Not only will Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth-round pick and South Dakota State guard Mason McCormick have to adjust to a step up in competition, but he’ll also have to change some of his techniques. While McCormick is a punishing run blocker who can pull and crunch linebackers, the way he’ll be asked to do so in Pittsburgh is different from what he did in college.
Linemen, guards in particular, are asked to pull in one of two ways. There’s the “skip pull” and the “square pull.” In college, McCormick used the latter on counters and traps. The skip pull is the lineman facing the defense as he pulls, “skipping” laterally as he moves down the line and up through the hole.