Cameron Heyward

At the conclusion of the combine, he was ranked the eighth best defensive end and the 26th best prospect by NFLDraftScout.com.

Cameron Phillip Heyward (born May 6, 1989) is an American football defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).

He was the 2006 Georgia Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year.

The team tied for the Georgia Class 5A State Championship that same year.

He totaled over 100 tackles and 16 sacks as a Senior.

As a true freshman in 2007, Heyward was named a freshman All-American by Sporting News, Rivals.com and Scout.com after recording 30 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 passes broken up.

The Ohio State Buckeyes went to the BCS National Championships with Heyward as a freshman, losing to Louisiana State University, 38–24.

As a sophomore in 2008, he recorded 36 tackles and three sacks.

The Buckeyes made it to another bowl game in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl against Texas, losing 24–21.

As a junior, in 2009, he had 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl, in which the Buckeyes won 26–17 against Oregon.

Following his junior season, Heyward decided against declaring for the NFL Draft, instead returning for his senior season with the Buckeyes.

Heyward amassed 48 total tackles and 3.5 sacks in his senior season, returning an interception for a career high 80 yards against Miami.

He was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

He played college football at Ohio State.

Heyward is the son of Pro Bowl NFL player Craig Heyward.

Heyward attended Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Georgia, where he played for the Peachtree Ridge Lions high school football team.

He led the Buckeyes to a berth in the Allstate 2011 Sugar Bowl, beating the Arkansas Razorbacks 31–26.

Heyward finished his career at Ohio State with 163 tackles, 37.5 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks.

Coming out of Ohio State, Heyward was projected to be selected in the first round by the majority of analysts and scouts.

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock ranked him the seventh best defensive end and 27th best prospect in the 2011 NFL Draft.

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Heyward in the first round (31st overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft.

He was the seventh defensive end selected in 2011.

On July 29, 2011, the Steelers signed Heyward to a four-year, $6.70 million contract that included $5.41 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $3.37 million.

He entered training camp competing with veterans Brett Keisel, Aaron Smith, and Ziggy Hood for a starting defensive end position.

Going into the regular season, he was named the backup strong side defensive end behind Brett Kiesel.

After wearing jersey number 95 during the pre-season of his rookie campaign, Heyward switched to No. 97 after Jason Worilds opted to switch to No. 93.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Steelers season-opener against the Baltimore Ravens and made one solo tackle as the Ravens routed the Steelers 35–7.

On October 9, 2011, Heyward recorded his first career sack on Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, while also making two solo tackles in a 38–17 victory.

During a Week 16 matchup against the St. Louis Rams, he made a season-high three solo tackles in a 27–0 victory.

He finished the season with 11 combined tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a pass deflection, and he blocked a field goal in 16 games.

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished second in the AFC North with a 12–4 record and received a playoff berth.

On January 8, 2012, Heyward appeared in his first career postseason games and made four combined tackles in a 29–23 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos.

He entered training camp competing with Ziggy Hood for the vacant weakside defensive end position.

Hood won the job, making Heyward the backup for the season.

He played in the Pittsburgh Steelers' season-opener against the Broncos and made three combined tackles in the 31–19 loss.

He was considered the 7th best football player in Georgia, and the 13th best defensive tackle in the nation by Scout.com.

He benched 335 pounds and squatted 510 pounds, and was considered a scholar athlete at Peachtree Ridge High School with a GPA of 3.2.

Sports Illustrated ranked him the 16th best prospect and the fifth best defensive end prior to the NFL Combine.

Although he attended the NFL Combine, he was only able to perform the vertical after coming off elbow surgery in January.

After the combine, he was projected to be selected in the first or second rounds because of the large number of defensive end prospects that were graded highly.