Keenan Lewis is unlike most Pittsburgh Steelers rookies. He does not think it's hot at Saint Vincent College, even though the heat index on the field Sunday was 98, and he is not shy about stating what he thinks is a realistic goal this season.
"I'm going to the Super Bowl," said Lewis, a cornerback from Oregon State who was drafted in the third round. "I'll find anyway I can, even if it's on special teams. That's my goal -- to help this team get back to the Super Bowl. Whatever I can do to enhance the situation, I'm going to do."
Lewis is one of two impressive rookie cornerbacks in training camp, along with fifth-round pick Joe Burnett of Central Florida, and they are as different in style as Cate Blanchett and Kim Kardashian.
Lewis (6-1, 208 pounds) is a bigger, more physical cornerback who the Steelers would like to use to bump bigger, taller receivers at the line of scrimmage -- something they discovered playing against Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in the Super Bowl.
Burnett (5-10, 192) is smaller and more athletic, a defensive playmaker who the Steelers think can be something of an Antwaan Randle El -- a situational player who can also return kicks.
But they share one common fiber in training camp: They have caught the attention of their defensive coaches with the way they play.
"Anatomically speaking, they're different," said defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. "But they're both quality corners. Both have been very impressive in balls drills and passing drills and being able to relate to the ball in the air and make some plays with the ball in the air.
"That has been the single-most pleasing factor -- they don't tense up with the ball in the air and they both make plays on the ball."
LeBeau said that is the first thing he looks for in a good cornerback.
"They have to be able to relax and play against people who make their living catching the football," said LeBeau, a former cornerback who ranks seventh in NFL history with 62 career interceptions. "We like to get it, but, first and foremost, we don't want the other guy to get it."
Since the NFL draft was reduced from 12 rounds after 1992, the Steelers have taken two cornerbacks in the same draft only twice -- in 1993, when they selected Deon Figures in the first round and Willie Williams in the sixth; and in 1998 when Deshea Townsend was picked fourth and Jason Simmons was drafted fifth.
In each instance, both cornerbacks made the team.
The same could happen again this year.
The Steelers have one opening at cornerback because starter Bryant McFadden signed with Arizona. And Townsend, who has been relegated to nickel back, enters his 12th NFL season and will be 34 when the regular season begins Sept. 10.
Lewis and Burnett have done nothing to diminish their chances.
"They are right where they should be, right where we expected them to be," said secondary coach Ray Horton. "We couldn't be more pleased with them."
Lewis went to Oregon State as a 157-pound cornerback from O. Perry Walker High School in New Orleans -- the same high school as rookie receiver Mike Wallace -- but added 50 pounds of muscle over his college career to blossom into a more physical player. When the Steelers drafted him with the 96th overall pick in the draft, Horton said Lewis' style would come in handy when playing against teams that have two physical receivers, such as Arizona's Fitzgerald and Boldin.
"I welcome any type of challenge," Lewis said. "They didn't really tell me how to play; they're just trying to see what I can do. When it gets down into the season and we're facing different receiving corps, I'm pretty sure that's where they'll use me. Right now, I'm just trying to catch up with everything."
Burnett wasted little time making an impact. He had two interceptions on the second full day at practice at training camp, then intercepted a pass and returned it 42 yards to set up a touchdown in last week's preseason opener against the Cardinals. Along the way, he had the easy gait and manner of a player who knows how to run with the ball.
Burnett, though, has another avenue to make the team, and that is as a punt returner. He fumbled his first return after being hit following a 10-yard gain and then returned his second punt 13 yards. But, in college, Burnett returned five kicks for touchdowns -- three punts, two kickoffs -- in four seasons.
(Contact Gerry Dulac at gdulac(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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