Alex Highsmith was a walk-on at Charlotte. Now he’s headed to the Steelers

The Steelers selected Alex Highsmith with the 102nd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Here’s what Christian D’Andrea had to say about Highsmith ahead of the draft.

Alex Highsmith was the best pass rusher you barely heard about in 2019.

The UNC-Charlotte grad built himself up from overlooked high school athlete to Conference USA wrecking ball. His senior year was the backdrop to 15 sacks — third-most in the FBS. He finished with 22 tackles for loss, more than anyone in college football’s top division except Oregon State’s Hamilcar Rashed Jr.

With few national broadcasts on his resume, his breakthrough season went largely unnoticed — but not by NFL scouts. The 6’3, 250-pound edge rusher is a moldable piece of clay waiting for coaches to sculpt him into a disruptive presence on Sunday afternoons. It’ll be up to the former zero-star recruit to prove he’s the latest high-upside standout to make the leap.

That would be quite the journey. It’s one that almost ended before its first big step.

Highsmith wasn’t regarded as an FBS prospect. He barely registered on the FCS radar. By his own account, the only program to show any genuine interest in him as a high schooler was Davidson College — a member of the scholarship-free Pioneer Football League. If not for a tenuous connection to the 49ers, he never would have been on Charlotte’s radar.

“I ended up getting recruited by a GA (graduate assistant),” Highsmith explained at the NFL Scouting Combine. “He wasn’t a head coach or position coach. Our rival high school’s head coach is Scott Braswell. His son, Scotty Braswell, was a GA at the time. I asked Coach Braswell to pass my game film on to his son to get the Charlotte coaches to look at it.

“When I first went to Charlotte [in 2015], I enrolled and was accepted. I had my classes, but at that point I didn’t know yet [whether he had a spot on the roster]. That was in May. I didn’t know until June that I was going to be on the football team ... I found out — my room got changed to living with the football players. I was supposed to be rooming with a friend. Then I got an email notification saying I’d been moved.”

Highsmith went from possibly not even getting a chance to walk on at one of the FBS’ newest programs — one that went 5-6 against mostly FCS competition the year prior — to a potential spot in the early rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft. Along the way, he put together a season that will linger in the 49ers’ record books for decades to come.

The 49ers’ gamble paid off, though the still-growing Highsmith needed time to adjust to FBS play. A redshirt year and two years as a reserve showcased flashes of talent, but not the consistency needed to stand out among Group of 5 competition. His 2018 season — his first as a starter — put him on the map after a program-record 17.5 tackles for loss. That turned out to just be a launching pad for his epic senior year.

While 2019 was filled with highlight-reel plays, the game that may have said the most about Highsmith’s pro prospects was one of his least productive. The 49ers faced then-No. 1 Clemson in Week 4, only to see the Tigers deliberately avoid the pocket-crunching defensive end’s side of the field all game.

“It was cool to have the opportunity to go against top guys,” Hightower reflected. “Some moves I’d been working early in the season didn’t work, so I had to switch it up a lot against them. They have a really good left tackle — I went against (All-ACC honoree) Jackson Carman most of the game. I had to change up my array of pass moves. I couldn’t just use one move against him.”

Carman had even higher praise for Highsmith.

“He was a dude,” he told The State’s Matt Connolly after the game. “I’ve been playing football for 12 years and he’s by far the fastest off the ball I’ve ever gone against. Ever.”

Highsmith’s diversity paid off. When he lined up on the left edge, Clemson ran right. When Trevor Lawrence dropped back to pass, the Charlotte star was a constant in his peripheral vision, often drawing the double-team help of a tailback. Even though the outcome was never in doubt — Clemson led, 24-0, four seconds into the second quarter — Highsmith proved himself with three tackles and a sack despite a few overeager missteps along the way.

Highsmith’s acceleration off the line makes him a tempting edge prospect. The first thing that jumps off his film is how quickly he winds up in the backfield. He explodes around the corner with a speed rush that either leaves him ready to flush quarterbacks out of the pocket or, in most cases, stare at a play that’s run away from his pressure. This leaves him susceptible to screens and draws, but the value he brings (again, 15 sacks) more than makes up the difference.

He was so good at it, he didn’t need much else to devastate Conference USA tackles. His other techniques aren’t as polished, but still effective. He’s capable of understanding how demoralizing a quick slash inside can be to a tackle who’s been cheating a bit more to the edge each snap.

Even if he’s being judged as a one-trick pony, his numbers at the combine put his athleticism on display; he rated among the top defensive linemen in each drill he ran, including the 40 (4.7 seconds), vertical jump (33 inches), and three-cone drill (7.3 seconds).

As strictly a 4-3 defensive end with the 49ers, Highsmith will have to prove to NFL teams he can be a pure edge rusher from a place at the end of the trenches or playing outside linebacker from the second level. That’s a transition the college star has been grinding for ever since his Charlotte career came to an end.

“I’ve been working on coverage a good bit lately,” Highsmith said at the combine. “The past couple months I’ve been working with a linebackers coach and a D-line coach. Working on my drives, working to open my hips. Guys say they want to see me move in space, see how athletic I am. I knew coming into this I was going to have to go through linebacker drills [in the pre-draft process] as well. I ended up dropping (in coverage) some more at the end of last season, but that’s something I’m going to continue working on.”

While there isn’t a long list of NFL veterans to come from a program that’s only been playing football since 2013, the development of another high-ceiling Charlotte prospect will count in Highsmith’s favor. Larry Ogunjobi was the program’s first draftee after being selected by the Browns in 2017. In three seasons as a pro, he’s developed into a rock-solid starter at defensive tackle and is still growing into his potential.

“He’s a legend,” Highsmith opined in Indianapolis. “He’s very highly respected because of his work ethic and where he came from. You can reach out to him. You can talk to him. He comes by, and when he comes by everyone on the team talks to him. His story is amazing.”

That gives Highsmith a path to follow, and his bankable skill — crushing quarterbacks — is even more important in the NFL than the value Ogunjobi brings to the middle of the line. The one-time recruit with zero offers could be the first bonafide NFL star to come out of the 49ers’ pipeline, a rise that would further validate Charlotte’s decision to start an FBS team from scratch.

NFL stardom would mean even more to Highsmith. It would prove his unwavering self-belief was right all along. It would also give him a chance to show every coach who failed to see his potential how much they missed.

“People have underestimated me as a small-school guy,” said Highsmith. “I’m ready to prove I can play with the best of them. I’m ready to prove a lot of people wrong — all the people who doubted me.”