Print
E-mail
Share
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Stumble
Technorati
reddit
Fark
twitterUNLV FOOTBALL:
Summers feels like a perfect fit with defending champs
Steelers use fifth-round pick on former Rebels running back
Leila Navidi
UNLV’s Frank Summers runs with the ball during the game against Iowa State at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Monday, April 27, 2009 | 2:15 a.m.
Frank Summers Highlights
Check out some of running back Franks Summers' highlights from the 2008 season.
Killin Time: Frank Summers
Go inside the mind of UNLV running back Frank Summers as he talks about life outside football.
Related stories
- Steelers select former UNLV RB Summers in 5th round of NFL Draft (April 26)
- Former UNLV RB Summers headed to Pittsburgh for pre-draft visit (April 1)
- Summers steals the show at UNLV Pro Day (March 6)
- After tough finish to senior campaign, Summers preparing for what’s next (Jan. 16)
- Summers scores, makes impact in Texas vs. The Nation game (Jan. 31)
Two weeks ago, while in Pittsburgh, it felt like 2004 all over again for Frank Summers.
The former UNLV running back was on a visit to check out the Pittsburgh Steelers' facilities, meet the coaches, shake hands with the higher-ups, see the six Vince Lombardi trophies, all that jazz.
He felt like a prep prospect being given the recruiting sales pitch.
"When I left there, I was telling everyone I wished I could have committed like I was in college," he said. "I don't think I could have a better fit with a great organization."
No need to pick the Steelers. On Sunday's second day of the annual NFL Draft, the defending Super Bowl champions picked him.
The Steelers used one of their fifth-round slots -- the 169th overall pick, to be exact -- to take the burly Oakland native.
"It's a dream come true," Summers said over the phone not long after being picked. "I've always thought about it, but now that it's here, I'm still trying to let it sink in."
Summers spoke while plenty of people audibly celebrated in the background, as he watched the draft from his aunt's house in the Bay Area, where his journey to this point began.
After starring at Skyline High, he was recruited to nearby California-Berkeley. Buried on the depth chart there, he transferred to Laney College, and found his fresh start in Division-I ball as a Rebel.
In two seasons in coach Mike Sanford's spread offense, Summers totaled 1,668 yards on the ground, racked up 402 more on 36 receptions and scored 20 total touchdowns.
Those numbers, though, weren't all that caught the Steelers' attention. Summers' showing at both the Texas vs. The Nation all-star game in January and at UNLV's Pro Day last month ultimately won them over.
At Pro Day -- where the Steelers sent two scouts and running backs coach Kirby Wilson -- he showed off a 34.5-inch vertical leap, a 4.55 time in the 40-yard dash and put up an eye-popping 30 reps at 225 pounds on the bench press.
The all-expenses-paid visit to western Pennsylvania showed their interest was for real.
When the time came on Sunday, the defending champs ultimately pulled the trigger.
"They called me while Arizona was still on the clock (at pick No. 167), so I had a good feeling that might be my time," he said.
And over the next hour, his cell phone would suffer a logjam, as more than 100 text messages quickly accumulated.
With three minutes on the clock in between picks at that point, the Steelers used almost the entire amount of allotted time to take Central Florida cornerback Joe Burnett. However, less than 30 seconds later, their second pick was in, and Summers' name popped up at the bottom of the screen on ESPN.
He was the 10th running back taken in the seven-round draft, and became UNLV's first running back taken in the NFL Draft since the Bengals took Ickey Woods 31st overall in 1988.
The fit is a good one for both sides.
At 5-foot-9 and more than 230 pounds, Summers can fit plenty of roles for the Steelers.
He can block, catch the ball out of the backfield, hammer ahead and move the chains on short-yardage situations and, maybe most important early in his career, is excellent on special teams.
It's assumed that Summers will get a shot to see the field early on for Pittsburgh, as it recently released Gary Russell, who served as the team's short-yardage specialist last season.
On the offensive depth chart he'll be working with a healthy stable of backs, including established star Willie Parker, solid veteran Mewelde Moore and last year's first-round pick, Rashard Mendenhall, who missed much of the 2008 season with a shoulder injury.
Summers already knows, too, that he fits exactly what the Steelers stand for, which should give him an edge going in.
"I think I'm a physical type of person, which is what they want there, and I'm a winner, inside and out," he said. "With those two things in common, that's as good as it can get."
Summers' next step will be a trip to Pittsburgh on Thursday for the team's mini-camp. After that comes a brief break before training camp in July in Latrobe, Pa.
There, the Steelers will begin a quest to win their third Super Bowl title in five years, which Summers knows will make his initiation into life in the NFL a unique one.
That's what he said will be the best part of being a member of the Pittsburgh organization.
"They're just coming off of a Super Bowl win," he said. "Only one team in the NFL can say that."
Discussion: 8 comments so far…
Post a comment
Next Basketball Game
Dec. 2, 6:00 p.m. (PST)
- UNLV: Schedule & Stats | Roster
- Arizona: Schedule & Stats | Roster
- NCAA: Odds | Schedule | Stats
Never can get enough UNLV analysis and chatter? Then this is the stop for you. Join the Sun sports staff in The Rebel Room for your fix.
POSTGAME EDITION: Rebels produce winners across the board on busy day
Follow the Rebels
Widgets
Email Newsletters
Blogs
The Greene Room
MWC Winners and Losers: Week 13
Miech Again
Kruger contract altered in September (20 Comments)
Shark Bytes
Sharing some Thanksgiving traditions (4 Comments)
The Greene Room
MWC Winners and Losers: Week 12 (1 Comment)
Miech Again
Chilly start for Chace, but Stanback says he'll warm up (2 Comments)
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Steeler fan here -- I can't tell you how stoked I am they picked up this guy! Looks like a perfect fit for the team.
Frank the tank has been drafted by the Pittsburg Steelers....Good for him...but that is no big deal for the tax payers of Nevada. We as taxpayers have been paying for the training of professional sports players that attended UNLV for years. UNLV, UNR and all state high schools have served as minor league training facilities for big time sports conglomerates and that is a BIG DEAL of all of us as taxpayers.
Hundreds of students have attended our schools and very few have made it into the major league sports arena...the cost of Nevadans paying for minor league training is astronomical and a big waste of our valuable tax dollars. It is a pipe dream of high school and college coaches that they will produce a sports star...a very expensive pipe dream. That pipe dream infects youngsters and their parents who believe 'they will make it some day.' If the resort industry wants sports teams then let them pay and sponsor them much in the manner that sports clubs are organized in Europe...
We spend billions annually as a nation promoting sports while countries like Iran spend billions preparing terrorists to blow us off the face of the globe...WAKE UP AMERICA !!!...
Some day while you are watching the SuperBowl, NBA Finals or World series we may have multiple nuclear bomb attacks in cities across this country....WAKE UP AMERICA!!!
I'm a staunch conservative but after reading your whining and complaining day in and day out, I'm ready to raise taxes just to spite you, freak.
BTW Ryan, unfortunately, this is this moron's first post over here, it's now official, all of the brain damage from the RJ has discovered where the good guys section is. Party's over guys, get rough with this idiot.
Damn this idiot is finally over here now. Rob, can we ban him for life? This guy will post the same non sense no matter what article is written.
ummm vsestini that was a joke right. I hope for your sake it was.
Dude at most Universities the football and basketball program's are self sustaining by their ability to generating their own revenue and receive monies from donors, scholarship funds etc. Unfortunately for your argument this is the case in your beloved state of Nevada (UNLV & UNR). So in other words no taxpayer dollars are needed for these programs and more often then not portions of these funds are transferred to support other programs and colleges within the university. Such as the English department, women's swimming & tennis etc.
...and please don't get started on High School sports. What idiot idea would that be to get rid of high school sports! The very entity that many kids use to teach them valuable life lessons"come on now my friend. Relax!
Well, if he looked at what he wrote, he'd realize that it's no different than every other state University athletics program in the country. How many kids actually go pro in athletics? That's not the point of collegiate athletics. For some kids, it is. But for 95 percent of them, it's a way to get an education. That's all that is.
Well I'm a Steelers fan now.
If they loved "the Bus" in Pittsburgh, they're gonna love "the Tank."