanachor said he had a meeting with the Steelers at the NFL Combine and a Zoom call with them afterwards. He didn’t know if he would end up in Pittsburgh, but is happy he did.<\/p>\n
“I am really excited for the opportunity,” said Iheanachor. “They have a really young o-line room. Getting ready to come in and compete. I am ready.<\/p>\n
“It literally just hit. That call. It was like an out of body type of experience. It’s surreal. Be shout out to God. Without him none of this would be possible.”<\/p>\n
He was a key factor for the Arizona State offensive line, not allowing a sack in his senior season. He has appeared in 32 career games, starting 31.<\/p>\n
“He’s great for us. A stud of a young man,” said Coach Mike McCarthy. “Throughout the process, you heard about him a little bit early, and he just kept growing and growing and growing through the evaluation.”<\/p>\n
He was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection in 2025.<\/p>\n
And now he is a Steelers offensive lineman and is ready to show what he brings.<\/p>\n
“A guy that is going to come in and work hard,” said Iheanachor. “Still be a sponge. I am ready to learn. Whatever it is, I am willing to do. I am ready to learn. Ready to compete. Come in and just work hard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Steelers selected offensive tackle Max Iheanachor from Arizona State with the 21st pick in the first round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[262330,8305,262329,831,253795,23070,23071,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-603021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft-in-pittsburgh","9":"tag-draft","10":"tag-draft-central-2026-news","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-max-iheanachor","13":"tag-non-sponsored","14":"tag-sights-and-sounds","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}