{"id":903094,"date":"2026-05-03T03:16:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/how-steelers-first-round-pick-max-iheanachor-paid-it-forward\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T03:16:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T08:16:26","slug":"how-steelers-first-round-pick-max-iheanachor-paid-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/how-steelers-first-round-pick-max-iheanachor-paid-it-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"How Steelers First-Round Pick Max Iheanachor Paid It Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football <\/p>\n

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Bobby Godinez has never been to Pittsburgh. That will change after the Steelers drafted OT Max Iheanachor in the first round.<\/p>\n

Godinez didn\u2019t just convince Iheanachor to take up football after not playing the sport in high school. He was convinced Iheanachor would one day play offensive tackle in the NFL after watching how smoothly he moved in an AAU basketball game.<\/p>\n

Iheanachor spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons at East Los Angeles College, eventually blossoming<\/a>. That led him to Arizona State, where he started 31 games before becoming one of the best stories of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told [Iheanachor] from Day 1, and he laughs about it, \u2018When you make it, and you are going to make it, all I want are some helmets for our team and tickets,\u2019 \u201d Godinez told Steelers Depot earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Godinez, East Los Angeles College\u2019s head football coach from 2016-2025, and Iheanachor still regularly talk and text. After the Steelers picked Iheanachor 21st\u00a0<\/sup>overall last Thursday, Godinez reminded the 6-7, 321-pounder of his modest ask of tickets \u2014 and helmets for the junior college where it all started.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe smiled and said, \u2018You got it, Coach,\u2019\u201d said Godinez, who attended Iheanachor\u2019s draft party. \u201cSo I will definitely be making a trip to Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godinez is a significant part of a story of another Nigerian-born football player who may already be on NFL teams\u2019 radar.<\/p>\n

Iheanachor even more so.<\/p>\n

David Chukwuemeka played basketball for two seasons at Division II Cal (Merced) before his good friend convinced him to give football a try. As with Iheanachor, he started at East Los Angeles College under Godinez\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n

After one year of playing football, Chukwuemeka is sifting through Division I offers for the 2026 season. Godinez said the defensive end is taller than Iheanachor. Chukwuemeka also weighs almost 300 pounds but carries it like it\u2019s 225 because of his length, Godinez said.<\/p>\n

Chukwuemeka could end up at West Virginia University, which is an hour away from Pittsburgh. Godinez said he is a future first-round NFL draft pick.<\/p>\n

Who can doubt him after the way Iheanachor\u2019s football career is playing out?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many athletes out there,\u201d Godinez said. \u201cThey just get into certain sports, and they think that\u2019s the sport they need to thrive in. I\u2019m always searching for those diamonds, and Max was definitely that. As far as he came from Day 1 with me to Year 2 with me is astronomical. And then from Year 2 to Year 4 with Arizona State, it\u2019s a whole other human being.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis talent is All-Pro level. He just needs to keep playing football.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read More<\/a> Scott Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bobby Godinez has never been to Pittsburgh. That will change after the Steelers drafted OT Max Iheanachor in the first round. Godinez didn\u2019t just convince Iheanachor to take up football after not playing the sport in high school. He was convinced Iheanachor would one day play offensive tackle in the NFL after watching how smoothly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":903095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36220,3790,3486],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-903094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-first-round","8":"category-football","9":"category-steelers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}