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Practice Makes Perfect: George Pickens Says Georgia Practice Was Harder Than NFL

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie George Pickens sees the same level of talent he saw at Georgia.

Noah Strackbein

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PITTSBURGH -- Practice? We're talking about practice? Yes. And apparently, it helped Pittsburgh Steelers rookie George Pickens be as dominant as he is. 

The Steelers' second-round pick has taken the NFL by storm, making amazing catches with ease and beginning to tally up big games as a rookie. But this level of competition is nothing new. According to Pickens himself, the NFL and Georgia have a lot in common. 

"I went to Georgia, so half of the guys in my class or on the defense went first round," Pickens said on his adjustment to the NFL. "So every day in practice, I'll probably say that was harder, to be honest. Because that's, that's all first-round talent."

He's not wrong. Georgia had five defensive players taken in the first round, and will likely have at least two more taken in the first half of the opening round this upcoming draft. 

Through ten games, Pickens has totaled 453 yards and two touchdowns. 

To the rookie, it's not the adjustment in the level of play that was different, it was keeping that competitive nature. Something that comes easy to him. 

"Competing was never really a problem," Pickens said. "Your competitiveness. So that's never really a problem. Now if you lack that, that's when it's gonna look hard, but I like to compete too. So like, I guess the NFL. I like it."

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Noah Strackbein
NOAH STRACKBEIN

Noah is the Publisher for All Steelers, Inside the Panthers (InsideThePanthers.com) and Inside the Penguins (InsidethePenguins.com), and is the host of All Steelers Talk (YouTube.com/AllSteelersTalk). A Scranton native, Noah made his way to the Pittsburgh sports scene in 2017. Now, he's pretty much full-yinzer.

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