Speaker 1: This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
Speaker 1: training camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Speaker 1: Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and brought to you
Speaker 1: in part by Pennsylvania one Call Systems Dial eight one
Speaker 1: one before You dig SNT Bank People Forward Banking by
Speaker 1: Kalusy Chevrolet, serving the Pittsburgh area for over one hundred
Speaker 1: and eight years, Clearview Federal Credit Union. For every touchdown
Speaker 1: the Black and Gold Score in twenty twenty six, Clearview
Speaker 1: will donate five hundred dollars to the Light of Life
Speaker 1: Mission Listit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org and by iron Workers Local
Speaker 1: Union Number three. We don't go to the office, We
Speaker 1: build it.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Stealer Nation. It's the Drive live at Saint
Speaker 2: Vincent College of Course highatap chuck Nole Field. As another day,
Speaker 2: the fourth and final act aimation practice in the books
Speaker 2: for your Pittsburgh Steelers. West Shuler and Matt Williamson with
Speaker 2: you here for the next three hours. As we will
Speaker 2: conclude our Day four coverage, we have got a lot
Speaker 2: of fun stuff to get to today. Matt, I'm excited
Speaker 2: for the show. We are going to talk to our
Speaker 2: buddy Chris Halleck in the four o'clock hour, we'll get
Speaker 2: all his thoughts on the four practices that are in
Speaker 2: the books. To this point, we've got some more fantasy
Speaker 2: football conversation that we're going to have, and you and
Speaker 2: I were pretty dialed into watching practice today with a
Speaker 2: lot with a lot going on on this welcome back
Speaker 2: to football weekend across the NFL and the final practice
Speaker 2: for the Steelers before a day off tomorrow. We will
Speaker 2: get into all that. A lot of ground to cover,
Speaker 2: but we have to start today, Matt, with the Steelers
Speaker 2: big announcement this morning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of a monumental episode of the drive here.
Speaker 3: You know, as you said, the acclamation period done. We
Speaker 3: always like that Hall of honor done. You'll get into
Speaker 3: that in a minute. Here. The lines on the field
Speaker 3: look beautiful. From those that were curious how that held
Speaker 3: up overnight and maybe most importantly in our life, fresh
Speaker 3: out of the box, right on our craniums, brand new
Speaker 3: spanking headsets, and they couldn't sound and feel better. I
Speaker 3: feel like a new man. My car just got detailed.
Speaker 2: It's a great It's like the cars just got detailed.
Speaker 2: It's like he paid somebody to deep clean the house.
Speaker 3: Exactly that we didn't know how good a heck you
Speaker 3: to have it.
Speaker 2: You know, you got these fancy new headsets. Shout out
Speaker 2: to our fearless leader, Brian Lamartina. Back at the ranch.
Speaker 2: We got some crisp new headsets. We're feeling good, sounding, good,
Speaker 2: looking good. Yeah, we're on radio.
Speaker 3: We'll leave that one up for you all, like Rick
Speaker 3: Flair or somebody, I mean, like, I'm a fancy over here.
Speaker 2: Limousine riding, yeah, Rolex wearing jet flying.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: It was a big day on campus today for a
Speaker 2: lot of reasons, but it all began at ten am
Speaker 2: this morning when the Steelers introduced they announced their newest
Speaker 2: Hall of Honor class. The twenty twenty sixth group includes
Speaker 2: three individuals former GM Kevin Colbert or cornerback J. T.
Speaker 2: Thomas and Matt. It finally happened richly deserved our former
Speaker 2: colleague and of course, longtime guard of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 2: Craig Wolfley, and a friend that's absolutely a friend, Matt.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a heck of a trio going in there.
Speaker 2: And a trio of three guys who did a ton
Speaker 2: for the organization. Yeah, and did a ton and still
Speaker 2: do in some of their cases a ton for the
Speaker 2: community of Pittsburgh. Two three, three great Steelers and three
Speaker 2: great members of the Pittsburgh community.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, So I guess I'll start with JT. Thomas because frankly,
Speaker 3: he's the one I know the least about. And I
Speaker 3: remember being a kid, and you know, during that Super
Speaker 3: seventies era, but I was very very young, born in
Speaker 3: seventy three, and you know, the older folks in my life,
Speaker 3: uncle father of those guys are kind of like he's
Speaker 3: one of those dudes on the defense and no one
Speaker 3: seems to talk about. But when you have Mel Blunt
Speaker 3: on the other side, he also gets some attention too.
Speaker 3: And he does not have as easy of a role
Speaker 3: as you would think, even though that he's surrounded by
Speaker 3: some of the best defensive players that ever lived in
Speaker 3: Hall of Famers galore. It's easy to overlook someone like
Speaker 3: Mike Wagner or J. T. Thomas on those teams, but
Speaker 3: they're super important and we're not weak links by any means.
Speaker 3: Really really good football player Wolf. We can go on
Speaker 3: and on about about stories and knowing them and all
Speaker 3: that too, And I'll be honest, Kevin was very helpful
Speaker 3: in my career as well, because when I was at
Speaker 3: pitt he was next door and I always felt like
Speaker 3: I could bounce off career questions to him, and he
Speaker 3: was always really kind to me. And you know, so
Speaker 3: even when I was in my formidable years, really looked
Speaker 3: up to him. And of course, you know, even before
Speaker 3: I was getting paid to do this for a living,
Speaker 3: I paid such attention to the whole league, but especially
Speaker 3: the Steelers and ye GM moves and how their minds work,
Speaker 3: and especially even you know, when I was doing this
Speaker 3: full time, really dug into his work and was always
Speaker 3: just super impressed, super class act. I know you've known
Speaker 3: him a long time as well. I even remember, like
Speaker 3: when I was with the Browns shaking his hand before
Speaker 3: the game and being like, you got a spot on
Speaker 3: your staff, don't'll forget me.
Speaker 2: You know, he's depth chart. I'd love to come back, all.
Speaker 3: Right, right, things aren't looking so good this year over
Speaker 3: in Cleveland, and I wouldn't mind coming home. And he
Speaker 3: always kept an eye off for me and those things.
Speaker 3: And it's tremendous. I urged someone to do the legwork
Speaker 3: because I did it so long ago. But the average
Speaker 3: first round pick spot that Kevin had to deal with
Speaker 3: I think was like twenty four point one overall in
Speaker 3: the first round, not like if you trade up for Bush,
Speaker 3: you go to ten. I'm talking about the one that
Speaker 3: you earned and if people are going to do the exercise.
Speaker 3: He became the GM about ten years I think it
Speaker 3: was ten years after really doing the job, and Dale's
Speaker 3: told the story on the air before. For whatever reasons,
Speaker 3: the Steelers didn't have that title, but he was doing
Speaker 3: the exact same job. So there was ten years there
Speaker 3: that he was in charge of draft. So I included
Speaker 3: that in my calculations. I think it was when he retired,
Speaker 3: it's right around twenty fourth overall, so it was like
Speaker 3: a twenty plus year career. I should know those numbers
Speaker 3: by I don't exactly if you include the time before
Speaker 3: he was formally announced GM. Sure, and the way Dale
Speaker 3: said it was there was no reason to give him
Speaker 3: that title. But when he would be on the road,
Speaker 3: there's nicer seats for the GMS than just Joe average scout,
Speaker 3: and you know he's sitting, Yeah, you might as well
Speaker 3: give him the first class seats. If he's at LSU
Speaker 3: Alabama or whatever things like that. That's really the only difference.
Speaker 3: It wasn't like now he's got new responsibility. From what
Speaker 3: I understand, it's just a title for convenience reasons. But
Speaker 3: my point is when on average you picked twenty fourth
Speaker 3: in the first round, and there were some thirty two's,
Speaker 3: I mean there's some late ones in there too. There
Speaker 3: aren't weren't many many five or sixes or tens.
Speaker 2: There was none one losing season in the twenty years
Speaker 2: that he was GM of this team.
Speaker 3: Right right, I mean, so that means you don't get
Speaker 3: offense of tackles. They're gone. You don't really have much
Speaker 3: of a shot at premium quarterbacks. The one year you did,
Speaker 3: you nailed it and nailed it right right right, you know.
Speaker 3: So it's not the easiest team build, you think. In
Speaker 3: a lot of those years too, the Steelers weren't super
Speaker 3: active in free agency either, so he did a lot
Speaker 3: of it without as many cards in his hand as
Speaker 3: Howie Roseman or Jacksonville had picked in the top six
Speaker 3: like eight years in a row, or the Browns or
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. So he was not dealt
Speaker 3: easy hands to win the poker match and still did he.
Speaker 2: Drafted three NFL Defensive Player of the Year recipients or
Speaker 2: signed technically, if you include James Harrison, of course, then
Speaker 2: Troy Bonamalu and TJ Watt. Wow, so two draft picks
Speaker 2: and as signing three defensive player players of the year,
Speaker 2: one defensive Rookie of the Year in Kendrell Bell, one
Speaker 2: offensive rookie of the year in Ben Roethlisberger. And players
Speaker 2: that Colbert signed or drafted were named First Team All
Speaker 2: Pros twenty five times. Wow in twenty years.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: That's that's pretty good. That's pretty good. And of course
Speaker 2: the two suitabl Trophies, which is what matters most at the.
Speaker 3: End of the day. And a tremendous legacy and a
Speaker 3: really good person.
Speaker 2: You know, absolutely, you know. I think I harken back
Speaker 2: to his you know, his last press conference with the
Speaker 2: Steelers when he talked about I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people probably know this, Matt. Most of our listeners are
Speaker 2: Steelers junkies. But when you walk into the front office
Speaker 2: of the Steelers facility or the front doors of the Steelers'
Speaker 2: front office, you get what I'm saying. There's are the
Speaker 2: Lombardi trophies on display and I remembe a few of them,
Speaker 2: quite a few of them. And I remember Kevin Colbert
Speaker 2: talking about, you know, and when I got here, there
Speaker 2: were four, and you knew what the task was, and
Speaker 2: you know, I was able to add two more and
Speaker 2: and and you know, again, that is what matters in
Speaker 2: Steelers lore. We know it's it's Super Bowls, right. All
Speaker 2: the other stuff is great, but what you're really looking
Speaker 2: for championships in this organization. That's how you're judged. And
Speaker 2: and Kevin Colbert adds two of those Lombardi's, they are
Speaker 2: gonna sit in that Steelers facility forever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. And I know there aren't many GM in
Speaker 3: the Hall of Fame, but I think he has a
Speaker 3: heck of a case as well. That's a tough tough
Speaker 3: road to hoe, Yeah, you really, I mean, because there's
Speaker 3: no stats and things like that, and the things you
Speaker 3: cited are great, but sometimes it's hard to say, like,
Speaker 3: well he was one of the best report writers or
Speaker 3: scouts out there. I mean, those kinds of things are
Speaker 3: not as tangible. But there's not many gms in the
Speaker 3: history of this league, or especially during like this free
Speaker 3: agency era when times have changed that were better or
Speaker 3: you have a better resume or have a better case
Speaker 3: to be in canon.
Speaker 2: And then of course matt Our guy, Craig Wolfley, Yeah,
Speaker 2: for a decade was an offensive lineman in this organization.
Speaker 2: And then for I believe it was twenty three twenty
Speaker 2: three seasons as a broadcaster and writer as well too,
Speaker 2: joining the Steelers Radio network in two thousand and two
Speaker 2: as a sideline reporter. I just so richly deserved for
Speaker 2: this guy. He would have I know he would have
Speaker 2: been a little bashful about it, right, you know, Wolf probably? Yeah, Wolf,
Speaker 2: I'm sure would say that there are many people that
Speaker 2: deserve to be in there more than he is. But
Speaker 2: I would disagree. I think when you think about the
Speaker 2: fabric of an organization like the Steelers, many Yeah, for
Speaker 2: the entire twenty first century Wolf and obviously Tounch. And
Speaker 2: you know, it's it.
Speaker 3: Can't say one without the other.
Speaker 2: I was just looking for the right way to say that,
Speaker 2: because I almost said it's funny. You can't you can't
Speaker 2: bring up one without bringing up the other. And it's
Speaker 2: not funny, but it kind of is. They would think
Speaker 2: it's funny. They know it's funny, and you can't.
Speaker 3: Talk about Burt without Ernie.
Speaker 2: Exactly right, come on, man, exactly right. And so obviously
Speaker 2: Tounch got in a few years ago. Now Wolf joins him.
Speaker 2: I'm sure those two are having a stogy up in
Speaker 2: Heaven tonight to celebrate. And yeah, you know you, you
Speaker 2: know this, you and I when we have these conversation conversations,
Speaker 2: I tell you this all the time. Hall of honors,
Speaker 2: hall of fames, things like that. They're museums. They're museums
Speaker 2: of the sport. They that's how you tell the history
Speaker 2: of the organization or of the league, whatever the case
Speaker 2: may be. And you can't talk about the street the
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Steelers for very long without the name Craig Wilfe No.
Speaker 3: And I was first exposed to him again as like
Speaker 3: an eight or nine year old kid when he got
Speaker 3: drafted and quickly took over as a starting guard on
Speaker 3: the very end of you know, right after the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl era. Unfortunately for Wolf, if he'd got drafted two
Speaker 3: years earlier, he'd have a ring, but obviously not his fault.
Speaker 3: But quickly became a starter. Stood out even like as
Speaker 3: an eight or nine year old because the hair and
Speaker 3: the personality and you know, he looked a lot different then.
Speaker 3: I mean he looked at a wild man look about
Speaker 3: him and was very, very personable and played hard and
Speaker 3: you know, he tells crazy stories like he ran down
Speaker 3: on kickoffs and in high school. Rob Gronkowski's dad and
Speaker 3: Lex Luger were teammates of his. Yea like Lex Luger
Speaker 3: was one of the running backs that he's blocking for,
Speaker 3: not to mention all the stuff he did during his career.
Speaker 3: Shortly after with like his gyms and World's Strongest Man,
Speaker 3: I mean, like one of the strongest human beings walking
Speaker 3: this planet.
Speaker 2: He came like fifth I think, yeah right right in
Speaker 2: the battle, yeah right.
Speaker 3: I mean he fought Butterbean, who people might not remember Butterbean,
Speaker 3: but he was kind of like this king hippo dude
Speaker 3: from the Tyson punch out thing that everybody knew. I mean,
Speaker 3: he had an unbelievable athletic career, but particularly obviously as
Speaker 3: a Pittsburgh Steeler starting guard. Then finished the season or
Speaker 3: his career with the Vikings, you know, for a year
Speaker 3: or two, as people do, and as you said, immediately
Speaker 3: comes back embraced with open arms. And then everyone got
Speaker 3: to know him on the air and all these things too,
Speaker 3: you know. And then my first time working with him,
Speaker 3: we hosted a Wednesday night show that I still do,
Speaker 3: and then obviously it's training camp and things like that.
Speaker 3: But I was on the air with them a ton
Speaker 3: and considered him a really good friend.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I would not have to mention.
Speaker 3: All the light of light stuff and charity stuff unbelieving.
Speaker 2: I mean, when you think of a you know, a
Speaker 2: life well lived, when you think of a full life,
Speaker 2: I mean, Wolf is got to be right at the
Speaker 2: forefront of that conversation. You're right, such an interesting guy,
Speaker 2: such an interesting background, his athletic career, his right and
Speaker 2: and boxing and world's strongest man and all this, you know,
Speaker 2: all this different stuff. And yeah, of course just a
Speaker 2: all time eater. Of course, as everybody knows, who uh
Speaker 2: there's there's not many things that Wolf liked more than food.
Speaker 2: There were a couple, certainly, but you know, maybe football
Speaker 2: and family on the shortlist there. But just a guy
Speaker 2: with such a such an energy, such a passion for life,
Speaker 2: right they you know, Tounch and Wolf would always talk
Speaker 2: about every locker room has, you know, adders and subtractors
Speaker 2: and dividers and multipliers. Wolf was a multiplier man through
Speaker 2: and through and uh, and we still we still miss
Speaker 2: him all the time. But I'll be very happy, you know,
Speaker 2: for his wife, Faith, you know who I know fairly well.
Speaker 2: She's an amazing person, and it's is continuing to do
Speaker 2: great stuff in Wolf's honor. You know, obviously we know
Speaker 2: we know, uh, some of his family, some of his
Speaker 2: kids pretty well, his son, one of his sons, c J,
Speaker 2: worked with us for a long time as an engineer, producer,
Speaker 2: guy behind the scenes. We love CJ. You know, his daughters,
Speaker 2: his son Kyle, who is who is the marine who's
Speaker 2: stationed in Germany that Wolf was always so proud of
Speaker 2: and I've been fortunate enough to meet a couple of times.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was announced today, Matt, what
Speaker 2: the Hall of Honor game will be, because honestly, there
Speaker 2: will be a you know, there'll be a halftime ceremony
Speaker 2: at some point for all these guys to get officially enshrined.
Speaker 2: At some point for a home game this season, it
Speaker 2: will be the Cincinnati Bengals game on Sunday the twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Ed True for pointing that out to me.
Speaker 2: I know the Wolfly family will be there well, represented
Speaker 2: and that will be a very cool, richly deserved moment
Speaker 2: for the entire Wolfly family.
Speaker 3: And we could talk probably spend the next we're gonna
Speaker 3: be on the hour or on the on the show
Speaker 3: here till six. We could probably spend the entire time
Speaker 3: just telling wolf stories and different things we enjoyed with them.
Speaker 3: But one comes to mind as we sit here and
Speaker 3: slightly cloudy, But do you do you know the wolf stuff?
Speaker 2: I think I know where you're going with this. He
Speaker 2: was petrified of. There weren't many things he was scared of.
Speaker 3: Fearful human being. I mean he was. I mean it
Speaker 3: was one of the last guys I'd ever want to
Speaker 3: meet in an alley or something like that. But I
Speaker 3: guess the Wolflies as a family, him and his siblings
Speaker 3: and all those guys are petrified of lightning because they've
Speaker 3: got hit a lot. They have like this history of
Speaker 3: getting hit by lightning. I don't know if it's something
Speaker 3: in their blood. Do they have a little more like
Speaker 3: iron or magnesium or something that's or they just big
Speaker 3: people and chances are he's going to hit him over
Speaker 3: you because he's got one hundred pounds on it, right.
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I always thought about that. Here.
Speaker 3: He was always fearful, especially here because so open storm
Speaker 3: would come. He's like, how do I get that cafeteria
Speaker 3: to eat? Because I like to eat too, but I
Speaker 3: don't want to hit my lightning.
Speaker 2: He was so scared to go outside. And you know,
Speaker 2: the first couple of years that I was working with
Speaker 2: him and with all of you guys, Matt, when I
Speaker 2: was still doing I was doing a little on air stuff,
Speaker 2: but mostly behind the scenes stuff.
Speaker 3: We did it in the locker room mostly or early
Speaker 3: on within the contra.
Speaker 2: Correct and uh. And this was in the days where
Speaker 2: our broadcast location was still outside we were set up.
Speaker 2: Because at that I don't miss those days. I don't
Speaker 2: miss those I don't miss those days either, because they
Speaker 2: would do the morning show at that point, and they
Speaker 2: would do it out in like the Fan Experience era
Speaker 2: when all the fans where you know, when the gates
Speaker 2: would open and the fans were rolling in and all
Speaker 2: that stuff.
Speaker 3: And a lot of the fans, but they could also
Speaker 3: get in the way when you're trying to do especially
Speaker 3: when it rains, and they're like this, come into the
Speaker 3: tent with you.
Speaker 2: And every time it would rain, or there'd be any
Speaker 2: type of weather threat. Wolf would like, he be like
Speaker 2: and Touch would just be laughing at him. Tounch would
Speaker 2: be like, have his hands up behind his head, like
Speaker 2: leaning back, and he'd be like, dude, just relax, what
Speaker 2: are you so worried about. He'd be like, you see
Speaker 2: all these big trees around us, They're gonna str the
Speaker 2: lightning's going to strike the trees first before.
Speaker 3: It that light post that's like super high and begging
Speaker 3: to get hit. But I don't know. There must be
Speaker 3: some reason. I guess him and his brothers and a
Speaker 3: lot of them been.
Speaker 2: Hit without a doubt. You know, well, you we've said
Speaker 2: this before, Matt, and we'll say it many times again,
Speaker 2: like we'll never telling stories about Dale and about Wolf
Speaker 2: and about Tounch. And we'll do that as long as
Speaker 2: we're fortunate enough to sit in these chairs. So Wolfe's
Speaker 2: memory was always gonna be remembered around here, obviously, but
Speaker 2: I'm glad that it's now enshrined in the history of
Speaker 2: the organization forever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you probably I should know this off the
Speaker 3: top of my head, but I think he passed right
Speaker 3: before last year's group was announced. Yes, you know, so
Speaker 3: basically got in as quickly as you can, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. Great respect obviously, yes, for all.
Speaker 2: Three of these guys, absolutely, absolutely, all great contributors to
Speaker 2: the organization, all great contributors to the community of Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: and Western Pennsylvania at large. Big congratulations to Kevin Colbert, J. T. Thomas,
Speaker 2: and Craig Wolfley the Steelers Hall of Honor class of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. We're just getting started today. We've got
Speaker 2: plenty more ground to cover. We're gonna do some practice
Speaker 2: conversation when we return. We're gonna talk to Chris Hallick
Speaker 2: in the four o'clock hour. You know, we're going to
Speaker 2: get to your tweets in the five o'clock hour. Keep
Speaker 2: those rolling in as well. At West Leuler at Williamson, NFL.
Speaker 2: It is the drive. We are at Saint Vincent College, Chucknollfield.
Speaker 2: All part of our ongoing training camp coverage Steelers Nation
Speaker 2: Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1: This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
Speaker 1: Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Speaker 1: Easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and brought to you
Speaker 1: in part by Always Safe flagging and traffic control, making
Speaker 1: traffic safe again called four one two three oh one
Speaker 1: twenty three hundred, or visit us online at awsafe dot
Speaker 1: net for a quote today by FedEx the new power
Speaker 1: move independence health system expert care here Remax Select Realty
Speaker 1: visit Remax Select Pittsburgh dot com. The Laurel Highlands of
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania visit go Laurel Highlands dot com. The Steelers Pro Shop,
Speaker 1: visit shop dot Steelers dot com and buy Coniente Pizza
Speaker 1: and draft house.
Speaker 2: Gear up with the latest game day necessities at the
Speaker 2: official Steelers Pro Shops. Get all the latest Sideline apparel, jerseys,
Speaker 2: terrible towels, authentic memorabilia and custom exclusives you can find
Speaker 2: directly from the team. Visit one of the Steelers Official
Speaker 2: Pro Shop locations located at Akerser Stadium, Grove City Premium Outlets,
Speaker 2: or the Tanger Outlets, or you can also always shop online.
Speaker 2: Gear up online at shop dot Steelers dot com. There's
Speaker 2: also a big, massive, official Steelers Pro Shop tent that
Speaker 2: they set up here at Camp every single year. Matt
Speaker 2: I went in there a little earlier in the week.
Speaker 2: I learned from a mistake that I made last year, okay,
Speaker 2: little peel back the curtain for you here. Last year,
Speaker 2: obviously we all know, Steelers played in Dublin. It was
Speaker 2: a lot of success. Matt and I were there. We
Speaker 2: had a great time. We saw a lot of our
Speaker 2: loyal listeners out there also having a great time, and
Speaker 2: we he had an amazing experience. And I obviously got
Speaker 2: some cool.
Speaker 3: Stuff while I was did pick up some good stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the Steelers Dublin Terrible towels were so I
Speaker 2: was like, I was like, I'll wait till I get
Speaker 2: to Dublin and I'll get stuff. Sure, Sure, And then
Speaker 2: there were no Terrible towels left. There were none of
Speaker 2: like the you know, like the fridge magnets and the
Speaker 2: stickers and all that kind of merchandise because it was
Speaker 2: all in the footballs because they were all gone so quick.
Speaker 2: Uh So I learned from my mistake. I went into
Speaker 2: the pro shop here on campus a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2: I got the France terrible towel and and one of
Speaker 2: the fridge magnets to throw on my beer fridge.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's like the it's the Eiffel Tower and black and
Speaker 2: whatter and black and gold, you know, it says Paris
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six with the Steeler's logo. So I, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, I I kind of fumbled it a little
Speaker 2: bit last year in Dublin. I came back with plenty
Speaker 2: of Guinness merchandise, yes you did, but not as much
Speaker 2: Steelers official stuff as I wanted. But I took care
Speaker 2: of business and got the France stuff already in the
Speaker 2: bag and secured here.
Speaker 3: Nice work, Nice work. I was actually kind of you
Speaker 3: mentioned it before, but I was actually they had the
Speaker 3: Paris stuff here already and all that kind of stuff too.
Speaker 3: And you know, it seems like it's so far away,
Speaker 3: but it really isn't.
Speaker 2: Honestly, it will. It will be here before we know it.
Speaker 2: The Steelers will be playing a preseason game here, what
Speaker 2: in about ten or eleven, twelve ish days. That's nuts too,
Speaker 2: That is that is nuts. Not this Thursday, but next Thursday.
Speaker 2: So that's what. Yeah, twelve days from now, the Steelers
Speaker 2: will be playing their first preseason game at home against
Speaker 2: the Packers. And yeah, it'll be September and the Falcons
Speaker 2: will be in town for the start of the regular season.
Speaker 2: Certainly before we know it.
Speaker 3: Matt, I'm not sure if the drive will be broadcasting
Speaker 3: from Paris. I'm not sure you're definitely gonna be there
Speaker 3: with the broadcast will.
Speaker 2: I will be there with the broadcast team, and I'm
Speaker 2: sure we'll be doing some type of stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure something out of the ordinary, at least.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't think it would be quite like Ireland, though,
Speaker 2: where we were there for like four days and did
Speaker 2: shows every day and the DV a pub. Yes, the
Speaker 2: DV morning show was out there with us.
Speaker 3: I think it'll be a shorter trip as the road team.
Speaker 2: I think yes, because when you're the home team, it's
Speaker 2: it's obviously a little different than the road team. And
Speaker 2: that game in Dublin was decades in the making. And
Speaker 2: not that Steelers fans aren't gonna flock to Paris, but
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people had waited for that
Speaker 2: moment in Dublin. It felt inevitable for so long, and
Speaker 2: there was obviously a lot of hype and pomp and
Speaker 2: circumstance behind all of it. Rightfully, so it'll still be
Speaker 2: insane in Paris, but I wouldn't imagine that we'll quite
Speaker 2: be ratcheted up to that level.
Speaker 3: Like shocked. I'd be shocked like we were in Dublin.
Speaker 3: Different city all together, I mean, different field of the city.
Speaker 3: I'm sure too.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, the yinsers walking around with pints in Dublin
Speaker 2: were very at home. I don't know if it would
Speaker 2: quite be the same. It quite be the same, It
Speaker 2: quite be the same walking past the Louver in Paris.
Speaker 3: But it's gonna be a super cool thing.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be awesome. I can't wait. We were talking
Speaker 2: with our our buddy Michael mcquaide. You heard him on
Speaker 2: with with Max about about forty five minutes ago if
Speaker 2: you've been listening to our SNR coverage all day. We
Speaker 2: were talking to him a little bit last night. I
Speaker 2: was I was getting excited for for all the fun
Speaker 2: stuff that we got coming up this fall. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's tough tough to beat a trip to to France
Speaker 2: for a game against the Saints. It's going to be
Speaker 2: a ton of fun. Matt wanted to get some thoughts
Speaker 2: you and I. You actually beat me here today by
Speaker 2: about ten fifteen minutes. Because final practice, first Saturday practice,
Speaker 2: we knew that the crowd and the energy here would
Speaker 2: be ratcheted up. It was also just final acclamation practice
Speaker 2: that usually is kind of a little bit more of
Speaker 2: a busier practice because they know the guys have the
Speaker 2: next day off, so let's really kind of get a
Speaker 2: movie today and a lot going on. I wondered if
Speaker 2: there was anything, you know, you and I were kind
Speaker 2: of up here watching all of it and hanging out
Speaker 2: chatting with Rob King in the process, anything from today's
Speaker 2: practice that you wanted to discuss. Were you watching the quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: were you watching McCarthy? What was kind of at the
Speaker 2: forefront of your mind today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm trying to take it all in, and it
Speaker 3: is a lot. I mean again, these aren't knocks on
Speaker 3: a Tomlin led camp. There's just more going on on,
Speaker 3: more blades of grass in this year than anytime I've
Speaker 3: been here.
Speaker 2: It's rough for my add man, I'm like, what am
Speaker 2: I watching? What am I watching? Wee?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really hard always to watch things on the
Speaker 3: far field, so I didn't even try to bother because
Speaker 3: there was plenty in front of us. I would have
Speaker 3: to double check. But it felt like there was a
Speaker 3: lot of special teams, you know, like the first practice
Speaker 3: I watched only had one period around five minutes or
Speaker 3: so of special teams. This one seemed like it was
Speaker 3: more extensive, more team stuff, you know, I mean, not
Speaker 3: breaking the rules and blocking in all those things. But
Speaker 3: it was eleven on eleven Watt versus Rogers. You know,
Speaker 3: there was top guys out there. I did watch the
Speaker 3: quarterbacks a fair amount, and some of the aller stuff,
Speaker 3: aller stuff that plagued him at Penn State plagued him
Speaker 3: today too. I mean, throws, you gotta make that just
Speaker 3: how do you not make that one? But he also
Speaker 3: has easy gas, you know, like the ball comes out
Speaker 3: of his hands nice, and he is a natural thrower
Speaker 3: of the football, and you know, his snappy release and
Speaker 3: can put a lot of RPMs behind it, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of like the Penn State scouting report. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: again I'm not knocking Howard, but Howard looks much more
Speaker 3: comfortable than Alor, especially like in a team setting. But
Speaker 3: he doesn't have that, you know, like if he They
Speaker 3: had this cool drill, remember we were talking about, where
Speaker 3: they brought out this massive net that usually you throw
Speaker 3: the ball into the holes for quarterback accuracy, but they
Speaker 3: used it to simulate like the linebackers to throw the
Speaker 3: ball over the cage.
Speaker 2: That they cam Hayward when he's right.
Speaker 3: So you want to put you could get the easy
Speaker 3: way out and throw a real blooper over there and
Speaker 3: complete it in the hole there in the zone, or
Speaker 3: you watch Rogers do at that ball is only a
Speaker 3: couple of inches over the bar, you know, because he
Speaker 3: could he could really generate RPMs. A drill like that
Speaker 3: shows the difference between Howard and Alur just in terms
Speaker 3: of throwing gifts, you know what I mean. One just
Speaker 3: has a snappier, easier arm, where Howard has to put
Speaker 3: a lot more air on that throw. And it doesn't
Speaker 3: sound like much, but that might be one step that
Speaker 3: the safety gets to the destination, which could be all
Speaker 3: the difference, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It's probably we talk about arm strength.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, those were arm strength type throws. They're not
Speaker 3: deep balls. They're comebacks into traffic, you know, and if
Speaker 3: you more more of the line you can put it
Speaker 3: on the better.
Speaker 2: No, that was a that was a fun drill to
Speaker 2: watch because we were actually laughing at first. We thought,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned a lot of times, I think people
Speaker 2: know what we're talking about. The big quarterback accuracy nets, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, and there's different there's different holes on the
Speaker 2: the nets and quarterbacks do a rollout or things like that,
Speaker 2: and then they're trying to hit the target.
Speaker 3: But the actual apparatus is probably a similar size to
Speaker 3: like a soccer net.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say it's probably, it's probably it's probably
Speaker 2: close to ten feet tall.
Speaker 3: I would think nine or ten feet tall. Cam Hayward
Speaker 3: with arms up, you know, right.
Speaker 2: And h and Matt and I. When they first brought
Speaker 2: it out, we thought that they were going to be
Speaker 2: trying to throw into the netting, right.
Speaker 3: I thought they were going for the hole.
Speaker 2: And so it was Mason Rudolph, I think, who went first,
Speaker 2: and he throws it over the bar and we're like
Speaker 2: that wasn't very good throw.
Speaker 3: Geez, how'd you miss that bad?
Speaker 2: And then Aaron Rodgers comes up and does the same thing,
Speaker 2: and we were like, a.
Speaker 3: Right over the bar right now?
Speaker 2: I did it And I were like, man, did he
Speaker 2: really miss it that bad? That bad?
Speaker 3: I could hit the net?
Speaker 2: That one got away from him.
Speaker 3: There another drie I found interesting that I'd never seen
Speaker 3: the last staff do. And there's probably many of them.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's a million different football practice drills that
Speaker 3: these guys do across the league. But there was a
Speaker 3: pretty ordinary drill. It started. They were down like on
Speaker 3: the ten to fifteen yard line, going into the end zone,
Speaker 3: and they were having like running backs and receivers just
Speaker 3: kind of flare out, catch the ball as they're going
Speaker 3: into the end zone, go up and get it. You know,
Speaker 3: I don't think they were trying to make perfect throws.
Speaker 3: It was as if there was someone with them. Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm thinking nothing of it. It's like they're pretty simple routes. Throws, catch,
Speaker 3: go up and get it. The receivers are out there,
Speaker 3: the tight ends, running backs, and then I saw the
Speaker 3: Gold Jerseys coming out there doing the same thing, and
Speaker 3: they started in a different position. They started with their
Speaker 3: back to the end zone, but then flipped their hips
Speaker 3: not against an opponent, and went up and caught the
Speaker 3: football too. It's like, okay, we have quarterbacks throwing intentional
Speaker 3: picks here to the defense to help them with their
Speaker 3: ball skills too. You know there's something that stood out,
Speaker 3: like usually that's an offensive thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that that is that was cool.
Speaker 2: And you know what, it's like a it's a tough
Speaker 2: drill because you gotta find the ball. You got to
Speaker 2: get through the dummy.
Speaker 3: You know, if you will, if you don't cheat, you
Speaker 3: should start with your eyes on the guy you're covering,
Speaker 3: not quarterbacks, you know, right.
Speaker 2: Sure, that's a good that's American point. A little easy
Speaker 2: to cheat, but still a difficult drill without a doubt.
Speaker 3: And so there were some defensive backs that contorted and
Speaker 3: went up and snagged it and high pointed the football.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, they can do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, a lot of Daylan Everett. These last couple
Speaker 2: of days.
Speaker 3: Everett and Samuel have been talked about a lot a
Speaker 3: lot of area.
Speaker 2: And they were in a lot of the I shouldn't
Speaker 2: say a lot of it because that's that's an exaggeration,
Speaker 2: but in a few of the drills it felt like
Speaker 2: they were kind of going out of their way to
Speaker 2: give Everett the DK Metcalf matchup. You know, that's a
Speaker 2: trading camp thing, like here come, young guy, you know,
Speaker 2: go up against go up against our number one. And
Speaker 2: they've they've had their battles, but Everett's held his own,
Speaker 2: and there's been I think a good kind of like
Speaker 2: camaraderie back and you can see them after a drill
Speaker 2: going off to the side and kind of talking about it.
Speaker 2: It seems like, and we saw this last year, these
Speaker 2: first acclamation practices. To Matt, seems like Aaron Rodgers almost
Speaker 2: like really going out of his way to target DK
Speaker 2: Metcalf to get you know what I mean, to get that,
Speaker 2: to get that connection, to get that Wi Fi back
Speaker 2: up Between the two of them, It's there's been a
Speaker 2: lot of Aaron Rodgers to DK stuff in these in
Speaker 2: these last couple of practice.
Speaker 3: Yes, and Pittman looks the part real quick on Everett.
Speaker 3: I mean, just from a scouting perspective, he looks very
Speaker 3: long and fluid, just as an athlete, you know, which
Speaker 3: is obviously very important for that specific position. Another note,
Speaker 3: you know, with the receivers, Roman Wilson is currently pretty
Speaker 3: high up the depth chart.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, he's been all over the place too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when they have three receivers on the field, he's
Speaker 3: out there a lot. I wouldn't say he's the third
Speaker 3: or but he's out there a lot, a lot of
Speaker 3: buzz about him too. I'm excited to see him in
Speaker 3: pads because I think that's a real test for the
Speaker 3: smaller receiver types. They're built with speed and finesse. Lineman,
Speaker 3: it's really hard to it's tough talked about much of anything.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, like, we've Jennings Dunker has been
Speaker 2: running with the threes and he's he's looked the part
Speaker 2: and he's he's looked like.
Speaker 3: He uh he the ginger in.
Speaker 2: The ginger Yinser, which which which we love that name certainly.
Speaker 2: But there's like I was laughing too, because he's he's
Speaker 2: done very well. I think, like you said, without the
Speaker 2: pads on, it's really tough to it anyway, but it
Speaker 2: also feels like jennings Dunker has done really well. He
Speaker 2: made I think it was Jacobe WindMan hit the deck
Speaker 2: today at one point too, and I had the old
Speaker 2: Tounch joking in the back of my head, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, that's nice to see he's doing it
Speaker 2: with the freeze though.
Speaker 3: But it's like they say, he's down down the depth chart.
Speaker 2: Now, if you can't beat the stiff, you are a stick.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm sure we will see jennings Dunker. He'll
Speaker 2: get an opportunity to start moving up that that pecking
Speaker 2: I think that's not a rare thing to see the
Speaker 2: Steelers make all these guys, earn it doesn't matter if
Speaker 2: you're a third round pick, if you're a first round pick.
Speaker 2: But yeah, once the pads go on next week, Matt,
Speaker 2: I think you and I will start talking about the
Speaker 2: offensive line much more, and certainly the defensive line too.
Speaker 3: Dunker. His style of play is physical, padded, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean he should shine or even be better in
Speaker 3: that environment than this environment.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, well said. Well, we'll close with some final observations.
Speaker 2: Close down this first hour of the show with some
Speaker 2: final observations from practice number four. All of the moving
Speaker 2: and shaking on campus today. A little bit quieter in
Speaker 2: terms of the grounds crew. There is somebody out there
Speaker 2: right now doing a little mowing and a little cleaning up.
Speaker 3: But yeah, a lot of groundskeeper news to give you
Speaker 3: at the time.
Speaker 2: They are Peyton lines though on the other side you
Speaker 2: see that on the far side field over there, and
Speaker 2: they're not using got the motive? Do you think the
Speaker 2: robot got a DFA to use a baseball term? Did
Speaker 2: they send them back down to the minors That robot
Speaker 2: did struggle. We'll see if he gets a chance at redemption.
Speaker 2: We've got plenty to get to as we roll along here,
Speaker 2: Weshuler Matt Williamson. It is the Drive Live at Training
Speaker 2: Camp Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six. Steelers Training Camp on the Steelers Audio Network,
Speaker 1: presented by bod Light, Easy to drink, easy to enjoy,
Speaker 1: and brought to you in part by Clearview Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 1: For every touchdown the Black and Gold Score in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six, Clearview will donate five hundred dollars to the
Speaker 1: Light of Life Mission. Visit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org. Easy home exteriors, fast,
Speaker 1: reliable and affordable Schneider Downs discover the value of big
Speaker 1: thinking with a personal focus. US steel Mine melted and
Speaker 1: made in the USA, your neighborhood Forward Store and by
Speaker 1: the Steelers Pro Shop. Visitshop dot Steelers dot Com.
Speaker 2: Backhi Top Chuck Nolefield here on the campus of Saint
Speaker 2: Vincent College, West Yuler Matt Williamson. Sorry about that elongated
Speaker 2: break there. Some you'll have those. That's what happened, Matt.
Speaker 2: You were bragging too much with these nice, new fancy
Speaker 2: headsets that we have.
Speaker 3: So excited about the new equipment that the old equipment
Speaker 3: doesn't want to do its job.
Speaker 2: The new equipment's doing. The old equipment's given us some
Speaker 2: grief here, as we got some in these last few
Speaker 2: minutes while we've been getting back on air. We've got
Speaker 2: some darker storm class yeous little ominous here on this
Speaker 2: love it when, love it when it joke comes all
Speaker 2: right circle here absolutely as it is. Uh, still still
Speaker 2: a fairly nice day here, but we do have some
Speaker 2: some ominous clouds rolling in. Thanks to thanks to our
Speaker 2: guy Ed for uh and and Justin for helping us
Speaker 2: get this, uh, this whole situation figured out. Here, we
Speaker 2: got some prop airplanes flying over.
Speaker 3: I always forget about this here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3: I mean we're so close to that airport and they
Speaker 3: are always little playing you know, you think about like
Speaker 3: mister Rooney flying in, you know back in the day.
Speaker 3: You know, it's so cool it is.
Speaker 2: And I remember one of the first years I was
Speaker 2: out here, Matt in a working capacity, so it would
Speaker 2: have been I think like eighteen or nineteen. You know,
Speaker 2: they have the Westmoreland Air Show right down the road
Speaker 2: every summer, and that's like serious bombers and like military aircraft.
Speaker 2: They're involved in that too. It's a big deal. And
Speaker 2: I don't know, if it was a scheduling mistake, if
Speaker 2: it was a mishap, if it was the only way
Speaker 2: they could work it out. But they actually had the
Speaker 2: Westmoreland Air Show on the day of a Steeler's practice.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember this, I do, but
Speaker 2: it was the most distracting thing I've ever been because
Speaker 2: there's like blue angels like bombing over campus while Ben
Speaker 2: Roethlisberger's trying to find a b and they haven't done
Speaker 2: that since, because I wonder if they were like, all right, hey,
Speaker 2: let's not have this. And I think it was on
Speaker 2: a Saturday, so practice was crazy. I mean, traffic by
Speaker 2: the air was just traffic chaos.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the most traffic ever in this area of the
Speaker 3: country is just you know, total yeah, perfect storm.
Speaker 2: Absolute chaos. But that was a really cool experience of
Speaker 2: like watching watching Benthrow darts while you had you know,
Speaker 2: like military airfare coming over the over the over the
Speaker 2: airways there and uh and so yeah, so uh so
Speaker 2: a lot that's been moving and shaking out here on
Speaker 2: the grounds. Okay, we think we got our situation all
Speaker 2: secure here. We're gonna take a quick break here. We'll
Speaker 2: be back for our full four o'clock hour will be
Speaker 2: joined by our buddy Chris Halleck here before too much longer,
Speaker 2: A lot to get to on campus hour in the books,
Speaker 2: Two more hours to go, Euler Williamson. It's the Drive
Speaker 2: Steelers Nation Radio on the Steelers Audio Network