By Will Vandervort.

Tajh Boyd was walking out of Clemson’s Practice Facility following Pro Day on Thursday when a scout from another NFL team told him someone from the Pittsburgh Steelers was looking for him.

“At the time, I really didn’t think much about it,” Boyd said.

So Boyd went and spoke with the Steelers’ scout and they talked for 30 or 35 minutes before heading across the street to the WestZone. That’s when Boyd got a phone call asking where he was and if he could come meet Pittsburgh General Manager Kevin Colbert.

“He asked me was I in shape and things of that nature and told me they were going to fly me up to Pittsburgh and if I pass the physical they are going to sign me,” Boyd said. “I thought he was joking a little bit because it all happened so fast and it was so random.

“I was like cool. Then they told me I could fly up with them and I was like, ‘When do we fly out?’”

Boyd quickly ran back to his place and got a few things for just in case and then met the Steelers in Charlotte. He flew back to Pittsburgh with Colbert, outside linebackers coach Joey Porter and two scouts.

“I got to talk to those guys for a while and we got to know each other. It was good deal,” Boyd said.

At that time Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin—who grew up near the same area in Virginia that Boyd did—texted the former Clemson quarterback and told him how excited they were to work with him and that he was coming into a good situation.

Friday morning, around seven o’clock, Boyd went in for his physical and passed. The Steelers then signed him to a one-year contract to their off-season roster and gave him a tour of the facilities.

“The first person I went and spoke to after the physical was quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner,” Boyd said. “He told me how they had been keeping track with me when I was at Clemson, to the Jets to the FXFL team, he actually had a really high grade on me from my senior year.”

The Steelers had no need for a quarterback last season considering they had Ben Roethlisberger, Bruce Gradkowski as the backup and former Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones at the No. 3 guy. But things have changed.

Unlike his situation with the Jets, when it seemed as if the Jets were really in no need of a No. 4 quarterback, Fitchner says Boyd is in a better situation this year because Gradkowski is in his final year of his contract and Jones is about to start his third season.

“He told me sometimes in these situations the roster is already set before you even get there, but he said in this situation it is not. It is going to be open competition,” Boyd said. “He told me there is no clear cut guy that is behind Ben or whether it is a two or a three. He told me I am going to have the opportunity to compete with somebody.

“He told me to get up here as quick as I can and try to learn the offense.”

This opportunity with the Steelers works even better for Boyd because now he has more time to learn the playbook than he did with New York, while also learning how to be a quarterback in the NFL. Boyd will have another five weeks or so before having to report to Pittsburgh in mid-April and Fichtner also invited him to rookie mini-camp so he can have even more of an opportunity to get things down.

Boyd hopes to talk with Steelers’ offensive coordinator Todd Haley in the next couple of days and in the meantime he will come back to Clemson and workout with Jacoby Ford and DeAndre Hopkins until OTAs (organized team activities) start in April.

Boyd joins former Clemson teammate Martavis Bryant and former Clemson tight end Michael Palmer at Pittsburgh. He said he spoke with Bryant on Friday and he can’t wait to get back to working with him.

“He told me I can compete with anyone they have,” Boyd recalled about the conversation. “Honestly, I know that as well. It is about being with the right team and being in the right situation. These guys have the advantage because they have been here and they know the system. That means I have to work that much harder to make sure I put myself in a situation to be successful.”

Before the Steelers talked to him on Thursday, Boyd had nearly given up on playing in the NFL. He was already getting his passport ready and head to Canada.

“Mr. Colbert told me that I don’t need to go to Canada right now. He said I’m too good to do that right now,” Boyd said. “He told me to give it everything I have and if it doesn’t work out then later on down the line go and do that.”

But Boyd and the Steelers hope it never comes to that and at least for the next five months as he tries to make the roster of one the NFL’s greatest franchises, he will not have to.

“This isn’t like one of those middle of the pack organizations,” Boyd said. “The mentality here is a little bit different. We expect to compete for a Super Bowl every year. Martavis told me that when you get here, you will see what the work ethic is like. They want to be great. They want to be champions.”