PITTSBURGH STEELERS 2009 THIRD-ROUND DRAFT PICK KEENAN LEWIS CORNERBACK Secondary Coach Ray Horton
Ray Horton
RE: KEENAN LEWIS
Cornerback, Oregon State University
3rd Round – 96th Overall
Coach Ray Horton:I'll just make a couple statements and then answer questions you have. Keenan Lewis is a cornerback from Oregon State – he's out of the state of Louisiana. You would probably looking at him compare him to Ike Taylor. He's 6', 200-pounds and runs a 4.55 – ended up with 7 career picks at Oregon State and we envision him enabling us to do some good things. Get up and bump and run some wide receivers and take away people at the line of scrimmage. He'll be able to run up the field with men just like Ike and it will allow us to do a lot more with our safety's to free up some guys. It opens a package up where we have now two big corners that people are always talking about when you go against the Arizona's that we did in the Super Bowl – be able to match up and be physical with people. And that's what we're looking forward to with Keenan Lewis.
Word is he's real good at run support – is that something that attracted you to him as well?
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That's one of the first things I look for personally. You have to be physical to play in this game. You can be a cover corner if you want to be a cover corner, but you better pick the ball off and there's not a lot of guys that do that because quarterbacks are so good – it's hard to say that's all I'm going to do is intercept the ball. You have to stop the run to make them throw the ball and he is a big physical corner al-law Ike Taylor and I expect him to pick the ball off and shut down the run game.
*Some say he can play safety as well. Do you envision that down the road perhaps?
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I had wrote that down on my notes. He's a potential swing guy, but right now I want this kid to bump and run and knock guys out.
*How would you assess your Cornerback situation right now?
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Influx a little bit with Bryant McFadden leaving – with potentially William Gay penciled in at corner. We have Deshea Townsend, we picked up Keiwan Ratliff – we have Fernando Bryant, Anthony Madison, now a young corner. Exciting is the word. We have some young guys and veteran guys that will lead the young guys along and I expect this kid to fall in right away quickly and contribute real fast. So the word I would like to use is exciting about what we can potentially do.
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*Can Ratliff push William Gay at all?
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I don't know, I don't want to put any limitations on him. He made some big plays last year for Indy and I think with having veteran leadership, veteran guys from other teams walk in – it won't be too big for him to understand what's going on whatever his role is I think he will accept it and excel at it. So I have a good mix of some guys who can play football that are proven guys and then Will Gay – this may only be his third year, but it's like he's a fifth year guy already and with Keenan Lewis coming in, I believe talking to him he will step in a be the mentality of a Will Gay. It won't be too big when the lights go on, he won't be a deer in the headlights – he'll be ready to play for us.
*The last pick Mike Wallace receiver and Keenan went to same High School?
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Yeah they did. They went to the same high school as teammates. That will give them a little comfort I think – two guys that can lean on each other and hopefully compete and make us a better team.
*They went to college together originally too right?
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That I'm not sure of and don't know.
