Pitt NFL draft bio: Darrell Strong

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, January 31, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Pittsburgh Panthers
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At the Hula Bowl earlier this month, Darrell Strong completed his transition from doghouse to Big Dog.

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior tight end from Pitt led the winning Aina squad in receiving with five catches for 50 yards, no doubt raising his stock in the upcoming NFL draft. Prior to his all-star breakout, Strong was ranked anywhere from 15th to 10th among tight end prospects by most scouting services.

Just a few months earlier, however, Strong was forced to perform his weightlifting workouts in a pink jersey, part of Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt's punishment for a series of very public temper tantrums on Strong's part, most notably his two-finger salute to South Florida fans and a blowout with a girlfriend at a Pittsburgh mall. He also lost the starting job he had earned as a sophomore.

"Darrell is not a bad guy," Wannstedt said at the time. "He's just immature. If I thought he was a bad guy, he wouldn't be on this team."

Strong eventually worked his way back into Wannstedt's good graces, and caught 29 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns. As Pitt morphed into more and more of a running team during 2007, the appropriately named Strong threw some crushing blocks on the edge to free up freshman running star LeSean McCoy.

What intrigues scouts, besides Strong's size and OK tight end speed (4.8), is the fact that he came to Pitt out of Plantation High School in Florida as a quarterback, having thrown for 1,330 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior. Prior to that, he was a wide receiver known for his soft hands.
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