While he’s two to three weeks out from fully clearing from his shoulder injury, Pat Freiermuth still managed to stand out as a top tight end prospect at Penn State’s Pro Day Thursday.

Freiermuth sustained his injury while facing Ohio State back in October and eventually opted out of the rest of the season to finish his Penn State career. He was forced to train for Pro Day while managing his recovery, but the star pass-catcher ran some individual drills Thursday while sitting out for the official workouts.

“I hate being that guy that misses that stuff,” Freiermuth said. “Even in the workouts in the offseason where I had to miss upper-body stuff for the first couple week while recovering from my shoulder, it was definitely challenging…It kinda taught me a lot of things about adversity and always taking care of my body.”

Despite some obstacles out of his control, Freiermuth said he was simply happy to participate alongside his former teammates.

“I’m happy that I did as good as I could do at Pro Day. It was a great day overall,” Freiermuth said.

The Massachusetts native’s Penn State career leaves no doubt as to how talented he is, even without a full junior year. Freiermuth leaves Penn State with 16 touchdowns and 1,185 receiving yards. He was even named the Big Ten Tight End of the Year to finish the 2020 season.

With a laundry list of college accolades alongside him, Freiermuth has been considered by many to be a late-first round or early-second round grab. The Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars have been popular landing spots for Freiermuth in several projections, but the Pittsburgh Steelers have also seen some chatter surrounding the tight end.

Pittsburgh currently has the No. 24 pick in this year’s first round, and Freiermuth ran his pass-catching drills with Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts Thursday.

“We’ve had a really good relationship so far. We’ve met a couple times,” Freiermuth said. “We’re gonna continue to meet. He’s a great guy and definitely someone that I’d love to play for. Obviously seeing Mike Tomlin here and the GM, that meant a lot that they came to come see me perform. They’re great guys, and I’d be very happy to join that organization.”

No matter where he ends up, Freiermuth said he was proud of everything he did Thursday. Along with the Steelers, 30 other NFL franchises were in attendance to see him and his teammates perform.

“One of the big things is the misconception that I’m a one-speed route runner,” Freiermuth said. “I think that’s completely false. I think I showed that today, where if I can accelerate and decelerate…kind of just showing teams that I can do those double-moves and stuff like that. I think Pro Day helped me a lot.”

Even if there are misconceptions surrounding his ability, Freiermuth certainly has history on his side. Nittany Lion tight ends have found plenty of success in the NFL of late, namely Mike Gesicki and Jesse James. Gesicki just finished his third season with the Miami Dolphins after a prolific Penn State career and has 126 catches and 11 touchdowns to his name in the NFL.

James, on the other hand, was drafted by Pittsburgh in the fifth round of the 2015 Draft and since been a consistent producer at the professional level. He played four productive seasons for the Steelers and just wrapped up his second campaign with the Detroit Lions.

The blueprint is there for Freiermuth to become a productive tight end in the NFL after a great career in the blue and white, and he’s excited to carry on that “Tight End U” tradition.

“I use all of the tight ends from Penn State that are in the league as resources,” Freiermuth said. “It’s kinda like a fraternity of tight ends. We always kinda bounce ideas off of each other and talk about ways to get better. I believe Penn State is going to be the next ‘Tight End U’ in the coming years.”