Michigan State Football: Connor Heyward officially signs with Steelers

Former Michigan State football do-everything star Connor Heyward has officially signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It’s hard to believe Mel Tucker had zero players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft, ending Michigan State football’s lengthy streak, but don’t expect that to happen again moving forward.

Tucker is recruiting at a high level which means his roster will have plenty of talent for the coming years and he even churned out some NFL players this past year that no one saw becoming serious pro prospects before the season.

Kenneth Walker III burst onto the scene after coming over from Wake Forest and was a second-rounder and the second running back chosen, Jalen Nailor went to the Vikings in the sixth round, followed by Connor Heyward, and AJ Arcuri snuck into the seventh round.

Only one of those guys had officially signed their rookie contracts as Nailor inked a four-year deal with the Vikings this week — that was until Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, the Steelers announced they had officially signed a rookie deal with Heyward.

Heyward is officially a Steeler, joining his brother Cam Heyward. He was valued as a tight end or H-back type of player in the draft and the Steelers look at him to contribute early on.

The former Spartan really improved his stock over the past year and went from struggling running back to getting a position change to H-back where he truly excelled. The one-time transfer candidate turned himself into an NFL player and he’s one of the best feel-good stories in recent memory.

Watching him grow into an NFL contributor is going to be fun.