Saturday, April 15, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Trojans are coming.
Halfback LenDale White and safety Darnell Bing, two components of Southern California's national champions two of the past three years, will visit the Steelers Monday and Tuesday as the team winds down its interviews on the South Side with draft prospects next week.
Both will be considered as possible first-round draft picks by the Steelers, who will have interviewed as many as 30 players over the past several weeks at their headquarters. The Steelers have the No. 32 choice, last in the first round, and 10 picks overall in the seven-round draft that will take place April 29-30.
White, scheduled to meet with the Steelers' staff Monday, will undergo the most extensive probing after he revealed this week that he has a torn hamstring. Once considered a possible top-10 choice in the draft, his stock plummeted after a poor showing at USC's workouts for pro scouts April 2. He did not run the 40 and did poorly in the bench press, but claimed he had a hamstring injury. An MRI conducted the past week reportedly confirmed the injury.
"This validates that the reason I didn't run wasn't because I didn't want to, wasn't because I was lazy, but because I was injured," White told the Denver Post.
The Steelers have tapped veteran Duce Staley as Jerome Bettis' replacement on short-yardage plays and as the backup to Willie Parker, but they also would like to groom a young big back for that role. Thus, White's injury might not bother the Steelers as much as it would other NFL teams who need a runner immediately. White (6 feet, 244 pounds) averaged 6.6 yards per carry last season for the Trojans on 1,302 yards rushing, his second season as a starter, while sharing carries with Reggie Bush. He scored 24 touchdowns, a Pac-10 record, last season as a junior.
Bing could fill another need, that of free safety, a job that opened when Chris Hope signed with Tennessee as a free agent. The Steelers signed free agent Ryan Clark (5-11, 205) from the Redskins to possibly replace Hope. The defensive coaches, though, would prefer a bigger safety and Bing (6-2, 227) certainly is that.
If the Steelers drafted Bing, who will be here Tuesday, it could set up an all-Trojans deep secondary, joining strong safety Troy Polamalu.
"I think it would be wonderful," Bing said of that possibility. "We both have the same experience. With both of us coming from SC and being in Pittsburgh, that would be a great deal. We could both go on the field at the same time. We'd give a show for the fans."
Bing, also leaving school with a year of eligibility left, signed with USC in 2002 and worked out with Polamalu and lived with him that summer. He attended junior college for a year, then succeeded Polamalu as the Trojans' starting strong safety in 2003. He switched to free safety last season, his third as a starter.
Because of his size and his notable big-hitting ability, many NFL teams consider him more as a strong safety, which plays closer to the line of scrimmage than a free safety.
"I would say so, but I still have the ability to play free safety," Bing said in an interview the past week from Los Angeles. "I'm capable of backpedaling, opening my hips and covering. I could play free and Troy could play strong and we'd both make things happen."
Replacing Polamalu at USC was not easy.
"There was lot of hype behind it," said Bing, who will visit the New England Patriots this week as well. "I just wanted to make sure I went out there and had my game down to a 'T' and keep the name up for it."
Bing is among a handful of safeties the Steelers invited for visits. Among the others were Donte Whitner of Ohio State and Daniel Bullocks of Nebraska. Bing could join a handful of Trojans teammates drafted in the first round, including offensive tackle Winston Justice, also a teammate at Cal Poly High School in Long Beach, Calif.
Although White would be a candidate to fill the Bettis role, Bing has more in common with the Bus in another area. He carries a 180 average in the Tuesday night bowling league at the Cal Bowl in Long Beach.
"I started when I was about 10," Bing said. "I just recently got back into it the last two or three years. Ever since then, I go every Tuesday."
His best game is a 264, but his best game is football.
<!-- "I'm capable of backpedaling, opening my hips and covering. I could play free and Troy [Polamalu] could play strong and we'd both make things happen."-- Darnell Bing, USC safetyLenDale WhiteDraft stock has slipped -->
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