Apr 29, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – At the Indianapolis combine, safety Chris Hope bench-pressed 225 pounds 28 times. No defensive back did better. The linebackers all did worse. In fact, Hope, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ third-round pick, lifted the bar four more times than first-round pick Kendall Simmons, a 311-pound offensive lineman. Hope is strong. But is the 5 feet 11 5/8, 210-pounder a strong safety? Or is he a free safety? The answers vary.

“I played free safety in college,” said Hope.

“He is a strong safety,” said defensive backs coach Willy Robinson.

“Chris is a good combination free safety, strong safety. (He) played a little bit of both,” said director of football operations Kevin Colbert.

It’s understandable that the Steelers aren’t rushing to define Hope. After all, whomever he backs up now – FS Brent Alexander or SS Lee Flowers – begins looking at his last season with the team. But that guy appears to be Flowers because Hope played plenty of strong safety at last weekend’s no-pads rookie orientation camp. His tackle of tight end Corey Geason provided a rare bit of April contact and allowed Hope to look the part.

“I think strong safety’s easier, being that you can get away with making a mistake,” Hope said of his preference. “Playing free safety back there in the deep middle, your mistake is a touchdown.”

Hope played free safety at Florida State, but wasn’t allowed to roam as a classic ballhawk. He also wasn’t allowed to do what he enjoys most: tee off on the running game.

“Playing free safety at Florida State takes away from your aggression,” he said. “You can’t come up and make the kill shot all the time. It did make me a better tackler, a more sure tackler, but in coming out for the draft I heard some teams say I wasn’t physical. It was just the type of scheme we played at Florida State. So I think it hurt me in a way.”

Late that Saturday night, after Hope became the 94th player drafted, he let the hurt out.

“I expected to go a lot higher,” he told reporters. “I’m going to play with so much emotion. Right now I’m a little frustrated that I didn’t go higher than I did. I think I could play a little linebacker right now.”

Hope then compared himself to fellow safeties Roy Williams and Ed Reed – both first-round picks – but denies any personal rivalry with either, especially Reed, an interstate rival from Miami and clear-cut favorite of Steelers fans coming into the draft.

“We played two different defenses,” Hope said.

“At Florida State, our defense is not based on our safeties. It’s based on the All-American linemen and linebackers. Our linebackers get 100 tackles apiece. And with Derrick Gibson playing beside me most of my time there, you didn’t have the opportunity to make those plays.

“But since we’re talking about Ed Reed, in their defense both safeties played the pass. And with those great linemen and linebackers, who put the pressure on them, they forced the other team to throw Hail Marys the whole game. We played mostly man-to-man coverage.”

Hope had to make sure the young FSU defenders lined up in the right spots, but that wasn’t a problem for the Academic All-American. The question is whether Hope can make the transition to strong safety.

Geason would say yes. Hope’s position coach did.

“He can hit you,” said Robinson.

“He plays the game very physically.”

Flowers, of course, will start the season at strong safety, but it’s his last season under contract. In Hope, the Steelers will have negotiating leverage, if not a replacement.

And in the meantime?

“When he was a younger player,” Robinson said, “he was a real warrior on special teams.”

The line’s forming over by the bench press.