Hurst glad he made the switch
INDIANAPOLIS — The Steelers are interested in a player who couldn’t make it with the Pirates.
But it’s a good thing Hayden Hurst plays tight end and won’t have to throw the ball, because he developed a bad case of “Steve Blass Disease” after accepting a $400,000 signing bonus from the Pirates back in 2012.
It was enough to sway the 17th-rounder out of high school to forego a scholarship offer to Florida State and play for the Bucs’ Rookie League team in Bradenton, Florida.
But Hurst, who had earned the bonus by throwing 93 miles per hour in “All-American everything” games, suddenly stopped throwing strikes.
Or, as he said Friday from the podium of the NFL Combine, he “developed the yips.”
The Pirates did allow him to pitch in a game. Once. Hurst walked five, threw two wild pitches and got one out. His ERA of 27.00 is the lasting legacy of that third-of-an-inning pitching career. He just couldn’t throw a strike.
“Couldn’t even play catch on the foul line,” Hurst said. “I don’t know what it was.”
The next year, 2014, the Pirates tried him at first base. Hurst went 13 for 53 to average .245, but he struck out 26 times.
“I kind of saw the writing on the wall and wanted to make a change,” he said.
So Hurst, who had played some football back at The Bolles School in his hometown of Jacksonville, knew a friend who knew Steve Spurrier Jr. who helped him walk on as a receiver at South Carolina in Steve Spurrier Sr.’s final season as head coach.
Hurst caught only eight passes that first season, but Will Muschamp came in as coach, moved Hurst to tight end, showed him some tough love, named him the first sophomore captain in school history, and turned Hurst into one of the top draft prospects at his position.
In his last two seasons, the 6-4 1/2, 250-pounder caught 92 passes for 1,175 yards, an impressive average of 12.8 yards per catch. And Hurst showed enough grit as a blocker to make him Mike Mayock’s No. 1 tight end prospect.
At the NFL Combine, Hurst ran a 4.67 40-yard dash, the third best time among tight ends, but he weighs more than both Mike Gesicki (4.54 at 247 pounds) and Jaylen Samuels (4.54 at 225 pounds).
Gesicki, a premier offensive talent from Penn State, is another who’s drawing interest from the Steelers, but Hurst is the better blocker and might be available in the second round. Hurst was asked in Indianapolis to run down his positive attributes.
“My hands; I dropped one pass in three years at South Carolina,” he said, “and my speed and just my physicality. My run-blocking can obviously be better; I think you can say that about a lot of things. But I think my physicality and my want-to in the blocking game also separates me.”
The negative, though, is that Hurst will turn 25 before the start of the 2018 season.
“The age thing is something that I’ve heard over the past couple of weeks,” Hurst said. “I don’t really buy into it. I played one year of high school football. I don’t have the wear and tear that some of these guys do. I played two full seasons at South Carolina, and in my opinion I’m just kind of tapping into what I’ve been able to do as a football player. In two short seasons at South Carolina, I was able to be named first-team All-SEC. I think that’s just the beginning of what I’m going to be able to do. As far as the setting, I definitely have a little bit of a different perspective, having been interviewed before, been on the professional and minor-league platform makes things like this a little bit easier.”
Has he ever been able to figure out what went wrong with baseball?
“I went and saw numerous psychiatrists, sports therapists, trying to find the root of it,” he said. “To this day I haven’t really figured out what happened, but I’m happy to be where I’m at.”
The Jacksonville native met with Steelers tight ends coach James Daniel last week. Of course, Daniel and the rest of the Steelers are still recovering from the loss to Jacksonville. But don’t call them Hurst’s Jaguars.
“No, no, no,” he said. “My family’s from Pittsburgh.”
Hurst’s father comes from a long line of Monroeville Hursts and young Hayden rooted for both the Steelers and Jaguars while growing up.
“I was torn, man,” he said of the playoff game. “That was tough. My family was all rooting for them (Steelers).”
Did dad ever mention Blass after Hayden lost his ability to throw strikes?
“Ohhhhh yes,” Hurst said with an eye roll.
Blass, of course, was a Pirates’ 1971 World Series hero who soon thereafter suddenly lost the ability to throw strikes.
“The one I guess I kind of really looked into, did the most research on, was Rick Ankiel,” Hurst added. “If you can watch what he did in the playoffs, that’s really what kind of happened to me, that whole story. It’s crazy to see it happen. It’s weird. It comes out of nowhere. It’s more prominent than people know about.”
So the guy who once played with Jameson Taillon, Adam Frazier and Max Moroff now has a chance to play with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Maurkice Pouncey.
“I’ve shown on my tape that when I’m flexed out wide, I’m able to change the game for our offense,” Hurst said. “I’m looking to take that to whichever team drafts me. I think that’s what I specialize in. But in the run game I love being physical. I love hitting people. That’s why I made the switch from baseball. If I can just sharpen up some techniques, I think I’m going to be able to change my game and take it to the next level.”
Considering what he’s endured, Hurst might be worth the high pick.
“It taught me how resilient I am,” he said. “I had something taken away from me that I was really, really good at and really, really passionate about. I was able to dig myself out of it, make a life change, brought myself here. I love football. It’s lit a fire under me, made me the passionate player I am today. Looking back on it, I’m glad I went through what I did.”