Zach Gentry enjoyed his first taste of NFL preseason action. As the Steelers' 2019 fifth-round pick, Gentry felt the pressure throughout minicamp, OTAs and training camp, struggling to find his groove and to make plays on a consistent basis.
Gentry, a 6-foot-8, 262-pound converted quarterback, is still working out the kinks in his game, and we've talked repeatedly about his struggle to keep his pad level low and to explode off the line at the professional level.
So when this happened in Gentry's first preseason game Friday night against the Buccaneers at Heinz Field, it all feels pretty sweet:
Gentry admitted that moment "felt nice," and his little shrug celebration confirms it, but he quickly followed up with this:
"It's always nice to make plays, especially when they're kind of expecting you to make those, as a draft pick and everything," Gentry was telling me at his locker after the game.