Steeler Player Profile: David DeCastro
PITTSBURGH (93-7 THE FAN) -- It's Week 13 in the NFL season and for the first time the Steelers first round pick will be dressed and active for a game. Let's meet him.
Who is David DeCastro?
Born and raised in Bellevue, WA, DeCastro was an all-state and national ranked offensive lineman for Bellevue High School. Bellevue is a national power and has won four straight state titles and nine of the last 11 in the state of Washington.
After his senior year, DeCastro was named the third best center in the country according to Scout.com. He also won the state championship in track and field his senior season throwing shot put. With a 4.06 GPA in high school, DeCastro accepted a scholarship to play football at Stanford University. After red-shirting his first year at Stanford, DeCastro moved to right guard and started every game during his red-shirt freshman year. DeCastro started every game his sophomore and junior years as well at Stanford and was named first team all-conference each of those years. After his junior season, DeCastro was named first team All-American by numerous publications and he decided to forgo his senior and declare for the NFL Draft.
How did he become a Steeler?
The Pittsburgh Steelers used their first round pick, the 24th overall , in the 2012 NFL Draft to select DeCastro.
DeCastro was the first guard taken in the draft and just the third offensive lineman.
He was the first offensive guard that the Steelers drafted with their first pick since 2002.
His career as a Steeler?
DeCastro was injured in the third preseason game of the year, hurting both his ACL and MCL in his right game.
He has not played since. Due to the time of the injury, the Steelers were able to take advantage of a new rule in the NFL, which allows teams to place players on IR without losing them for the entire season.
In previous years, when a team placed a player on Injured Reserve, they were lost for the season. With the new rule, the Steelers were able to activate DeCastro on Tuesday to their roster. That is exactly what the team did and there is a chance that DeCastro could make his Steeler debut this Sunday in Baltimore.
With the Steelers battered offensive line, there is a good chance that DeCastro will in fact start on Sunday. With Mike Adams getting injured last week, Ramon Foster could move to the tackle position vacated by Adams, opening a spot at the right guard position for DeCastro to man.
