00:00:07
Speaker 1: This is the twenty twenty six Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network. Today's broadcast is brought to you in part by Prescott Roofing, by First National Bank, by Call Lucy Chevrolet, by Independence Health System, by Clearview Federal Credit Union, by your Neighborhood Forward Store, by Ganlee Toyota, by Edgar Snyder an Associate, by Vos TV and Appliance, Shortky Automotive, Jeep McVeigh Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, and by Remax Select Realty.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: And welcome back to our ongoing draft cover John Steelers Nation Radio on the Steers Audio Network, where the Steelers are ready to go. They're on the clock along with Matt Williams and Mike Persuda. We have had Troop here, we have Wes Euler here. You guys are gonna be joining it right for just hanging out with us right now. Ed's nickname F you know it, It's it is. He's just a Troop is just a step away from f Troop.
00:01:10
Speaker 3: As a homage to one of the more underrated comedies in the history of tell it was.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: An interesting show. Yeah, and we're old enough to remember it.
00:01:20
Speaker 4: I'm not and I'm pretty old. Oh you got a YouTube? But man, yeah it is. It's an interesting show. So I heard so wide received.
00:01:28
Speaker 5: Larry Storch, Forrest Tucker, Melody Patterson.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: So there's a there's an a. That's why you know our our jearly beloved and your your former partner, uh, and our friend Dale Lolly. I always tell his f Dale Lolly. I saw. I saw his line once. I'm like, what's the F for? He goes Forrest. I'm like, who chooses Dale over Forrest? Man? Come on?
00:01:49
Speaker 6: Ha oh?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: I thought it was and and he's uh Forrest?
00:01:53
Speaker 4: Uh?
00:01:53
Speaker 2: What was his last name again? From F Troop?
00:01:56
Speaker 5: His last name?
00:01:57
Speaker 2: Noah was his last name?
00:01:58
Speaker 5: Larry Storch?
00:01:59
Speaker 2: No, no Forrest?
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Speaker 6: Uh?
00:02:00
Speaker 2: The other actor Tucker? I thought, right, Forrest Tucker. Yeah, because there was a forest somebody that played for the Giants way back in the day. Anyway, this this students drawn the clock. I think it's got to be receiver here, don't you guys?
00:02:11
Speaker 5: Or Carl Lewis? Is it too early for cal Lewis?
00:02:13
Speaker 4: Met No? No, I thought Lewis might even go in the third. I'd go him or Bryce Lance. I like the verticality of Lance.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: What's that He'd be an interesting guy to pick for sure, Bryce Lance? And again like this, you need a return man.
00:02:32
Speaker 4: When you sit in that seat, you gotta you gotta wait a while, is it Lance? No, so you need to your buddy from Iowa the kickoff returner. Oh yeah, wow, I don't does he know any receiver stuff?
00:02:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, but he's just really good.
00:02:47
Speaker 4: But he's like the returner.
00:02:49
Speaker 2: It's a lot.
00:02:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a one trick pony, but it's a really good it's a really good trick.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, he is an elite. I mean this.
00:02:56
Speaker 4: Seems early, but man does to me too. But go get the guy right talking about changing field position and if he scores you a touchdown or two a year, and you know, this is kind of like the thing we did with with when they signed Johnston the punter. If you draft a great returner, I assume he can also do kickoffs. I know he's great punt return yes, but but if he can get you twenty two more return yards per game, Oh that's massive times seventeen times playoffs, all that hidden yardage adds up and such, that's an that's one more first down you'll get a game.
00:03:29
Speaker 5: He was the Iowa offense the last two years.
00:03:31
Speaker 3: Okay, they would get excited about punts, not because they stopped the other team, but.
00:03:37
Speaker 5: Wow, we got to just have a splash play and maybe score.
00:03:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, because he gets back there, he's oh, he can room with Dunker and they can get get Johnson back on track with the hawk eye.
00:03:46
Speaker 5: I got it. I had him in my mock. I had him going to one of the three seventh rot picks.
00:03:50
Speaker 4: I don't know that that's what I kind of thought. It was like a returner only.
00:03:53
Speaker 3: But I also have a hard time how do teams value a guy who's really good.
00:03:57
Speaker 5: It's just the one thing I don't.
00:03:58
Speaker 4: I think more and more now than that, Like, is he listed as your receiver guys? Yeah, okay, he'll be amongst the wide outs. Okay, okay, I mean like he'll go to the wide receiver meeting room, right.
00:04:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pronounced the region.
00:04:10
Speaker 3: It's pronounced wet or spelled wet Gen, but pronounced the Wigion. Five eight and three quarters of Buck ninety five went from Iowa Western Community College to the Hawkeys, where he walked on four career punt return touchdowns. Three this past season. Two career kickoff return touchdowns, the combined six is the school record. Oh, by the way, he caught twenty three passes in his career.
00:04:35
Speaker 4: Okay, and they don't throw the ball in his career in his career is that two years ago?
00:04:39
Speaker 3: You have a height and weight uh yeah, five eight and three quarters buck ninety five.
00:04:43
Speaker 4: Okay, and he's only two times ninety five for five eighths stock not Yeah, I mean it's not a tiny it's a lot bigger than the Calvin Austin type.
00:04:50
Speaker 3: Only two time winner of the Jet Award, which goes to the nation's top returner.
00:04:55
Speaker 4: Okay, there he is.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: What would you So they're they're they're showing him as the as a four four seven forty. Where does that rate for a wide receiver?
00:05:08
Speaker 4: Four four seven? Yeah, average nowadays. But I really don't think time speed for a return guy is all that important. That that first make you miss thing is you either have it or don't.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: Well as a receiver, now you know, is he are?
00:05:26
Speaker 4: I know nothing about him as a receiver.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: He's not a He's a receiver in the way that Andrew mccutson was an outfielder last year you have to.
00:05:34
Speaker 5: You have to put something on the roster.
00:05:37
Speaker 4: Something on the baseball car Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:05:40
Speaker 2: This is what he's going to do. What they're showing on the NFL.
00:05:42
Speaker 4: That means you to be active on game day and the camp. He's going to run routes.
00:05:45
Speaker 2: Look at him run it through Sparti there by the way, you remember Smoky Burgess. Are you familiar with that name, yes, sixty pirates. He told me his last few years of spring training. He didn't even bring his catcher's mitt. Yeah, he was. They listed him as a catcher. He was a pitch at her.
00:05:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, they didn't bring a catchers.
00:06:04
Speaker 5: I really like that pick.
00:06:06
Speaker 4: He's gonna play right away. He's gonna change games, you know.
00:06:10
Speaker 2: So is there any value to these seventh round picks and the capability of moving up? No, that to Meack Jamal and move up anywhere.
00:06:23
Speaker 4: Maybe, But I say this all the time, like it's not like they're a penny and you can put ten of them together or one hundred of them together and get a dollar. You know, nobody will, you know, because nobody wants them because they can't make you know, maybe you could take two of them and turn them into a future sixth something like that. I mean, for us that are gonna be on the air for those final hour or two of this Saturday. We're looking forward to making seventh or three picks in the seventh round. Usually it's like whoa, we've been here a long time and nothing new to talk about. But they are hard to move. Something over done really well over his trade career in these three years, and I'm kind of shocked it didn't work out that this way in any of these little move ups. Is a lot of times he'll make the trade and then let's finalize that. I throw in a seven, you throw in a six. You know that's a tiny and here's gonna say no to that, and like, okay, we got a deal in place. They swap seventh for one of the one of the trades this year, But three sevens you're probably kind of stuck making them, you know, I mean, you're not gonna get much from next year.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: Ed Smoky Bird's troop joining us now to pinch it here for uh triv for triv a nickname I for twenty six years never heard it. That's crazy.
00:07:46
Speaker 7: I thought it was trib for the longest time because he worked for the Tribune Review.
00:07:49
Speaker 2: Back in the day. That's what I thought they were saying. I never heard it till today. That's crazy to me. So, Ed, what do you think of where the students have gotten to at this point and any any one way or the other. I still think, Matt, now, I don't have any less of a desire for them to maybe pick another wide receiver.
00:08:07
Speaker 4: This doesn't change anything in terms of the team needs. Right, I thought they might get a receiver that also returned kicks, not a kick returner that also kind of plays receiver.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: You know, So he's probably at this stage your fifth receiver, I would say, and Scronics you're sixth.
00:08:22
Speaker 4: And I mean those two gonna be active on game day, right, just for one reason, one phase.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: And now you bring in somebody else, perhaps to compete with Roman Wilson for that last receiver spot.
00:08:32
Speaker 4: Now, the other thing people have to realize too, is there are a lot of unemployed football players right now that are veterans walking the planet that are going to end up in camps too. I don't know if they're gonna like call Juwan Jennings or Odell Beckham or whoever, but you can at these other positions.
00:08:48
Speaker 7: Well, Matt and Rob, it's awesome to be with both of you on you Man today. I'm excited to talk to you a little bit about the draft so far. But to answer your question, Rob, I think this draft so far, now here in day three, has gone pretty much the way the off season has gone so far for Omar Khan in this front office this spring, where they're addressing the key needs that they had to coming in, which I think set them up, especially through free agency for the draft here this weekend, that they could plug some of these holes.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: But they didn't have to. Last few years.
00:09:15
Speaker 7: They had to get an offensive tackle, they had to get a defensive lineman. Going into this year, they could be selective. They knew which areas they still had to go after. They they wanted to get aligneman, they wanted to get a wide receiver. Just now they need to get a return man. But they could be selective about it. They could let the draft talk to them, and I think Omar Khan in that front office has done that so far. And you know, I was thinking about it on the drive in today and anxious to get Mats thoughts on this too, especially with his background. You know, so often media and fans especially, they judge these drafts as early as this evening and tomorrow morning, and you really got to let this thing mature over the course of a few years. It's tough to grade these guys out this early on and say, hey, this was a great draft or this was a good draft pick, because so much can happen in the next couple of years. As one thing we've learned over the years, nothing is a home run, right. You can plug these guys in, you can do your best due diligence as you could possibly can.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: But come training camp, come regular season, these guys got to play.
00:10:07
Speaker 7: But from what I've seen on paper so far, this weekend very happy before the stewers are going.
00:10:12
Speaker 4: One thing a lot of our listeners don't think about too, is that the folks on the other side of the walls obviously have privy to are Okay, he had a knee clean up this summer. Oh he'll be fine. Not everyone's always fine, you know, Or this is maybe we'll get one more year out of them, or hey, you know, Rudolph's an example. He's only under contract for this year. Do they plan on extending him? No, I'm not saying yes, or no, but they know that those answers or Queen's a free agent after this year. They haven't drafted a linebacker. They may extend them in camp and already be having those talks. You know, a lot of those type of things of looking years down the line.
00:10:52
Speaker 7: For sure, they needed to get another offensive lineman, and here with a lot of question marks in and around Roder Jones that you did that with their first pick, who we just met. By by the way, I turn around and there's this, so I get the guy right behind me. They had to get another receiver to go behind Pittman and Metcalf. Huge need right there in that room, right especially for the future of that room. So they were able to address that as well. I needed more death in the secondary, went out and got that. Do I'd like to see them still get a safety before the end of this draft.
00:11:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm a little shocked that safety has not been in the mix, which brings him a whole nother conversation. Is Ramsey a safety or a slot?
00:11:25
Speaker 2: That's it.
00:11:26
Speaker 4: I've not gotten those answers at all. And Eccles is the only real other slot though, you know, like I'm sure they'll tell you we're gonna put out our best eleven and Ramsey will be one of those eleven. But is he gonna play more safety or is he gonna play more slot? Or is that week to week? I mean, Patrick ram is a very week to week coordinator in terms of schemes. So that's a wild card that we have not addressed.
00:11:47
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this, Matt, because you know, the definition of things get blurred, like I think you make. You know, you take pains to educate people that the idea of a free set safety in a box safety has changed a little bit right over is there? And then we talk about you know, big slot. So everybody remember last year at the combine we were we were both getting excited about Nicki min Warri.
00:12:16
Speaker 4: Now everybody's looking play next and because he just you know, for Ramsey, right yeah, so you're looking.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: For that kind of guy. Are there other guys on this roster who maybe haven't done it, including the uh, you know, the guy they took in the Effett in the in the third round? Is there are there guys who are capable who haven't played slot but could still play slot, could be being considered for that because a slot isn't the isn't Mike Hilton size anymore.
00:12:45
Speaker 4: No, Frankly, the slot receivers don't look like Welker and Edelman as much anymore either. The slot receivers are Kelsey there, Jamar Chase in the slot. They're big slots like Smith, the Jigba and the Kua and those type of guys. So little people in the secondary and receiver are starting to really get phased out. And also teams are playing so much more twelve and thirteen personnel. The tight ends are there, and the problem with the Hiltons of the world is, Okay, you line up with the and I'm not picking on him, he had a really good career, but you line up with someone his size against the Ravens, well, they're gonna make him tackle Derrick Henry over and over and over and over, and they're gonna run right at him. So thus now teams are playing Kyle Hamilton the slot, Irwin James, a variety of these guys Branch. There's tons of them. Now, Petrie, we saw him in the playoffs. So those type of dudes. And I think that's a big reason the Steelers made the Mink of Ramsey trade is instead of having a deep middle guy. I'd rather have an equally or better player closer to the line of scrimmage as my slot. And I think that's what Ramsey does best. If you're only going to have them do that, I feel like you're a safety short at the moment right now.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: Agreed. And I also don't know.
00:14:06
Speaker 4: What's going on with Savage, by the way, I have.
00:14:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have some thoughts on that, and and just the positions and the trends in the NFL in general. But we're gonna take a break now. Much more to come. Students have made their fourth round selection. We're going to continue our ongoing draft coverage on Studish Nation Radio and this stee There's Audio Network.
00:14:27
Speaker 8: And now a word from our sponsor, bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp.
00:14:37
Speaker 5: Uh.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: What if we just got out of here and grab some bud Lights.
00:14:40
Speaker 8: So man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light easy to drink, easy to enjoy if you're responsibly Copyright twenty twenty six. And Huser Bush bud Light Meer, Saint Louis, Missouri. And now a word from our sponsor, bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. Uh what if we just got out of here and grabbed some bud Lights. So, man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy if you're responsibly copyright twenty twenty six and Huyser Busch Budlight Meer, Saint Louis, Missouri.
00:15:33
Speaker 1: This he's the Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: And we thank you for being with us alongside Matt Williamson a D troop. I'm Rob King and we're over here at the south side and we are joined by a special guest either second round draft choice wide receiver Jeremy Bernard out of Alabama. Jeremy, first of all, congratulations, thank you, awesome, thank you so much.
00:15:59
Speaker 9: It is awesome, glad to be I'm glad to be here with this organization.
00:16:02
Speaker 2: So what was your draft experience like coming in? Did you know who was interested in you? Did you have any idea where you're going to be drafted as far as like what round and ultimately who called you to let you know that you were drafted by the Steelers.
00:16:18
Speaker 9: Yeah, So like two days before the draft started, I went and I met with my agent and we kind of just went down the list of the teams that that could that could take me, and a lot of a lot of the teams had a second round grade on me. Some of the teams had third round grade just because they didn't really need receivers. And so I knew like there was gonna be like a sweet spot and and the and like the beginning of the second second round.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: And so.
00:16:49
Speaker 9: I was just sitting there and I was just waiting see just see just seeing what which team it was going to be. And then ultimately it was Omar that call me, and it was the best moment, the best call phone call I forgot.
00:17:06
Speaker 4: Well, congratulations, that is a wonderful thing and it's something you'll never forget. And it's great to have you here. I watched a lot of your tape and it's super impressive and one of the best descriptions I've heard of. How you play is a glue guy. You know, you can give them carries, can play special teams, block slot outside. Is that how you see yourself too? Is Hey, whatever you want me to do?
00:17:27
Speaker 2: Coach? Yeah, I think.
00:17:29
Speaker 9: I think being versus versus tile and being able to do multiple things that brings you more opportunities in the league or even just in general, more opportunities, and so like for me to be able to have those skill sets and bring them into an organization like this, no, I think that I'll be able to help have it impacted and help the team succeed in whatever way they need.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: You go to Alabama from Vegas. Vegas. By the way, your your your folks here. But before you move on too much, what was their reaction when you got Drapped's got a terrible talent. We're ready to go where you go?
00:18:01
Speaker 9: My mom, my mom was, she was she was jumping up and down, and so she was jumping up and down.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: She was so excited.
00:18:06
Speaker 9: And then when I seen her like that's when I started crying like crazy. And then I went and I hugged my dad and he was, you know, he was on. He was on the version of crying, and then once I hugged him, I started crying. Even it was it was, it was a great feeling.
00:18:21
Speaker 2: It's okay to shed it to your dad. So you're experience at Alabama, what was it like? How do you think it prepared you for the draft process and hopefully hear a nice, wonderful long career in the NFL.
00:18:36
Speaker 9: Yeah, BEMA is a place that you go to where you want to be a pro.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
00:18:43
Speaker 9: They have all the right resources, all the right connections, They have all all the right things that you need to be able.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: To be successful.
00:18:50
Speaker 9: They have all the right coaching, They have all the right thing, all the right things off the field to take care of your body.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: And everything that you need.
00:18:57
Speaker 9: And then like the resources that the coaches bring in and the people that they bring in to talk to us to set up set us up off the field, like no financial stuff, you know, mental awareness and different things like that. So they they talk, they talked to us, talk to us about the process all the time, and they prepare us for those type of things. And so being at Mama has definitely prepared me to you know, step into this new phase of my life.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: You're just real good. I think I just wanted to ask you because I think you have to be a certain type of guy to go there. Like I think a lot of people might shy away from the competition, right You're you're a heavy recruit, and you could say, you know what, I'm gonna go to another school because I know I'm gonna play earlier or whatever. You you step foot on the you know you go to tuscalusive, man, you know you've got to fight just to get on the field. You've already got to have that high compete level just to just to earn playing time for sure.
00:19:46
Speaker 9: I mean a lot of people want to call themselves the best. Well you want to go, you want to go, you know, play against the best every single day, and you want to get better. You want to learn, and so that is something that I embrace, something that I lean into. I knew I was gonna have to go in there and know fight and compete, but that's that's in my nature though.
00:20:02
Speaker 4: So you know this. I mean the University Alabama's used to winning football games. Pittsfordh Steelers used to winning football games as well as NFL teams go, so there can be some pressure. There's not down years around here. But along those lines, your background, you you came from Washington University to Washington. Troy file Tawney was at someone you knew pretty well, right if you've been in touch with them, And how's that going to help your transition?
00:20:29
Speaker 9: Yeah, choice, someone that you know is a great leader, someone that I really took advice from when I was at Washington, just you know, just learning from him, learning how he did things off the field, how he did things on the field, just like the small things, you know, the the extra work, the little things that he was doing to take care of his body. So I just made sure I paid attention and I asked questions. And you know, now I'm gonna be teammates with him, and.
00:20:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I look him up.
00:20:55
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be a surreal moment and I'm excited to play with them again.
00:21:02
Speaker 2: Oh well, okay, So to get you on, so one more quick question. What do you know about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what is it like to be right now a Pittsburgh Steeler.
00:21:12
Speaker 9: I just know that it has a lot of history. I'm not a big like guy that watches NFL at the time. But I know the great the grace that came through here and then now that I can be able to be a part of it and you know, build my own legacy here, legacy here is no something now I'm looking forward to.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: It's great to have you. Jeremy Vernard. Hey, congratulations, thanks very much. Congratulations to mom and dad as well. I love it. I love the mom's got it already, the terrible town. How did it go? And you know what you're you're are you right handed? Yes, she's got it on the left shoulder, ready to grab and swirl and right there it is fantastic stuff. Are we taking a break? Okay, we're gonna you know, we keep going all right? Uh so uh and we're oh, got very much. You really appreciate it. Uh. Danny Crossman's coming in to join us, and and here he comes, Danny, thank you very much for being with us.
00:22:05
Speaker 4: Line shift, yep.
00:22:06
Speaker 2: Line shift the other way around. There we go perfect, perfect. How are you?
00:22:13
Speaker 6: I'm a right side headset guy. This left side stuff throwing me off.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: Uh.
00:22:18
Speaker 5: Flexibility.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, so special teams coordinator for the Steelers and I obviously we want to ask you about the selection that was just made. But what's the process been like coming in here and getting acclimated to the city of Pittsburgh and a new staff and all that stuff.
00:22:37
Speaker 6: It's been great. You know, I've known Mike for for a long long time and never worked with him, so, you know, being able to be day in and day out and watch his process as a head football coach has been fabulous for me. I've worked with Patrick Graham before, so knowing Patrick and that communication level with Patrick and I is again going right back to what was years ago when we were together. So it's been outstanding. I think we've got a great staff, being able to spend the last couple weeks with the players, both in Phase one and then the veteran mini camp. We got some outstanding men here, so very excited and then looking forward to the growth of this.
00:23:14
Speaker 4: So Danny Coincidentally, the segment before the Steelers selected the new return guy, who's phenomenal, we were talking about how the kickoff rule has changed things over the last couple of years, dynamic kickoff. Everyone was, wow, is this going to change the league? And frankly, I didn't think it changed things all that much, but this past year with the tweaks, it's changed things dramatically and I think the value of returners is skyrocketing in the league without question.
00:23:40
Speaker 6: Yeah, and then you know the ad that you know, the tweak again this year with now you know two years ago there you only have two players to be able to in the flex position. Then it went to three. Now it's going to four. So you're back to being able to move some people around and hide some things and add some more that.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: Gives you more schematic versatility. Correct, So like an offense or defense exactly.
00:24:03
Speaker 6: So you know the spacing and the rules that you're able to use in terms of spacing your players as a tweak that enables you to do more things. And like you guys said, you know it is now a play that you have to work on being able to make something positive happen. You know, when you look at the numbers, and you know the numbers have changed for a lot of reasons, whether it's you know, people going forward and fourth down. It used to be you didn't see that a lot.
00:24:30
Speaker 2: Now you know.
00:24:31
Speaker 6: Fourth and fourth and fifty yard line. There's teams that don't even blink and you know they're going for it the willingness to kick long field goals.
00:24:38
Speaker 4: Say, the kickers are so much better now too. I mean, you get one first down after a good kickoff and it's three points.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Correct, So you know that.
00:24:45
Speaker 6: Look at the numbers. If you started driving the minus forty, it's you know, almost a fifty percent scoring in the National Football League. So to be able to establish that field position in the return games is going to be big, and it's going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
00:24:58
Speaker 3: The guy you just drafted three punt return touchdowns in one season, I don't know. Is that rushing for two thousand yards? Is that throwing for fifty TVs?
00:25:08
Speaker 5: And have you seen the guy?
00:25:09
Speaker 3: I watch a lot of Big ten football, and when he was at Iowa and the defense got a stop, the crowd would get excited, not because they got a stop, but because they had a chance to get.
00:25:19
Speaker 5: A splash player or score. I mean, how rare is what this guy did at Iowa in terms of returning.
00:25:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, he had a special career. And you know, they've done a good job there over the years at Iowa and they've turned out a lot of good combination return guys. And in my opinion, he may be the best of all of them, and there's been some really good ones. And I look at you with your with your Michigan State sweatshirt on, you know.
00:25:45
Speaker 3: Can you believe we kept kicking it till Yeah?
00:25:49
Speaker 5: Did you watch that game? Yeah? He almost did it the first time. He went for like fifty, then he had one called back and took one of.
00:25:56
Speaker 6: The Yeah, so that's I can't help but smir As I see that. Yeah, a lot of his highlights were against Sparti. So but he's a dynamic player, and you know, we really think he's he's special with the ball in his hands, he makes good decisions, he's played in bad weather, he's able to make shallow cuts, so all the things you look at, you know, when you evaluate those guys, he's got all those traits and all those attributes. And you know, we were really excited to have him.
00:26:22
Speaker 2: You've seen, we've all seen over the years. Great returners come in different sizes. I was. I was really intrigued by what was going to happen when they tweaked the rules. I mean, were there going to be instead of everybody looking for you know, two hundred and fifty pound guys, you could you know, start and try to block on the front and circle back and set up a wedge and whatever. Are they just gonna put offensive linement out there, you know what I mean to open up a hole. Do you have a sense of is there any trend on a returner as far as size? I mean, do we you know we had Corderroo Patterson here a couple of years ago. He's a big guy. We've seen smaller guys. Do you think that the new rules favor one or the other or is it just I don't good at it? Exactly? I don't.
00:27:05
Speaker 6: And you look at you know, around the league and the guys that are really successful, you know, and you just, you know, you take both sides of it. You take the kick return game, and you got a guy like Turpin and Dallas and Decay and Tennessee, and then you got the bigger guys, you know, like Davis and Buffalo, and so it's all about the player, you know, it's finding matchups up front. You know, the blockers are still a big part of this. You know, you got to have a returner that makes good decisions, has good ball security, can make those shellow cuts and run through arm tackles. But you know, it's still tied into also those guys you have up front, and then you know, finding out what your guys are good at, whether it's finding out what your blockers are good at, finding out what your returner is good at, you know, and being able to blend that together and coordinate to put yourselves in the best position to make something happen. You know, I've had you know, good returners running inside plays and they weren't good at running outside plays and vice versas. So you got to find that, like a running back on correct you gotta find the sweet spot of what everybody does well and build those things together. But it starts with having a guy back there that you know, make no mistake about it, in my opinion, when you have a guy back there that can do some some dynamic things for whatever reason, all of a sudden, the block it becomes a little bit better. Whether it truly is yeah, yeah, or but it always seems to work that way.
00:28:22
Speaker 4: So we touched on how kicking is in an all time high and these guys are trying them from you know, half midfield almost not to put words in your mouth, but I'm sure you're excited to work with the Steelers kicker. It's pretty darn good. I did some homework on it, and I don't want to nerd out too much, but it sounds like over the last couple of years, behind the scenes, there's been some changes in how they can doctor balls and things of that nature and the kicking balls. Can you kind of just give us like a quick thumbnail of how that's changed. I mean, it's a lot more dynamic than people realize.
00:28:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, the rules have changed.
00:28:53
Speaker 6: You know, there was a phase there where they really didn't want the balls really being touched.
00:28:57
Speaker 4: And so they were not to touch them at all.
00:28:59
Speaker 5: Right, it was you were very limited.
00:29:01
Speaker 6: You know, you had a a very short window to be able to work on the balls, and then a they would give you a high number of balls, so you really didn't know. You didn't have enough time to really do anything any of them, to really change them.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: For give me for interrupting, but before that, they used to like put them in dryers and do crazy things the balls throughout the week.
00:29:21
Speaker 6: Right, a long long time ago. I think the biggest thing that that's that's happened. You know, they under it's exciting, let's you know, don't get it twisted. It's exciting when a guy runs out there and the balls that you know on the pain at midfield and here comes in the field goal. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think you know the league has encouraged that. And make no mistake, the team with the most points win, so you know, opportunities to score points. If you have a guy, I think you're going to just keep seeing more and more.
00:29:48
Speaker 2: Of that run out there within those sammy ball you know footballs and they could put like ninety yards today's punters that hey did cross. Thank you so much, really appreciate it. Uh A pleasure to meet you. Uh and and look forward to seeing you plenty over the next several months and several years. Thanks guys, Appreciate you. Thank you, appreciate it. All right, we're gonna take a break right now. Our ongoing draft coverage on Steels Nation Radio and Steve Is Audio Network continue right after this.
00:30:16
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00:30:24
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Speaker 10: One hundred percent of them?
00:30:28
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00:30:32
Speaker 4: Break beautiful shot onto the green.
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Speaker 11: You either have one percent fiber Internet or you don't get Verizon FiOS. It's super fast, unreliable with ultra low lag. It's one hundred percent or nothing called one eight three three veries on to switch today.
00:30:47
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00:31:03
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00:31:04
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00:31:20
Speaker 1: This he is the Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
00:31:29
Speaker 2: Thanks very much for being with us alongside Matt Williams and Mike Pursuit. I'm Rob King and our guest is Quarterbacks go to Tom Wayne. Thank you very much for being with us.
00:31:36
Speaker 10: How you doing, I'm doing great, Appreciate you guys having me on, Well, we're delighted you're here and we would love to have you give us a lowdown on the third round pick, Drew Aller out of Penn State. Yeah, it was a you know, exciting pick for us, you know, really really happy and excited to have the opportunity to coach Drew. You know, if I had the chance to follow his career since he was in high school at MEDINAH back in Cleveland, and you know, always saw a lot of potential and Drew and you know followed him, you know, through his time at Penn State, and you know, to be here in a position now where you know I have a chance to coach him and to help him realize his dreams and goals, you know as a quarterback, I think is a really special opportunity.
00:32:22
Speaker 3: They had talked during the combine. You know, of course, he had the tough luck with the injury and missing the end of the season, the last six games or so, and as the combine workout progressed, the television broadcast was I think it was Jeremiah crediting him for getting stronger as went on, and it was almost as if he might have been a little uncertain because he hadn't done anything in a while. And then once he realized hey, I'm okay, he started letting it rip and showing who he is.
00:32:49
Speaker 4: Did you did you see any of that?
00:32:50
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely?
00:32:51
Speaker 10: And I think you have to give Drew a lot of credit for competing at the Combine. And you know that was really he had just gotten cleared. He hadn't done a lot of prep going into that, so, you know, going into that type of environment, you know, with all that scrutiny and so many eyes on you. But yeah, and you know, so much on the line. I mean, I just I competitively, you know, I give him a lot of credit for doing that. And you know, the confidence I think that he has in his arm, talent and his ability to go out there and you know and throw the ball, well, I think says a lot about him.
00:33:23
Speaker 4: Coach of a certain multiple time MVP, all time great quarterback were to return to this organization. What kind of influence does that have on the two new young guys in the quarterback room? You know, obviously Will and Drew.
00:33:37
Speaker 10: Yeah, you know, just exceptional in fact on that. I mean, just rare opportunity, you know, for for both of those guys, really for all of us, you know, and Will certainly experienced that last year, and even Mason. You know, Mason's a veteran player. You know, this is year nine for Mason, but you know, being around somebody who has done it as long as Aaron has and at the level that Aaron has, you know, it's just to be able to to hear how his mind works and how he sees the game and just some of those.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: It really is.
00:34:11
Speaker 10: I mean, it was amazing. It was amazing, and Aaron was so good with with our group, you know, obviously especially with Will as a young guy coming into the league. He really, uh, he really took took Will under his wing and you know, helped him in every possible way. And Will was so open to it. And obviously, you know, he had asked me early on, he said, hey, do you mind if you know, I you know, if if I see something, do you mind if I share it with Will?
00:34:38
Speaker 2: And like, are you kidding me?
00:34:40
Speaker 10: Like everything, like you know, pour into him, and and he and he did that, and Will, Will learned a lot and I know was extremely grateful for you know, the time you know that he had with Aaron, and you know, hopefully, hopefully there's more.
00:34:56
Speaker 5: Well with that transition back to Mike McCarthy off be like for Rogers.
00:35:01
Speaker 10: You know, I think it'll be uh, I think it would be smooth, certainly. You know, Aaron's evolved, you know, since his time you know, with with coach McCarthy and you know, coaches has evolved, you know, his offense and you know, obviously you know, being in Dallas, you know, and having the success that he had there and working with different groups of players. You know, he's you know, there'll be some new things I'm sure you know for Aaron, But you know, I think the core of it and the the relationship, that's the piece that you know, I just I don't think you can, you know, you can really emphasize how important that is and how how the the head coach and the play caller and the quarterback, how they see the game, you know, and they have so much, so many experiences that they've shared and big moments that they've been through together that you know, I just don't think you can you can measure how important that relationship is. You know, for a for a head coach slash play caller and the quarterback, how much do.
00:36:01
Speaker 2: You have to, you know, scout a player in college and say we can fix this. For I remember, you know, years ago and Matt Williams and I have had this conversation. I would be as a fan, I'd be out on anybody who is inaccurate. And then Josh Allen wasn't known for accuracy, but that you work with him and all of a sudden he's accurate and and you think other guys maybe can be fixed or coach too. So how much do you see and and how much do you say, if we got this guy, we would do X, Y and z, and we think we think that that's going to get him on the path he needs to be on.
00:36:33
Speaker 10: Well, you know, I think first of all, you have to look and you have to say, is there is there a trait you know, are there are there is there a trade? Are there special traits there that that are worth developing? And you know what's the what's the risk reward and all those things? And Drew has special traits obviously, he has you know, rare size arm talent, you know, he's he's a smart player, and you know there's areas where fundamentally he can improve And those are the things I think is a coach that you you look at and you say, okay, hey, those are areas where we can help. We can help coach the footwork, we can you know, we can coach all these other things, and you know, and that's you know, that's what's exciting because if you know, there's there's a lot there to you know, to be excited about him to work with.
00:37:19
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Tom Marsha has been our guest. Thanks very much for being with us. Tom, appreciate it. We'll continue with our ongoing draft coverage. Nope, No, we're going to continue just by keeping it going all right, right, right, Okay, so let's coach. Coach paid the way for let's bring him in. Tom, Thank you very much, really appreciate it. Thank you.
00:37:37
Speaker 4: Okay, thanks coach.
00:37:38
Speaker 2: All right, okay, here we go, all right, jump quick, okay quick? Hello here and uh our guest now is Drew Aller and uh Drew Matt Williamson, Mike Pursuda, I'm Rob King. Thanks very much for being with us. Congratulations, congratulations, appreciate it.
00:37:58
Speaker 9: Uh.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: But by the way, uh, I've got I could pom a basketball like eighth grade. Nice to shake his hand and have it swallow my hand upright. Trade number one is as a quarterback. That's somebody asked, so, what's the what was the process like recovering from an injury? Right, you go through the combine and you know, again the whole sort of post playing experience leading up to the moment when you got the phone call.
00:38:29
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean it was a really busy process, which is, you know, a good problem to have. You know, had a lot of visits, a lot of zoom calls, and again it was a good problem to have. But you know, the injury kind of gave me a you know a sense of relief and in terms of I could have a good reset mentally, because I know it's a it's a long year in general for for rookies going into their their first year in the NFL, and you know a lot of guys went far into the postseason or just in general with the regular season. So I'll just try to take advantage with it as much as I can in terms of rehabbing to my to the best of my ability, get fully healthy as fast as I could so I could kind of go out there and throw at the combine and then also be good enough to go again a.
00:39:07
Speaker 2: Pro day, Jue.
00:39:08
Speaker 3: We were just speaking with your quarterbacks coach Tom Marth and I mentioned to him the broadcast of the Combine your workout. The suggestion was you were a little tenet of early and then once you realized I'm okay, you started letting it rip and looking good. Did it play out that way to you? And how good were you feeling by the end of that throwing session? But okay, this is what I came here to do, and I did it.
00:39:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker 12: No, I felt really good towards the middle part, towards the end, and then going into the end. I think at the beginning it was just kind of getting adjusted to throwing to different receivers for the first time, especially on some of the timing routes.
00:39:42
Speaker 2: Your health just no, no, no familiarity, yeah, yeah, and.
00:39:44
Speaker 12: Just trusting the timing of what they were telling us to do. And once you know, the first couple kind of felt really good in rhythm. I kind of never looked back from there, but yeah, like that was a really fun experience and one I definitely won't forget.
00:39:57
Speaker 3: You've obviously we're in Pittsburgh is a significant Penn State fan base. There's been clamoring for you around here. I don't know if you're aware of it, but uh, there's a lot of people that are pretty fired up. But you get picked where you got picked. What do you think about having it built in the support crew behind you?
00:40:16
Speaker 4: So far?
00:40:17
Speaker 12: Now, I'm really excited. I know the pride that Penn State fans have, and I know the pride that Steelers fans have, So I'm really excited to, you know, represent another great brand, and this time at the NFL level. You know, I have a lot of great relationships with some of the guys that you know, have been through Penn State that are on this team, like Pat Friarmouth. I've known him for probably three or four years now, so I've talked to him a handful of times, just about random stuff in general when he'd be at up at State College or at games and that sort of thing. And then obviously playing a year with Joey and then two years with Daiquon. I never got to go against Brisker, but I've heard nothing but great things about him from Coach Dex, the safety coach during during my time there. So I'm really excited to get to work, can really get to know everybody involved with the team from a coaching staff standpoint and a player standpoint.
00:41:07
Speaker 4: Dre, you kind of touched on it earlier. I mean your draft process was a little different than others because of the injury. Did you focus on the mental things while you were doing that? Were you able to do some lifting? Like what were you able to do and what we weren't you able to do?
00:41:21
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:41:21
Speaker 12: So, I mean about two weeks post two or three weeks post off, I started lifting again. That's when I was cleared to lift, just because of all the healing process and medications kind of getting out of the system from that. So like I started lifting pretty much right away, and then you know, I was still very involved with Penn State and the team. I was really tight with my backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer who's at Virginia Tech now, and really just helping him get prepared for the games, being there for the team on the sidelines every day and throughout practice, Like there wasn't a practice I missed, and I was really for my own benefit just because I needed to be around my teammates and that sort of thing. So like that, again, it just gave me more perspective on the game of football throughout that time.
00:42:02
Speaker 2: Now, this Tew has brought you in for a visit, correct, did you meet with him with the Combine as well? Yes, So, so what's that process been like getting to know first of all, who called you and told you've been drafted? Omar okay? And how cool was that?
00:42:14
Speaker 5: That was really cool?
00:42:15
Speaker 9: Yeah.
00:42:15
Speaker 2: I don't want to brush that over because it only happens once in your life, yeah, or in the case of the three of us, never, But but that's that's got to be an awesome moment.
00:42:23
Speaker 9: It was.
00:42:24
Speaker 12: Yeah, No, it was one I definitely won't forget. And you know, my family started going nuts, especially when they figured it out it was the four, one, two numbers. So yeah, I got really excited.
00:42:33
Speaker 2: That's awesome. So what is the process been like of getting to know Mike McCarthy and the staff and the and Omar Kahn and the and the Steelers personnel here over the last you know, two and a half months or so.
00:42:45
Speaker 12: Yeah, the first time I met with them was at the Combine and a formal in every setting, and that that was a really good you know, that was probably my hardest formal I had. But it was also the most fun I had in that formal just because I was really getting to understand how coach McCarthy cees sings in terms of the game of football, and him asking me questions about what we did at Penn State and why we did certain things, So, you know, learning a lot from that. That was a good I don't know how long those interviews are, fifteen or eighteen minutes, whatever they were, but you know, it was really a fun conversation that entire time with Coach McCarthy. It just about protections and different route concepts. And then when I got here for the visit, I've known Coach Arthur for a handful of years now because when he was the head coach of Acron he recruited me a little bit, so that was really cool reconnecting with him and then spending more time with him and Coach McCarthy just watching some of my film from Penn State, both good and bad, and them having me talk through different things concept wise, protection wise, and really just drawing stuff up on the board. So I really enjoyed it a lot, and it's a great organization. I'm really fortunate and blessed to be a part of this organization.
00:43:46
Speaker 2: Were there things that you came away from You're like, oh, I didn't realize, you know, the third toe on my left foot needs to be pointed at a forty degree angle. I mean, I mean, obviously I'm being silly. I mean, were there things you took away You're like, whoa, that's I didn't know that or whatever. Yeah.
00:44:00
Speaker 12: Well, actually, like one of the first things coach McCarthy asked me when I got here was what did that changed with my footwork between the combine and my Pro Day? So it was something I've always been working on, especially the last whatever it was three months since I've been training for the draft out in California with John Beck, the quarterback trainer I was with. So that was something I was very intentional on working about on with him. And you know, it kind of came to fruition throughout really Pro day, but a little bit at the combine. But that was something he noticed right away. And you know, I'm always open to learning and tweaking and changing things if that means it's going to make me a better player.
00:44:36
Speaker 5: Must have liked your answer, Yeah, he did.
00:44:40
Speaker 4: It's footwork just a constant, always stay on top of it. I mean it's never a finished product, I would imagine.
00:44:46
Speaker 12: Yeah, I feel like that's probably the number one thing for all quarterbacks, honestly, no matter how long they've been playing or how young they are. I feel like if the more you focus on your footwork, everything else will take care of itself.
00:44:57
Speaker 3: Where you're from, Yep State Pittsburgh, you haven't really ventured too far out of this point. Football is religion. Yeah, how long has it been that way for you? And obviously you're probably comfortable in that sort of enviirement.
00:45:11
Speaker 12: Yeah. I've been playing football since I've been three years old. I started flag and then I started tackle when I was about seven years old, so it's been my whole life. I didn't start playing quarterback till really my my freshman year of high school. So like, this has been a different journey in terms of quarterback play, but it's been a fun ride. Met a lot of great people along the way between, you know, teammates and coaches that are some of my best friends and best role models throughout my life.
00:45:36
Speaker 4: Would you like to share a quarterback room with Aaron Rodgers?
00:45:39
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean I'd be open for that.
00:45:41
Speaker 4: Pretty cool.
00:45:42
Speaker 12: Yeah, Aaron's been somebody I've looked up to since I really started playing quarterback, and really before that, but like since I started playing quarterback, I've always watched a ton of his film, whether it was in Green Bay or when he was in New York, and then obviously this past year when he was here.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: Jew Aler our guest see this third round pick, Drew, Thank you so much, congratulations, best of luck, and we look forward to seeing you at the mini camps and rookie camps and all the other stuff going on. So congratulations, appreciate it you as well. All right, stick around. We're going to continue with our ongoing draft coverage on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network
Speaker 1: This is the twenty twenty six Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network. Today's broadcast is brought to you in part by Prescott Roofing, by First National Bank, by Call Lucy Chevrolet, by Independence Health System, by Clearview Federal Credit Union, by your Neighborhood Forward Store, by Ganlee Toyota, by Edgar Snyder an Associate, by Vos TV and Appliance, Shortky Automotive, Jeep McVeigh Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, and by Remax Select Realty.
00:00:45
Speaker 2: And welcome back to our ongoing draft cover John Steelers Nation Radio on the Steers Audio Network, where the Steelers are ready to go. They're on the clock along with Matt Williams and Mike Persuda. We have had Troop here, we have Wes Euler here. You guys are gonna be joining it right for just hanging out with us right now. Ed's nickname F you know it, It's it is. He's just a Troop is just a step away from f Troop.
00:01:10
Speaker 3: As a homage to one of the more underrated comedies in the history of tell it was.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: An interesting show. Yeah, and we're old enough to remember it.
00:01:20
Speaker 4: I'm not and I'm pretty old. Oh you got a YouTube? But man, yeah it is. It's an interesting show. So I heard so wide received.
00:01:28
Speaker 5: Larry Storch, Forrest Tucker, Melody Patterson.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: So there's a there's an a. That's why you know our our jearly beloved and your your former partner, uh, and our friend Dale Lolly. I always tell his f Dale Lolly. I saw. I saw his line once. I'm like, what's the F for? He goes Forrest. I'm like, who chooses Dale over Forrest? Man? Come on?
00:01:49
Speaker 6: Ha oh?
00:01:50
Speaker 2: I thought it was and and he's uh Forrest?
00:01:53
Speaker 4: Uh?
00:01:53
Speaker 2: What was his last name again? From F Troop?
00:01:56
Speaker 5: His last name?
00:01:57
Speaker 2: Noah was his last name?
00:01:58
Speaker 5: Larry Storch?
00:01:59
Speaker 2: No, no Forrest?
00:02:00
Speaker 6: Uh?
00:02:00
Speaker 2: The other actor Tucker? I thought, right, Forrest Tucker. Yeah, because there was a forest somebody that played for the Giants way back in the day. Anyway, this this students drawn the clock. I think it's got to be receiver here, don't you guys?
00:02:11
Speaker 5: Or Carl Lewis? Is it too early for cal Lewis?
00:02:13
Speaker 4: Met No? No, I thought Lewis might even go in the third. I'd go him or Bryce Lance. I like the verticality of Lance.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: What's that He'd be an interesting guy to pick for sure, Bryce Lance? And again like this, you need a return man.
00:02:32
Speaker 4: When you sit in that seat, you gotta you gotta wait a while, is it Lance? No, so you need to your buddy from Iowa the kickoff returner. Oh yeah, wow, I don't does he know any receiver stuff?
00:02:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, but he's just really good.
00:02:47
Speaker 4: But he's like the returner.
00:02:49
Speaker 2: It's a lot.
00:02:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a one trick pony, but it's a really good it's a really good trick.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, he is an elite. I mean this.
00:02:56
Speaker 4: Seems early, but man does to me too. But go get the guy right talking about changing field position and if he scores you a touchdown or two a year, and you know, this is kind of like the thing we did with with when they signed Johnston the punter. If you draft a great returner, I assume he can also do kickoffs. I know he's great punt return yes, but but if he can get you twenty two more return yards per game, Oh that's massive times seventeen times playoffs, all that hidden yardage adds up and such, that's an that's one more first down you'll get a game.
00:03:29
Speaker 5: He was the Iowa offense the last two years.
00:03:31
Speaker 3: Okay, they would get excited about punts, not because they stopped the other team, but.
00:03:37
Speaker 5: Wow, we got to just have a splash play and maybe score.
00:03:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, because he gets back there, he's oh, he can room with Dunker and they can get get Johnson back on track with the hawk eye.
00:03:46
Speaker 5: I got it. I had him in my mock. I had him going to one of the three seventh rot picks.
00:03:50
Speaker 4: I don't know that that's what I kind of thought. It was like a returner only.
00:03:53
Speaker 3: But I also have a hard time how do teams value a guy who's really good.
00:03:57
Speaker 5: It's just the one thing I don't.
00:03:58
Speaker 4: I think more and more now than that, Like, is he listed as your receiver guys? Yeah, okay, he'll be amongst the wide outs. Okay, okay, I mean like he'll go to the wide receiver meeting room, right.
00:04:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's pronounced the region.
00:04:10
Speaker 3: It's pronounced wet or spelled wet Gen, but pronounced the Wigion. Five eight and three quarters of Buck ninety five went from Iowa Western Community College to the Hawkeys, where he walked on four career punt return touchdowns. Three this past season. Two career kickoff return touchdowns, the combined six is the school record. Oh, by the way, he caught twenty three passes in his career.
00:04:35
Speaker 4: Okay, and they don't throw the ball in his career in his career is that two years ago?
00:04:39
Speaker 3: You have a height and weight uh yeah, five eight and three quarters buck ninety five.
00:04:43
Speaker 4: Okay, and he's only two times ninety five for five eighths stock not Yeah, I mean it's not a tiny it's a lot bigger than the Calvin Austin type.
00:04:50
Speaker 3: Only two time winner of the Jet Award, which goes to the nation's top returner.
00:04:55
Speaker 4: Okay, there he is.
00:04:56
Speaker 2: What would you So they're they're they're showing him as the as a four four seven forty. Where does that rate for a wide receiver?
00:05:08
Speaker 4: Four four seven? Yeah, average nowadays. But I really don't think time speed for a return guy is all that important. That that first make you miss thing is you either have it or don't.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: Well as a receiver, now you know, is he are?
00:05:26
Speaker 4: I know nothing about him as a receiver.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: He's not a He's a receiver in the way that Andrew mccutson was an outfielder last year you have to.
00:05:34
Speaker 5: You have to put something on the roster.
00:05:37
Speaker 4: Something on the baseball car Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:05:40
Speaker 2: This is what he's going to do. What they're showing on the NFL.
00:05:42
Speaker 4: That means you to be active on game day and the camp. He's going to run routes.
00:05:45
Speaker 2: Look at him run it through Sparti there by the way, you remember Smoky Burgess. Are you familiar with that name, yes, sixty pirates. He told me his last few years of spring training. He didn't even bring his catcher's mitt. Yeah, he was. They listed him as a catcher. He was a pitch at her.
00:05:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, they didn't bring a catchers.
00:06:04
Speaker 5: I really like that pick.
00:06:06
Speaker 4: He's gonna play right away. He's gonna change games, you know.
00:06:10
Speaker 2: So is there any value to these seventh round picks and the capability of moving up? No, that to Meack Jamal and move up anywhere.
00:06:23
Speaker 4: Maybe, But I say this all the time, like it's not like they're a penny and you can put ten of them together or one hundred of them together and get a dollar. You know, nobody will, you know, because nobody wants them because they can't make you know, maybe you could take two of them and turn them into a future sixth something like that. I mean, for us that are gonna be on the air for those final hour or two of this Saturday. We're looking forward to making seventh or three picks in the seventh round. Usually it's like whoa, we've been here a long time and nothing new to talk about. But they are hard to move. Something over done really well over his trade career in these three years, and I'm kind of shocked it didn't work out that this way in any of these little move ups. Is a lot of times he'll make the trade and then let's finalize that. I throw in a seven, you throw in a six. You know that's a tiny and here's gonna say no to that, and like, okay, we got a deal in place. They swap seventh for one of the one of the trades this year, But three sevens you're probably kind of stuck making them, you know, I mean, you're not gonna get much from next year.
00:07:34
Speaker 2: Ed Smoky Bird's troop joining us now to pinch it here for uh triv for triv a nickname I for twenty six years never heard it. That's crazy.
00:07:46
Speaker 7: I thought it was trib for the longest time because he worked for the Tribune Review.
00:07:49
Speaker 2: Back in the day. That's what I thought they were saying. I never heard it till today. That's crazy to me. So, Ed, what do you think of where the students have gotten to at this point and any any one way or the other. I still think, Matt, now, I don't have any less of a desire for them to maybe pick another wide receiver.
00:08:07
Speaker 4: This doesn't change anything in terms of the team needs. Right, I thought they might get a receiver that also returned kicks, not a kick returner that also kind of plays receiver.
00:08:16
Speaker 2: You know, So he's probably at this stage your fifth receiver, I would say, and Scronics you're sixth.
00:08:22
Speaker 4: And I mean those two gonna be active on game day, right, just for one reason, one phase.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: And now you bring in somebody else, perhaps to compete with Roman Wilson for that last receiver spot.
00:08:32
Speaker 4: Now, the other thing people have to realize too, is there are a lot of unemployed football players right now that are veterans walking the planet that are going to end up in camps too. I don't know if they're gonna like call Juwan Jennings or Odell Beckham or whoever, but you can at these other positions.
00:08:48
Speaker 7: Well, Matt and Rob, it's awesome to be with both of you on you Man today. I'm excited to talk to you a little bit about the draft so far. But to answer your question, Rob, I think this draft so far, now here in day three, has gone pretty much the way the off season has gone so far for Omar Khan in this front office this spring, where they're addressing the key needs that they had to coming in, which I think set them up, especially through free agency for the draft here this weekend, that they could plug some of these holes.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: But they didn't have to. Last few years.
00:09:15
Speaker 7: They had to get an offensive tackle, they had to get a defensive lineman. Going into this year, they could be selective. They knew which areas they still had to go after. They they wanted to get aligneman, they wanted to get a wide receiver. Just now they need to get a return man. But they could be selective about it. They could let the draft talk to them, and I think Omar Khan in that front office has done that so far. And you know, I was thinking about it on the drive in today and anxious to get Mats thoughts on this too, especially with his background. You know, so often media and fans especially, they judge these drafts as early as this evening and tomorrow morning, and you really got to let this thing mature over the course of a few years. It's tough to grade these guys out this early on and say, hey, this was a great draft or this was a good draft pick, because so much can happen in the next couple of years. As one thing we've learned over the years, nothing is a home run, right. You can plug these guys in, you can do your best due diligence as you could possibly can.
00:10:04
Speaker 2: But come training camp, come regular season, these guys got to play.
00:10:07
Speaker 7: But from what I've seen on paper so far, this weekend very happy before the stewers are going.
00:10:12
Speaker 4: One thing a lot of our listeners don't think about too, is that the folks on the other side of the walls obviously have privy to are Okay, he had a knee clean up this summer. Oh he'll be fine. Not everyone's always fine, you know, Or this is maybe we'll get one more year out of them, or hey, you know, Rudolph's an example. He's only under contract for this year. Do they plan on extending him? No, I'm not saying yes, or no, but they know that those answers or Queen's a free agent after this year. They haven't drafted a linebacker. They may extend them in camp and already be having those talks. You know, a lot of those type of things of looking years down the line.
00:10:52
Speaker 7: For sure, they needed to get another offensive lineman, and here with a lot of question marks in and around Roder Jones that you did that with their first pick, who we just met. By by the way, I turn around and there's this, so I get the guy right behind me. They had to get another receiver to go behind Pittman and Metcalf. Huge need right there in that room, right especially for the future of that room. So they were able to address that as well. I needed more death in the secondary, went out and got that. Do I'd like to see them still get a safety before the end of this draft.
00:11:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm a little shocked that safety has not been in the mix, which brings him a whole nother conversation. Is Ramsey a safety or a slot?
00:11:25
Speaker 2: That's it.
00:11:26
Speaker 4: I've not gotten those answers at all. And Eccles is the only real other slot though, you know, like I'm sure they'll tell you we're gonna put out our best eleven and Ramsey will be one of those eleven. But is he gonna play more safety or is he gonna play more slot? Or is that week to week? I mean, Patrick ram is a very week to week coordinator in terms of schemes. So that's a wild card that we have not addressed.
00:11:47
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this, Matt, because you know, the definition of things get blurred, like I think you make. You know, you take pains to educate people that the idea of a free set safety in a box safety has changed a little bit right over is there? And then we talk about you know, big slot. So everybody remember last year at the combine we were we were both getting excited about Nicki min Warri.
00:12:16
Speaker 4: Now everybody's looking play next and because he just you know, for Ramsey, right yeah, so you're looking.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: For that kind of guy. Are there other guys on this roster who maybe haven't done it, including the uh, you know, the guy they took in the Effett in the in the third round? Is there are there guys who are capable who haven't played slot but could still play slot, could be being considered for that because a slot isn't the isn't Mike Hilton size anymore.
00:12:45
Speaker 4: No, Frankly, the slot receivers don't look like Welker and Edelman as much anymore either. The slot receivers are Kelsey there, Jamar Chase in the slot. They're big slots like Smith, the Jigba and the Kua and those type of guys. So little people in the secondary and receiver are starting to really get phased out. And also teams are playing so much more twelve and thirteen personnel. The tight ends are there, and the problem with the Hiltons of the world is, Okay, you line up with the and I'm not picking on him, he had a really good career, but you line up with someone his size against the Ravens, well, they're gonna make him tackle Derrick Henry over and over and over and over, and they're gonna run right at him. So thus now teams are playing Kyle Hamilton the slot, Irwin James, a variety of these guys Branch. There's tons of them. Now, Petrie, we saw him in the playoffs. So those type of dudes. And I think that's a big reason the Steelers made the Mink of Ramsey trade is instead of having a deep middle guy. I'd rather have an equally or better player closer to the line of scrimmage as my slot. And I think that's what Ramsey does best. If you're only going to have them do that, I feel like you're a safety short at the moment right now.
00:14:04
Speaker 2: Agreed. And I also don't know.
00:14:06
Speaker 4: What's going on with Savage, by the way, I have.
00:14:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have some thoughts on that, and and just the positions and the trends in the NFL in general. But we're gonna take a break now. Much more to come. Students have made their fourth round selection. We're going to continue our ongoing draft coverage on Studish Nation Radio and this stee There's Audio Network.
00:14:27
Speaker 8: And now a word from our sponsor, bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp.
00:14:37
Speaker 5: Uh.
00:14:38
Speaker 1: What if we just got out of here and grab some bud Lights.
00:14:40
Speaker 8: So man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light easy to drink, easy to enjoy if you're responsibly Copyright twenty twenty six. And Huser Bush bud Light Meer, Saint Louis, Missouri. And now a word from our sponsor, bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. Uh what if we just got out of here and grabbed some bud Lights. So, man, we're on air for four more hours. I'll figure it out. Sounds good to me. Anything for the clean crisp taste of bud Light. Stock up now. Bud Light, easy to drink, easy to enjoy if you're responsibly copyright twenty twenty six and Huyser Busch Budlight Meer, Saint Louis, Missouri.
00:15:33
Speaker 1: This he's the Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: And we thank you for being with us alongside Matt Williamson a D troop. I'm Rob King and we're over here at the south side and we are joined by a special guest either second round draft choice wide receiver Jeremy Bernard out of Alabama. Jeremy, first of all, congratulations, thank you, awesome, thank you so much.
00:15:59
Speaker 9: It is awesome, glad to be I'm glad to be here with this organization.
00:16:02
Speaker 2: So what was your draft experience like coming in? Did you know who was interested in you? Did you have any idea where you're going to be drafted as far as like what round and ultimately who called you to let you know that you were drafted by the Steelers.
00:16:18
Speaker 9: Yeah, So like two days before the draft started, I went and I met with my agent and we kind of just went down the list of the teams that that could that could take me, and a lot of a lot of the teams had a second round grade on me. Some of the teams had third round grade just because they didn't really need receivers. And so I knew like there was gonna be like a sweet spot and and the and like the beginning of the second second round.
00:16:47
Speaker 2: And so.
00:16:49
Speaker 9: I was just sitting there and I was just waiting see just see just seeing what which team it was going to be. And then ultimately it was Omar that call me, and it was the best moment, the best call phone call I forgot.
00:17:06
Speaker 4: Well, congratulations, that is a wonderful thing and it's something you'll never forget. And it's great to have you here. I watched a lot of your tape and it's super impressive and one of the best descriptions I've heard of. How you play is a glue guy. You know, you can give them carries, can play special teams, block slot outside. Is that how you see yourself too? Is Hey, whatever you want me to do?
00:17:27
Speaker 2: Coach? Yeah, I think.
00:17:29
Speaker 9: I think being versus versus tile and being able to do multiple things that brings you more opportunities in the league or even just in general, more opportunities, and so like for me to be able to have those skill sets and bring them into an organization like this, no, I think that I'll be able to help have it impacted and help the team succeed in whatever way they need.
00:17:47
Speaker 2: You go to Alabama from Vegas. Vegas. By the way, your your your folks here. But before you move on too much, what was their reaction when you got Drapped's got a terrible talent. We're ready to go where you go?
00:18:01
Speaker 9: My mom, my mom was, she was she was jumping up and down, and so she was jumping up and down.
00:18:06
Speaker 2: She was so excited.
00:18:06
Speaker 9: And then when I seen her like that's when I started crying like crazy. And then I went and I hugged my dad and he was, you know, he was on. He was on the version of crying, and then once I hugged him, I started crying. Even it was it was, it was a great feeling.
00:18:21
Speaker 2: It's okay to shed it to your dad. So you're experience at Alabama, what was it like? How do you think it prepared you for the draft process and hopefully hear a nice, wonderful long career in the NFL.
00:18:36
Speaker 9: Yeah, BEMA is a place that you go to where you want to be a pro.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
00:18:43
Speaker 9: They have all the right resources, all the right connections, They have all all the right things that you need to be able.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: To be successful.
00:18:50
Speaker 9: They have all the right coaching, They have all the right thing, all the right things off the field to take care of your body.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: And everything that you need.
00:18:57
Speaker 9: And then like the resources that the coaches bring in and the people that they bring in to talk to us to set up set us up off the field, like no financial stuff, you know, mental awareness and different things like that. So they they talk, they talked to us, talk to us about the process all the time, and they prepare us for those type of things. And so being at Mama has definitely prepared me to you know, step into this new phase of my life.
00:19:20
Speaker 2: You're just real good. I think I just wanted to ask you because I think you have to be a certain type of guy to go there. Like I think a lot of people might shy away from the competition, right You're you're a heavy recruit, and you could say, you know what, I'm gonna go to another school because I know I'm gonna play earlier or whatever. You you step foot on the you know you go to tuscalusive, man, you know you've got to fight just to get on the field. You've already got to have that high compete level just to just to earn playing time for sure.
00:19:46
Speaker 9: I mean a lot of people want to call themselves the best. Well you want to go, you want to go, you know, play against the best every single day, and you want to get better. You want to learn, and so that is something that I embrace, something that I lean into. I knew I was gonna have to go in there and know fight and compete, but that's that's in my nature though.
00:20:02
Speaker 4: So you know this. I mean the University Alabama's used to winning football games. Pittsfordh Steelers used to winning football games as well as NFL teams go, so there can be some pressure. There's not down years around here. But along those lines, your background, you you came from Washington University to Washington. Troy file Tawney was at someone you knew pretty well, right if you've been in touch with them, And how's that going to help your transition?
00:20:29
Speaker 9: Yeah, choice, someone that you know is a great leader, someone that I really took advice from when I was at Washington, just you know, just learning from him, learning how he did things off the field, how he did things on the field, just like the small things, you know, the the extra work, the little things that he was doing to take care of his body. So I just made sure I paid attention and I asked questions. And you know, now I'm gonna be teammates with him, and.
00:20:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I look him up.
00:20:55
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna be a surreal moment and I'm excited to play with them again.
00:21:02
Speaker 2: Oh well, okay, So to get you on, so one more quick question. What do you know about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what is it like to be right now a Pittsburgh Steeler.
00:21:12
Speaker 9: I just know that it has a lot of history. I'm not a big like guy that watches NFL at the time. But I know the great the grace that came through here and then now that I can be able to be a part of it and you know, build my own legacy here, legacy here is no something now I'm looking forward to.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: It's great to have you. Jeremy Vernard. Hey, congratulations, thanks very much. Congratulations to mom and dad as well. I love it. I love the mom's got it already, the terrible town. How did it go? And you know what you're you're are you right handed? Yes, she's got it on the left shoulder, ready to grab and swirl and right there it is fantastic stuff. Are we taking a break? Okay, we're gonna you know, we keep going all right? Uh so uh and we're oh, got very much. You really appreciate it. Uh. Danny Crossman's coming in to join us, and and here he comes, Danny, thank you very much for being with us.
00:22:05
Speaker 4: Line shift, yep.
00:22:06
Speaker 2: Line shift the other way around. There we go perfect, perfect. How are you?
00:22:13
Speaker 6: I'm a right side headset guy. This left side stuff throwing me off.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: Uh.
00:22:18
Speaker 5: Flexibility.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, so special teams coordinator for the Steelers and I obviously we want to ask you about the selection that was just made. But what's the process been like coming in here and getting acclimated to the city of Pittsburgh and a new staff and all that stuff.
00:22:37
Speaker 6: It's been great. You know, I've known Mike for for a long long time and never worked with him, so, you know, being able to be day in and day out and watch his process as a head football coach has been fabulous for me. I've worked with Patrick Graham before, so knowing Patrick and that communication level with Patrick and I is again going right back to what was years ago when we were together. So it's been outstanding. I think we've got a great staff, being able to spend the last couple weeks with the players, both in Phase one and then the veteran mini camp. We got some outstanding men here, so very excited and then looking forward to the growth of this.
00:23:14
Speaker 4: So Danny Coincidentally, the segment before the Steelers selected the new return guy, who's phenomenal, we were talking about how the kickoff rule has changed things over the last couple of years, dynamic kickoff. Everyone was, wow, is this going to change the league? And frankly, I didn't think it changed things all that much, but this past year with the tweaks, it's changed things dramatically and I think the value of returners is skyrocketing in the league without question.
00:23:40
Speaker 6: Yeah, and then you know the ad that you know, the tweak again this year with now you know two years ago there you only have two players to be able to in the flex position. Then it went to three. Now it's going to four. So you're back to being able to move some people around and hide some things and add some more that.
00:23:58
Speaker 4: Gives you more schematic versatility. Correct, So like an offense or defense exactly.
00:24:03
Speaker 6: So you know the spacing and the rules that you're able to use in terms of spacing your players as a tweak that enables you to do more things. And like you guys said, you know it is now a play that you have to work on being able to make something positive happen. You know, when you look at the numbers, and you know the numbers have changed for a lot of reasons, whether it's you know, people going forward and fourth down. It used to be you didn't see that a lot.
00:24:30
Speaker 2: Now you know.
00:24:31
Speaker 6: Fourth and fourth and fifty yard line. There's teams that don't even blink and you know they're going for it the willingness to kick long field goals.
00:24:38
Speaker 4: Say, the kickers are so much better now too. I mean, you get one first down after a good kickoff and it's three points.
00:24:43
Speaker 2: Correct, So you know that.
00:24:45
Speaker 6: Look at the numbers. If you started driving the minus forty, it's you know, almost a fifty percent scoring in the National Football League. So to be able to establish that field position in the return games is going to be big, and it's going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
00:24:58
Speaker 3: The guy you just drafted three punt return touchdowns in one season, I don't know. Is that rushing for two thousand yards? Is that throwing for fifty TVs?
00:25:08
Speaker 5: And have you seen the guy?
00:25:09
Speaker 3: I watch a lot of Big ten football, and when he was at Iowa and the defense got a stop, the crowd would get excited, not because they got a stop, but because they had a chance to get.
00:25:19
Speaker 5: A splash player or score. I mean, how rare is what this guy did at Iowa in terms of returning.
00:25:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, he had a special career. And you know, they've done a good job there over the years at Iowa and they've turned out a lot of good combination return guys. And in my opinion, he may be the best of all of them, and there's been some really good ones. And I look at you with your with your Michigan State sweatshirt on, you know.
00:25:45
Speaker 3: Can you believe we kept kicking it till Yeah?
00:25:49
Speaker 5: Did you watch that game? Yeah? He almost did it the first time. He went for like fifty, then he had one called back and took one of.
00:25:56
Speaker 6: The Yeah, so that's I can't help but smir As I see that. Yeah, a lot of his highlights were against Sparti. So but he's a dynamic player, and you know, we really think he's he's special with the ball in his hands, he makes good decisions, he's played in bad weather, he's able to make shallow cuts, so all the things you look at, you know, when you evaluate those guys, he's got all those traits and all those attributes. And you know, we were really excited to have him.
00:26:22
Speaker 2: You've seen, we've all seen over the years. Great returners come in different sizes. I was. I was really intrigued by what was going to happen when they tweaked the rules. I mean, were there going to be instead of everybody looking for you know, two hundred and fifty pound guys, you could you know, start and try to block on the front and circle back and set up a wedge and whatever. Are they just gonna put offensive linement out there, you know what I mean to open up a hole. Do you have a sense of is there any trend on a returner as far as size? I mean, do we you know we had Corderroo Patterson here a couple of years ago. He's a big guy. We've seen smaller guys. Do you think that the new rules favor one or the other or is it just I don't good at it? Exactly? I don't.
00:27:05
Speaker 6: And you look at you know, around the league and the guys that are really successful, you know, and you just, you know, you take both sides of it. You take the kick return game, and you got a guy like Turpin and Dallas and Decay and Tennessee, and then you got the bigger guys, you know, like Davis and Buffalo, and so it's all about the player, you know, it's finding matchups up front. You know, the blockers are still a big part of this. You know, you got to have a returner that makes good decisions, has good ball security, can make those shellow cuts and run through arm tackles. But you know, it's still tied into also those guys you have up front, and then you know, finding out what your guys are good at, whether it's finding out what your blockers are good at, finding out what your returner is good at, you know, and being able to blend that together and coordinate to put yourselves in the best position to make something happen. You know, I've had you know, good returners running inside plays and they weren't good at running outside plays and vice versas. So you got to find that, like a running back on correct you gotta find the sweet spot of what everybody does well and build those things together. But it starts with having a guy back there that you know, make no mistake about it, in my opinion, when you have a guy back there that can do some some dynamic things for whatever reason, all of a sudden, the block it becomes a little bit better. Whether it truly is yeah, yeah, or but it always seems to work that way.
00:28:22
Speaker 4: So we touched on how kicking is in an all time high and these guys are trying them from you know, half midfield almost not to put words in your mouth, but I'm sure you're excited to work with the Steelers kicker. It's pretty darn good. I did some homework on it, and I don't want to nerd out too much, but it sounds like over the last couple of years, behind the scenes, there's been some changes in how they can doctor balls and things of that nature and the kicking balls. Can you kind of just give us like a quick thumbnail of how that's changed. I mean, it's a lot more dynamic than people realize.
00:28:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, the rules have changed.
00:28:53
Speaker 6: You know, there was a phase there where they really didn't want the balls really being touched.
00:28:57
Speaker 4: And so they were not to touch them at all.
00:28:59
Speaker 5: Right, it was you were very limited.
00:29:01
Speaker 6: You know, you had a a very short window to be able to work on the balls, and then a they would give you a high number of balls, so you really didn't know. You didn't have enough time to really do anything any of them, to really change them.
00:29:15
Speaker 4: For give me for interrupting, but before that, they used to like put them in dryers and do crazy things the balls throughout the week.
00:29:21
Speaker 6: Right, a long long time ago. I think the biggest thing that that's that's happened. You know, they under it's exciting, let's you know, don't get it twisted. It's exciting when a guy runs out there and the balls that you know on the pain at midfield and here comes in the field goal. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think you know the league has encouraged that. And make no mistake, the team with the most points win, so you know, opportunities to score points. If you have a guy, I think you're going to just keep seeing more and more.
00:29:48
Speaker 2: Of that run out there within those sammy ball you know footballs and they could put like ninety yards today's punters that hey did cross. Thank you so much, really appreciate it. Uh A pleasure to meet you. Uh and and look forward to seeing you plenty over the next several months and several years. Thanks guys, Appreciate you. Thank you, appreciate it. All right, we're gonna take a break right now. Our ongoing draft coverage on Steels Nation Radio and Steve Is Audio Network continue right after this.
00:30:16
Speaker 7: I'm a one hundred percent kind of guy, So I got Verizon FiOS.
00:30:19
Speaker 8: It's one hundred percent fiber Internet because I do everything at one hundred percent.
00:30:24
Speaker 4: What game should we watch?
00:30:25
Speaker 10: One hundred percent of them?
00:30:28
Speaker 1: She hits a finally kick the part from way downtown.
00:30:32
Speaker 4: Break beautiful shot onto the green.
00:30:34
Speaker 11: You either have one percent fiber Internet or you don't get Verizon FiOS. It's super fast, unreliable with ultra low lag. It's one hundred percent or nothing called one eight three three veries on to switch today.
00:30:47
Speaker 8: And now a word from our sponsor, bud Light. There's nothing better than the clean Crisp. There's nothing better than the clean crisp. Uh what if we just got out of here and grab some bud Lights. So man, we're on air for four more hours.
00:31:03
Speaker 2: I'll figure it out.
00:31:04
Speaker 10: Sounds good to me.
00:31:06
Speaker 8: Anything for the clean Chrisp, taste of bud Light stocked up now. Bud Light easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and you're responsibly copyright twenty twenty six and hyser Bush bud Light Meer Say Louis, Missouri.
00:31:20
Speaker 1: This he is the Steelers Audio Network Draft Marathon on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of the Steelers Audio Network.
00:31:29
Speaker 2: Thanks very much for being with us alongside Matt Williams and Mike Pursuit. I'm Rob King and our guest is Quarterbacks go to Tom Wayne. Thank you very much for being with us.
00:31:36
Speaker 10: How you doing, I'm doing great, Appreciate you guys having me on, Well, we're delighted you're here and we would love to have you give us a lowdown on the third round pick, Drew Aller out of Penn State. Yeah, it was a you know, exciting pick for us, you know, really really happy and excited to have the opportunity to coach Drew. You know, if I had the chance to follow his career since he was in high school at MEDINAH back in Cleveland, and you know, always saw a lot of potential and Drew and you know followed him, you know, through his time at Penn State, and you know, to be here in a position now where you know I have a chance to coach him and to help him realize his dreams and goals, you know as a quarterback, I think is a really special opportunity.
00:32:22
Speaker 3: They had talked during the combine. You know, of course, he had the tough luck with the injury and missing the end of the season, the last six games or so, and as the combine workout progressed, the television broadcast was I think it was Jeremiah crediting him for getting stronger as went on, and it was almost as if he might have been a little uncertain because he hadn't done anything in a while. And then once he realized hey, I'm okay, he started letting it rip and showing who he is.
00:32:49
Speaker 4: Did you did you see any of that?
00:32:50
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely?
00:32:51
Speaker 10: And I think you have to give Drew a lot of credit for competing at the Combine. And you know that was really he had just gotten cleared. He hadn't done a lot of prep going into that, so, you know, going into that type of environment, you know, with all that scrutiny and so many eyes on you. But yeah, and you know, so much on the line. I mean, I just I competitively, you know, I give him a lot of credit for doing that. And you know, the confidence I think that he has in his arm, talent and his ability to go out there and you know and throw the ball, well, I think says a lot about him.
00:33:23
Speaker 4: Coach of a certain multiple time MVP, all time great quarterback were to return to this organization. What kind of influence does that have on the two new young guys in the quarterback room? You know, obviously Will and Drew.
00:33:37
Speaker 10: Yeah, you know, just exceptional in fact on that. I mean, just rare opportunity, you know, for for both of those guys, really for all of us, you know, and Will certainly experienced that last year, and even Mason. You know, Mason's a veteran player. You know, this is year nine for Mason, but you know, being around somebody who has done it as long as Aaron has and at the level that Aaron has, you know, it's just to be able to to hear how his mind works and how he sees the game and just some of those.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: It really is.
00:34:11
Speaker 10: I mean, it was amazing. It was amazing, and Aaron was so good with with our group, you know, obviously especially with Will as a young guy coming into the league. He really, uh, he really took took Will under his wing and you know, helped him in every possible way. And Will was so open to it. And obviously, you know, he had asked me early on, he said, hey, do you mind if you know, I you know, if if I see something, do you mind if I share it with Will?
00:34:38
Speaker 2: And like, are you kidding me?
00:34:40
Speaker 10: Like everything, like you know, pour into him, and and he and he did that, and Will, Will learned a lot and I know was extremely grateful for you know, the time you know that he had with Aaron, and you know, hopefully, hopefully there's more.
00:34:56
Speaker 5: Well with that transition back to Mike McCarthy off be like for Rogers.
00:35:01
Speaker 10: You know, I think it'll be uh, I think it would be smooth, certainly. You know, Aaron's evolved, you know, since his time you know, with with coach McCarthy and you know, coaches has evolved, you know, his offense and you know, obviously you know, being in Dallas, you know, and having the success that he had there and working with different groups of players. You know, he's you know, there'll be some new things I'm sure you know for Aaron, But you know, I think the core of it and the the relationship, that's the piece that you know, I just I don't think you can, you know, you can really emphasize how important that is and how how the the head coach and the play caller and the quarterback, how they see the game, you know, and they have so much, so many experiences that they've shared and big moments that they've been through together that you know, I just don't think you can you can measure how important that relationship is. You know, for a for a head coach slash play caller and the quarterback, how much do.
00:36:01
Speaker 2: You have to, you know, scout a player in college and say we can fix this. For I remember, you know, years ago and Matt Williams and I have had this conversation. I would be as a fan, I'd be out on anybody who is inaccurate. And then Josh Allen wasn't known for accuracy, but that you work with him and all of a sudden he's accurate and and you think other guys maybe can be fixed or coach too. So how much do you see and and how much do you say, if we got this guy, we would do X, Y and z, and we think we think that that's going to get him on the path he needs to be on.
00:36:33
Speaker 10: Well, you know, I think first of all, you have to look and you have to say, is there is there a trait you know, are there are there is there a trade? Are there special traits there that that are worth developing? And you know what's the what's the risk reward and all those things? And Drew has special traits obviously, he has you know, rare size arm talent, you know, he's he's a smart player, and you know there's areas where fundamentally he can improve And those are the things I think is a coach that you you look at and you say, okay, hey, those are areas where we can help. We can help coach the footwork, we can you know, we can coach all these other things, and you know, and that's you know, that's what's exciting because if you know, there's there's a lot there to you know, to be excited about him to work with.
00:37:19
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Tom Marsha has been our guest. Thanks very much for being with us. Tom, appreciate it. We'll continue with our ongoing draft coverage. Nope, No, we're going to continue just by keeping it going all right, right, right, Okay, so let's coach. Coach paid the way for let's bring him in. Tom, Thank you very much, really appreciate it. Thank you.
00:37:37
Speaker 4: Okay, thanks coach.
00:37:38
Speaker 2: All right, okay, here we go, all right, jump quick, okay quick? Hello here and uh our guest now is Drew Aller and uh Drew Matt Williamson, Mike Pursuda, I'm Rob King. Thanks very much for being with us. Congratulations, congratulations, appreciate it.
00:37:58
Speaker 9: Uh.
00:37:59
Speaker 2: But by the way, uh, I've got I could pom a basketball like eighth grade. Nice to shake his hand and have it swallow my hand upright. Trade number one is as a quarterback. That's somebody asked, so, what's the what was the process like recovering from an injury? Right, you go through the combine and you know, again the whole sort of post playing experience leading up to the moment when you got the phone call.
00:38:29
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean it was a really busy process, which is, you know, a good problem to have. You know, had a lot of visits, a lot of zoom calls, and again it was a good problem to have. But you know, the injury kind of gave me a you know a sense of relief and in terms of I could have a good reset mentally, because I know it's a it's a long year in general for for rookies going into their their first year in the NFL, and you know a lot of guys went far into the postseason or just in general with the regular season. So I'll just try to take advantage with it as much as I can in terms of rehabbing to my to the best of my ability, get fully healthy as fast as I could so I could kind of go out there and throw at the combine and then also be good enough to go again a.
00:39:07
Speaker 2: Pro day, Jue.
00:39:08
Speaker 3: We were just speaking with your quarterbacks coach Tom Marth and I mentioned to him the broadcast of the Combine your workout. The suggestion was you were a little tenet of early and then once you realized I'm okay, you started letting it rip and looking good. Did it play out that way to you? And how good were you feeling by the end of that throwing session? But okay, this is what I came here to do, and I did it.
00:39:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker 12: No, I felt really good towards the middle part, towards the end, and then going into the end. I think at the beginning it was just kind of getting adjusted to throwing to different receivers for the first time, especially on some of the timing routes.
00:39:42
Speaker 2: Your health just no, no, no familiarity, yeah, yeah, and.
00:39:44
Speaker 12: Just trusting the timing of what they were telling us to do. And once you know, the first couple kind of felt really good in rhythm. I kind of never looked back from there, but yeah, like that was a really fun experience and one I definitely won't forget.
00:39:57
Speaker 3: You've obviously we're in Pittsburgh is a significant Penn State fan base. There's been clamoring for you around here. I don't know if you're aware of it, but uh, there's a lot of people that are pretty fired up. But you get picked where you got picked. What do you think about having it built in the support crew behind you?
00:40:16
Speaker 4: So far?
00:40:17
Speaker 12: Now, I'm really excited. I know the pride that Penn State fans have, and I know the pride that Steelers fans have, So I'm really excited to, you know, represent another great brand, and this time at the NFL level. You know, I have a lot of great relationships with some of the guys that you know, have been through Penn State that are on this team, like Pat Friarmouth. I've known him for probably three or four years now, so I've talked to him a handful of times, just about random stuff in general when he'd be at up at State College or at games and that sort of thing. And then obviously playing a year with Joey and then two years with Daiquon. I never got to go against Brisker, but I've heard nothing but great things about him from Coach Dex, the safety coach during during my time there. So I'm really excited to get to work, can really get to know everybody involved with the team from a coaching staff standpoint and a player standpoint.
00:41:07
Speaker 4: Dre, you kind of touched on it earlier. I mean your draft process was a little different than others because of the injury. Did you focus on the mental things while you were doing that? Were you able to do some lifting? Like what were you able to do and what we weren't you able to do?
00:41:21
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:41:21
Speaker 12: So, I mean about two weeks post two or three weeks post off, I started lifting again. That's when I was cleared to lift, just because of all the healing process and medications kind of getting out of the system from that. So like I started lifting pretty much right away, and then you know, I was still very involved with Penn State and the team. I was really tight with my backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer who's at Virginia Tech now, and really just helping him get prepared for the games, being there for the team on the sidelines every day and throughout practice, Like there wasn't a practice I missed, and I was really for my own benefit just because I needed to be around my teammates and that sort of thing. So like that, again, it just gave me more perspective on the game of football throughout that time.
00:42:02
Speaker 2: Now, this Tew has brought you in for a visit, correct, did you meet with him with the Combine as well? Yes, So, so what's that process been like getting to know first of all, who called you and told you've been drafted? Omar okay? And how cool was that?
00:42:14
Speaker 5: That was really cool?
00:42:15
Speaker 9: Yeah.
00:42:15
Speaker 2: I don't want to brush that over because it only happens once in your life, yeah, or in the case of the three of us, never, But but that's that's got to be an awesome moment.
00:42:23
Speaker 9: It was.
00:42:24
Speaker 12: Yeah, No, it was one I definitely won't forget. And you know, my family started going nuts, especially when they figured it out it was the four, one, two numbers. So yeah, I got really excited.
00:42:33
Speaker 2: That's awesome. So what is the process been like of getting to know Mike McCarthy and the staff and the and Omar Kahn and the and the Steelers personnel here over the last you know, two and a half months or so.
00:42:45
Speaker 12: Yeah, the first time I met with them was at the Combine and a formal in every setting, and that that was a really good you know, that was probably my hardest formal I had. But it was also the most fun I had in that formal just because I was really getting to understand how coach McCarthy cees sings in terms of the game of football, and him asking me questions about what we did at Penn State and why we did certain things, So, you know, learning a lot from that. That was a good I don't know how long those interviews are, fifteen or eighteen minutes, whatever they were, but you know, it was really a fun conversation that entire time with Coach McCarthy. It just about protections and different route concepts. And then when I got here for the visit, I've known Coach Arthur for a handful of years now because when he was the head coach of Acron he recruited me a little bit, so that was really cool reconnecting with him and then spending more time with him and Coach McCarthy just watching some of my film from Penn State, both good and bad, and them having me talk through different things concept wise, protection wise, and really just drawing stuff up on the board. So I really enjoyed it a lot, and it's a great organization. I'm really fortunate and blessed to be a part of this organization.
00:43:46
Speaker 2: Were there things that you came away from You're like, oh, I didn't realize, you know, the third toe on my left foot needs to be pointed at a forty degree angle. I mean, I mean, obviously I'm being silly. I mean, were there things you took away You're like, whoa, that's I didn't know that or whatever. Yeah.
00:44:00
Speaker 12: Well, actually, like one of the first things coach McCarthy asked me when I got here was what did that changed with my footwork between the combine and my Pro Day? So it was something I've always been working on, especially the last whatever it was three months since I've been training for the draft out in California with John Beck, the quarterback trainer I was with. So that was something I was very intentional on working about on with him. And you know, it kind of came to fruition throughout really Pro day, but a little bit at the combine. But that was something he noticed right away. And you know, I'm always open to learning and tweaking and changing things if that means it's going to make me a better player.
00:44:36
Speaker 5: Must have liked your answer, Yeah, he did.
00:44:40
Speaker 4: It's footwork just a constant, always stay on top of it. I mean it's never a finished product, I would imagine.
00:44:46
Speaker 12: Yeah, I feel like that's probably the number one thing for all quarterbacks, honestly, no matter how long they've been playing or how young they are. I feel like if the more you focus on your footwork, everything else will take care of itself.
00:44:57
Speaker 3: Where you're from, Yep State Pittsburgh, you haven't really ventured too far out of this point. Football is religion. Yeah, how long has it been that way for you? And obviously you're probably comfortable in that sort of enviirement.
00:45:11
Speaker 12: Yeah. I've been playing football since I've been three years old. I started flag and then I started tackle when I was about seven years old, so it's been my whole life. I didn't start playing quarterback till really my my freshman year of high school. So like, this has been a different journey in terms of quarterback play, but it's been a fun ride. Met a lot of great people along the way between, you know, teammates and coaches that are some of my best friends and best role models throughout my life.
00:45:36
Speaker 4: Would you like to share a quarterback room with Aaron Rodgers?
00:45:39
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean I'd be open for that.
00:45:41
Speaker 4: Pretty cool.
00:45:42
Speaker 12: Yeah, Aaron's been somebody I've looked up to since I really started playing quarterback, and really before that, but like since I started playing quarterback, I've always watched a ton of his film, whether it was in Green Bay or when he was in New York, and then obviously this past year when he was here.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: Jew Aler our guest see this third round pick, Drew, Thank you so much, congratulations, best of luck, and we look forward to seeing you at the mini camps and rookie camps and all the other stuff going on. So congratulations, appreciate it you as well. All right, stick around. We're going to continue with our ongoing draft coverage on Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network
