Pick #169: Steelers select Frank Summers
April 26, 2009
By Donald Starver
With their second pick in the 5th round, the Steelers selected Frank “The Tank” Summers. Summers stands 5’10″, and weighs 230 lbs.
Nicknamed “The Tank” because of his bruising running style, Summers is a strong, physical running back from UNLV.
At UNLV, Summers was known as a workhorse running back who tended to get better as the game wore on. His physical style tended to wear down defenders. He was named the toughest player to bring down in the MWC by Lindy’s.
Despite his large size, Summers is also a receiving threat out of the backfield. He has soft hands, and is the only player in UNLV history to lead his team in both rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same year. He posted both the team’s longest rushing touchdown and their longest receiving touchdown.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC1OFDMdMik
Summers rushed for 928 yards and 6 touchdowns as a junior, and 740 yards and 8 touchdowns as a senior.
Everyone knows that the Steelers have struggled in short yardage situations over the last few years. The addition of Summers, along with the return of Rashard Mendenhall, should definitely help that situation.
To read about the Steelers’ previous pick, click here.
To read about the Steelers’ next pick, click here.
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I’ll make the first comment. Ok…believe it or not….I’m not a Parker fan..no vision…misses holes….and gets caught behind the line….makes up for it when he breaks the corner a game and is average and yards look OK…he is not a natural runner. this kid looks like the bus his rookie year with rams…..I like him and I think will be playing a lot in a year or 2
1after looking at this clip, I am going out on the limb with this one, but Parkers days as a starter are numbered.I was never convinced on the speed any running back has, he wears down as the game goes on, and it looks as tho the steelers may look to trade fast willie with mendenhal returning, and now this bruiser of a back coming in, i am glad to see us get back to running the pig, our offense was built around the run, not the pass. i e lotsasacks,,,,
2Sean,
3I agree with you about “Fast Willie”. I am just not a fan. I know that he has made multiple Pro Bowls, but I don’t like his running style. He’s not elusive, and he can’t get the short yardage. He has speed to burn, but he needs open holes in order to utilize his speed.
a very good pick i’ve have waited a long time since we had a power running game and it might be back, was hoping much with mendenhall but he got injur, i guess we’ll see how our runningback line up will change up these next years
4what are u guys talking about willie is a great runner with multiple 1000 yard seasons we should worrie about are line insead of aour running backs
5I was very upset at Willie vs Chicago… getting stuffed behind the line and still getting beat to the outside, very weak.
We don’t need a racehorse. We need a bull who can just get almost 3 yards almost every time. We should trade Willie while he still has some value. If his season keeps going like this we’ll be lucky to get anything at all for him.
But I’m not sure the Tank is the answer. At least not yet. We didn’t see much of him in there, but he was missing blocks and seemed like he didn’t know which man was supposed to be his. For a guy who can supposedly play full back that’s a very bad combo.
I say we put Redman on a crash diet and get him up to weight as quick as we can without risk of injury. Right now I don’t think he’d last a full season, but I bet we see him come off the practice squad come December.
6