PPG: Beachum coming up big on Steelers' offensive line

[PonyPride]

(Terrific article about former SMU tackle Kelvin Beachum, Jr., grabbing the left tackle job and eliminating all competition for the job — a must-read for PonyFans)

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Beachum coming up big on Steelers' offensive line

August 18, 2014 12:00 AM

By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A revolutionary concept took hold on the Steelers offensive line, an idea so wild that even those who run the football team resisted until they had no choice.

They are showing that at left tackle, smaller is better. No one in the banking world would ever call 6-foot-3, 300-pound Kelvin Beachum small, but in the sphere of the NFL, he is -- by 4 of 5 inches and 30 pounds. He is so small for that position that when the Steelers got around to drafting him in the seventh round in 2012, they said he would play guard, even though he started 54 games at left tackle for Southern Methodist University.

Yet Beachum not only started 11 games at left tackle in 2013 and one at tight end, he has overwhelmed the competition this summer known as 6-7, 330-pound Mike Adams, who was drafted in the second round in 2012. Beachum put the clamps on his job from the get-go this year and there no longer is any suggestion of anyone else playing the position.

To read this article in its entirety, CLICK HERE.

[Treadway21]

Good for him. What a great story - 7th round undersized - shows there is a place for smart players that work hard. If he keeps this up he will get big money.

[Thumper]

That's what I was thinking. He makes a better living than the rest of us do now, but at this rate, his next contract will be blow away his current one. You're right about your smart players/work hard comment. This good fortune couldn't happen to a better guy. Great story.

[JoeKidd]

Great to hear that Beachum has locked down this spot, I hope he ends up having a long-successful career for the Steelers.