Kyle Goon: Navy’s ‘two knuckleheads from Pittsburgh’ are chasing their hometown dream

On the January night the Ravens’ season came to an end, two lifelong teammates were in the frigid stands at Acrisure Stadium dreaming ambitiously about the next steps of their football careers.

Before Eli Heidenreich and Alex Tecza played for the Naval Academy, they won a state championship with Mt. Lebanon High School in the south Pittsburgh suburbs. The lifelong Steelers fans were both (though separately) at the Jan. 4 regular season finale that saw Tyler Loop whiff wide right and Yinzers raucously celebrating a playoff berth all along the North Shore.

Already, Heidenreich and Tecza — who wrapped up their Midshipmen careers with all-conference honors in an 11-win season — dared wonder if it could be them on that very field next season, wearing the black-and-yellow jerseys they’d coveted their entire lives.

“We just talked about how awesome it would be if we were Steelers together,” Tecza said. “We both grew up going to Steelers games, and we thought it would be amazing.”

This spring, that once-unlikely vision comes true.

The two Navy standouts will report to rookie camp next month for the Steelers. Heidenreich was a 7th-round pick for the franchise on Saturday, while Tecza is a tryout invitee. There is a whirlwind feel for the duo who helped elevate their high school and college programs to greatness, an almost surreal feel to the turns their lives have taken.

No one had a bigger Day 3 moment in Pittsburgh than Heidenreich, who was invited to the green room at the draft held in Pittsburgh wearing his dress uniform. Tears stained his cheeks as he strode down the corridor to pick up his Steelers hat and take the stage in front of tens of thousands of people in his hometown.

“You see the city skyline in the background, and the crowd is 90% black and gold — it’s all Steelers fans out there,” Heidenreich said. “It was such a cool moment. Everything came together.”

Tecza said he first heard about Heidenreich’s selection when someone at his draft celebration got a text from Heidenreich’s gathering: “They said somebody had handed him a Terrible Towel, and I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”

It is no surprise, however, that both are getting a look at the next level.

Heidenreich had a team-high 1400 yards from scrimmage last season, including 941 receiving yards (at least 782 yards more than the next-closest Navy receiver). Tecza was a bruising fullback, finishing second in rushing only behind quarterback Blake Horvath.

When offensive coordinator Drew Cronic was hired in 2024, many things were unsettled at Navy. Horvath, who would go on to be one of the winningest quarterbacks in program history, was virtually anonymous. But he knew about “the two Pittsburgh boys” and figured they would be a big part of the Midshipmen’s offensive overhaul.

Two seasons and 21 wins later, boy, was Cronic right. But one thing he didn’t know to expect was how much fun it would be to coach them.

“People think that guys in the service acadamies are jarhead, meathead, soldier-like kids,” Cronic said. “Our kids are goofballs. Those two knuckleheads from Pittsburgh — they’re funny, have fun, it’s just the right amount that they’re businesslike about work.”

On the field, they were particularly hard-nosed. In spite of being the obvious receiving threat on any given snap, Heidenreich found ways to get open, whether by scheme or simply ripping the ball out in a contested catch: “He’s one of the best at keeping his grip on a ball that I’ve ever seen,” Cronic said.

Tecza felt at times more like the bulldozer, running over defenders with power, but also showcasing breakaway speed. Between the two, Tecza is the more flamboyant: Against Memphis as a junior, he backflipped in the end zone after a touchdown.

Heidenreich is looser on the field, to the point of almost seeming distracted to those who don’t know him. There were times when Cronic wondered if Heidenreich had looked to the sideline to check the call — “sometimes it was like he was looking at a butterfly or something” — only to watch him execute the play perfectly.

“He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever known,” Tecza said.

He had to be bright to wear every hat on the offense. Navy found they could line up Heidenreich anywhere: as a wideout, a slot receiver, a back in their Wing-T scheme. Horvath would find him, and defenders couldn’t cover him. His best career game came last fall against Air Force when he racked up 243 receiving yards on 8 catches, torching the Falcons in a narrow 34-31 win.

With 4.4-second speed in the 40-yard dash and a strong athleticism score in the Combine, Heidenreich has tools that could help him see the field in unexpected ways if he can carve out a role with the Steelers. New coach Mike McCarthy said he’ll look to offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio to “open up the playbook” to get Heidenreich involved.

“When you put a young man in the receiver room, he has to play all three positions — that’s the way we want to play,” McCarthy said. “That’s the way it’s been introduced the past couple of weeks. But his ability also to play from the backfield and just the diversity is important.”

Tecza is obviously a long shot to catch on with the NFL, but having Heidenreich at his side will be an enormous boost, he said. It takes him back to when they first landed at the Academy and thrown immediately into the fire.

“You go to boot camp, you’re getting yelled at, you’re doing push-ups — it’s a lot,” Tecza said. “With Eli, I think there was always just a comfort there, the way we leaned on each other, maintained our relationship.

“Now we’re given this opportunity together,” Tecza added, “and it’s special.”

From Mt. Lebanon, to the Naval Academy, and now to the NFL, it wouldn’t feel right if these two couldn’t at least take that first step together.