Gary Russell was projected to be among the elite running backs in college last fall. Then came his real fall -- from academic grace and football stardom.

Russell, who ran for 1,274 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2005 as a backup to Laurence Maroney at the University of Minnesota, failed to qualify academically last season. He attended junior college, but failed to re-qualify and opted instead for the NFL draft.

He was out of shape, however, and no team selected him over the weekend. The Steelers signed him as a rookie free agent when the draft ended.

He'll get a real shot with the Steelers because they have little depth at the position and failed to draft a running back among their eight picks Saturday and Sunday.

He is among 11 undrafted rookies the Steelers added to their roster yesterday, including another big running back, Baylor's Paul Mosley (6 feet 3, 235 pounds).

Among the new rookies are 6-9, 315-pound left offensive tackle Jason Capizzi of IUP (a transfer from Pitt) and Pine-Richland High School. Others include wide receivers Eric Deslauriers of Eastern Michigan, Eric Fowler of Grand Valley State and Chris Jackson of Millsaps, tight end Cody Boyd of Washington State, defensive lineman Derrick Jones of Grand Valley State, guard/center Darnell Stapleton of Rutgers, fullback Aaron Robbins of Wyoming and long snapper Jared Retkofsky of TCU.

The Steelers thought they had an agreement with fullback/tight end Gijon Robinson of Missouri Western State but he signed elsewhere.

The Steelers had hoped to draft a halfback because they only have Willie Parker, Najeh Davenport and John Kuhn on the roster. Verron Haynes, released in March, may re-sign; he has been rehabilitating a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

Someone might have drafted Russell if he had stayed in better shape. Listed at 5-11, 215, he was invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where he weighed in at 229 pounds. He ran a poor 4.77 in the 40 and bench-pressed 225 pounds just nine times. Steelers scouts say he has since dropped his weight to 217 pounds.

"He has to show people football matters by getting in shape," one scout said. "In 2005, it looked like he had a chance."

New England drafted Maroney in the first round after that season and Russell was moving up to be the feature back for the Gophers after he averaged 6.1 yards a carry as a sophomore in 2005. Then he was tackled by schoolwork, which leads some to believe learning will be a problem for him in the NFL as well.

"I'm mostly frustrated and disappointed with myself because I could have avoided this problem," Russell told the Minneapolis Star Tribune at the time. "I messed up."

Mosley led Baylor in rushing the past two seasons, running for 657 yards on 180 carries. He ran a 4.59 at the Combine.