Pittsburgh Steelers: 5 Training camp standouts for 2018
By Randy Gurzi
5. Chukwuma Okorafor, Offensive Tackle
A third-round pick out of Western Michigan, Chukwuma Okorafor has quickly had to pick up his game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After the team lost Chris Hubbard in free agency to the Cleveland Browns, someone had to step up as the swing tackle and so far Okorafor looks to be the leading candidate.
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The good news is, he’s earning the respect of his teammates as he had started to impress them back in OTAs. Starting tackle Marcus Gilbert told Ray Fittipaldo the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in May that Chuks was picking everything up quickly.
"“He’s coming along,” Gilbert said via Fittipaldo. “He’s a fast learner. He’s doing everything we ask of him so far. We see his potential. The sky’s the limit for him. Athlete, hard worker, quiet guy just comes to work.”"
So far it’s already been seen how quickly the team may rely on him. Starting left tackle Andrew Villanueva went down on Wednesday with a shoulder injury and Okorafor stepped right in and kept things rolling.
He’s a player who had a lot of upside and was one of the better prospects in a class that really didn’t have many elite left tackle prospects. In time, he could prove to be one of the best in the 2018 class.