Catching up with Steelers tight end Scott Orndoff
When University of Pittsburgh tight end Scott Orndoff and I spoke back in April, ahead of the 2017 NFL Draft, neither of us realized that his next stop would see him staying in the city of Pittsburgh. Orndoff watched through three days as his name wasn’t called at the podium. It turns out, however, he wouldn’t be going far from his college and hometown for a shot at an NFL career.
In fact, that was our icebreaker as we reconnected on the Steel City Underground Podcast:
By the end of the day, I didn’t expect to end up in Pittsburgh. My inkling didn’t come till later, that that’s where I’d probably end up. Going into, definitely, at first, it was a surprise.
Joining the Steelers looked like a great opportunity for Orndoff, who was signed as a college free agent by the Steelers after going undrafted in a deep tight end class. As a former Pitt product, he was already very familiar with with the Steelers as the two institutions share practice facilities, and as such, members of each organization often ran into each other.
I was talking with my agent and with the way the day panned out, with all of the teams offering free agency in the end, just looking at [the Steelers] roster situation in general, I figured that would be a good fit for me, looking at the big picture.
From my meeting with [Kevin Colbert, Mike Tomlin, and Todd Haley] pre-draft, I was comfortable with the coaches. Coming in I have a good opportunity to at least get a practice squad spot and hopefully [make] the 53-man roster. I’m really happy at this point with the decision I made for sure.
What could be a better moment than having the opportunity to join a team which you grew up watching as a kid? Becoming a Steelers was a surreal moment for Scott:
My family, we were always big time Steelers fans. When you live in Western Pennsylvania it’s kind of hard not to be. I always grew up watching them. I’d probably never missed watching a game for the first 20 years of my life.
That moment, however, is now in the rearview mirror as Scott begins his rookie journey from offseason workouts to training camp. Each step of the process provides its own challenges.
For the most part with rookie minicamp other than you know having to learn a new playbook and get comfortable with the mental side of things, it’s really the level of competition that we were going against in Practice is no different than what we had at the college level because everyone you know, everyone’s fresh out of college, and we’re all in the same boat. Other than some of the guys who were on the practice squad here before, we were all kind of at the same level in the process.
Things escalate as veterans join the mix following rookie minicamp into OTAs.
Then you go from rookie minicamp to OTAs and you’re around guys who have been in the league for years. Some guys have been over a dozen years and that’s when you really kind of notice the difference from professional ball than college football.
The speed’s totally different. They’ve know the playbook for five to ten years. You just kind of realize how much much farther you kind of have to go and how much more need to grow as a player to be competitive at that level.
In order to succeed, Orndoff has leaned on the knowledge of a specific veteran in the tight end room to help with his personal growth.
I think everyone in the tight end room is being great with me and Phazahn as well. Even though it is honestly a competition for the same spots on the roster, they’ve done everything to answer it. Any time we ask a question they answer it. I sit next to David Johnson in meetings and he’s been in the league for almost ten years now.
So anytime I have a question, I know he’s been in this offense for a long time and if I have a question, honestly about anything, he’s always been there. If I asked him anything he’s been able to answer it for me and help me out. He’ll just help you out any way he can.
Another Steelers veteran is tight ends coach James Daniel, who started with the team back in 2004 under previous head coach Bill Cowher. Daniel has seen it all during his tenure which includes stops in a similar capacity with the New York Giants (1993-1996) and Atlanta Falcons (1997-2003).
Orndoff has nothing but praise for how Daniel gives his position group the tools they need to make it in the NFL.
To me, he’s just kind of an old school professional coach. He’ll give you all the tools you need to be the best player you can. He’ll always coach you hard. When you do some good he’ll tell you and if you do some bad he’ll tell you even quicker.
He’s just kind of what you expect out of an old school coach. He’s no nonsense. He tells you how it is all the time. He’s a straight shooter. If you there’s something you need to work on he’ll tell you what you need to work on. If not then you know you might not be around much longer.
So he’s definitely what I expected out of a coach in the NFL because I mean it’s a totally different dynamic than it was in college.
He mentioned to us before “this isn’t college anymore” where you just have your scholarship and you know it’ll be there next year. It’s totally different than what all the guys coming from college are used to, where you have to fight for your job every single day. He emphasizes that to us a lot and doesn’t let us get too comfortable with where we’re at.
He makes it known that you have to you know work hundred percent all of the time if you want to have a job in the league. He’s definitely been helpful in the fact that just kind of helping a person over from the business of college over to the business of the NFL.
It sounds as if Scott is prepared for a football career, but in the worst case scenario where things don’t work out, he’s equally prepared for a life following football as a World War II buff. However, that’s peaking too far into the distant future. As for now, Orndoff has been splitting time as a tour guide for the out-of-town players and working out at the Steelers training facility. As a Western Pennsylvania native, he feels the view of the city from Mount Washington is the “must see” attraction for the incoming players who are unfamiliar with Pittsburgh.
The rest of his free time has been spent preparing for his first training camp at Saint Vincent’s college. With the departure of Ladarius Green, at least one spot could be open for one of the young tight ends, such as Scott Orndoff, to grab with a solid showing at camp. We wish him the best of luck during the preseason and look forward to having another “unexpected” conversation in the near future… hopefully discussing his first successful year with the team.
