Michigan State Football: Shakur Brown a “bright spot” in Steelers minicamp

We are in the middle of NFL minicamp season and that means former Michigan State football players are getting a chance to prove themselves.

Unfortunately, 2021 was the first time in the modern era that Michigan State didn’t have a single player selected in the NFL draft. The Spartans expected to hear someone like Naquan Jones’, Antjuan Simmons’, or Shakur Brown’s names called but seven rounds came and passed with no one getting drafted from Michigan State.

Jones and Brown then signed as undrafted free agents with the Titans and Steelers, respectively, but it’s hard to make a roster when you aren’t selected in seven rounds.

But no one told Brown that.

According to a report on Monday morning, Brown has been one of the bright spots for the Steelers along with sixth-round defensive back pick Tre Norwood.

As you can infer from the tweet from Mike Nicastro, the Steelers desperately need help in the secondary and even though Brown was undrafted, he’s making a name for himself. People seem to forget he was a 3-4 round graded prospect by experts before the draft so he was the ultimate steal in undrafted free agency.

Steelers have another former Michigan State football DB star

Justin Layne was drafted by the Steelers a couple of years ago and he hasn’t quite broken out, but if he lives up to his potential and Brown makes the roster this fall, Pittsburgh could have an MSU-heavy secondary.

It’d be good to see Layne live up to that lofty potential, but he’s had a rough couple of seasons and hasn’t really broken that steady playing rotation just yet.

Pittsburgh needs defensive back help so if Layne can step up and Brown makes the roster after a strong minicamp, Pittsburgh may be in good hands with some former Spartans.