HR1: In the Locker Room Live from Training Camp Day 2

Rob King and Max Starks take in the morning before the second practice of camp for the Steelers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I Heart Radios.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Live coverage of about twenty twenty five Steelers training Camp
is presented by Faedex where Now meets Next and also
brought to you by bud Light, Independence Health System, by
Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino, Calciente Pizza and
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(00:30):
we Max Select Realty, the Pittsburgh Steelers Pro Shop, and
by us steel.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Welcome back to La Trobe and welcome inside the locker
room with King and Stark's presented by your neighborhood Ford
Store on the Steelers Audio Network alongside Max Starks.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
I'm Rob King, we have west Yuler here, we have CJ.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Wolfley doing the producing and running in the occasional bottle
of water just before.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
We hit the air.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Is that about how you finish, how you start right now?
Or is that the other I.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Think it's I think they're all is well that begins well.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Actually that's what we're going for right now.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
So Max, let me ask you this before we get
into some of the particulars about the team. We're gonna
spend you know, the next week, week and a half
talking about position groups and players and getting ready for
the first game and all that. But you know, there's
so much ground to cover. We covered some yesterday, will
continue to cover ground over the next you know again
camp going to August twelfth, right, getting everybody ready for

(01:30):
the season? Day one? Right, So day one is now
in the books. How's everybody's bodies feeling? Are these guys?
Are these guys in such great shape that they're just
ready to go today? They're like, oh, wow, you know,
I remember, I remember I was running a lot, you know,
back when I was a much younger man.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
I was doing a lot of running. I was running
probably four or five miles a day.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
And I played like a charity softball game and I
had a triple and I was sore the next day
from sprinting because I hadn't sprinted.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I get a triple in a thing.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
So my question is, is any of this or is
there gonna be These guys are in phenomenal shape, but
is there soreness?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Is there? You know what?

Speaker 4 (02:10):
A little any of that? Right, even though there's not
a lot of contact that sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, The thing is is like you're going to feel sore,
right because there's that adrenaline factor you get out here,
there's fans cheering for you. You know, the blood starts
to get going a little bit different than you sitting
at a gym in front of a squat rack. Right,
so you and you have the human element. Right, they're moving.
It's not a static or stationary thing. So you're gonna
get the natural kind of quads and hamstrings soreness from

(02:36):
squatting or sprinting, getting in and out of your cuts.
And for linemen, really the biggest thing for us is
like shoulders, because a defensive lineman, no matter if his
shoulder pads or not, they're grabbing your shoulder. They're moving
you and manipulating you. So you have you know sometimes
you know if if if you bruise easily, you know
you'll have some fingerprints from from working around guys jostling

(02:58):
around and also like hitting the bag. So there's gonna
be some general body soreness and maybe position specific issues.
Like I said, offensive line defensive line is gonna be
a little bit of shoulders that you're gonna feel it
in your chest area. You know. For DB's linebackers, you know,
it's the quads and the hamstrings. You're gonna feel a
little bit more, maybe even in the calf, you know,

(03:18):
from just that stark position. So I look at that. Obviously, quarterbacks,
you know this rob you know, the shoulder, the elbow
area is gonna be a little sore from flinging the
ball around and judging like the distance or maybe hey,
guy was a little bit further than I thought, so
I had to like kind of kind of rip it
a little bit further. But it means general soreness at
this time. I mean, the biggest thing is, you know,
you come out of a practice healthy, you know, and

(03:40):
obviously you want to continue to get better. You have
to have that soreness. You have to have a little
bit of pain, because that means the muscles are growing,
the muscles are waking up and getting ready for football
movements and not the static off season strength and conditioning movements.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
So in the little radio verite here, Max, when he
was describing you know, the lineman, he grabbed me by
the shoulder. So if you see me on the air
tonight in TV lurching to one side, it's because Max
grabbed my shoulder.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
It was a.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Show him on radio.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
I know, but I have to have to feel like
you have to understand what I'm feeling, and so sometimes
you know, it becomes a little physical, you know type
type of interpretation.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
Yeah, that's either you either have a very large head
or I have a very small shoulder.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I can see, we can go and see all the above.
None wrong with that. On test right, I went in doubt, Pixie.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
I'll never forget my first training camp out here. Touch
was taking me through some some technique stuff during a
break and I'm like, I'm like trying not the wins,
you know what I mean. He's like punching me at hand. Man.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
I'm like, I'm like, Touch, I'm like five ten man,
come one hundred and fifty five pounds, take it easy.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
My shoulders never foun two hundred and five pounds. My
shoulders never felt so small. That's when Max put his I.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Mean, I mean, these myths aren't are made by accident,
like they are large. Yeah, God said you're either going
to pick up very heavy things or move very large people.
So I picked I picked the.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
So let me ask you, Max, did you get any
anything out of yesterday?

Speaker 4 (05:06):
Is it just it's just starting up, and it's just
starting up.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
I just want to see guys moving. I want to
see guys healthy, right, I mean that's really the biggest
thing where you think, because now it's the acclamation, right acclimation.
You got to acclimate to hitting. I'm like, either you
do or you don't, you know, in my book, So
coming out here, it's just good to see guys go
through the motions, right. I mean Aaron Rodgers has has
ball cap on running around and just doing stuff, moving left,

(05:29):
moving right, offensive line, you know, slide steps, you know, stick,
get to your double teams. It's really about a fit
and a feel and kind of the modus operandi of practice,
like going through what the operation of practice is. And
it's not the physicality. It's not the competition period yet.
And so if a guy shines, oh, you know, like yesterday,

(05:51):
you know, Aaron Rodgers are an interception on his first throw.
What so I'm glad he did it out here, right,
it doesn't count in the record books. And I'm like,
you know, cause I remember one funny stat like somebody
was saying, like Pat Mahomes, He's throting like twenty two
interceptions and like his first ten practices as a rookie. Wow,
I was like who cares? And why do we have

(06:11):
a statistician sitting out in the crowd instead of just
enjoying the fact that we have football, you are literally
counting stats in practice that will never go. It's not
going to end up on his Hall of Fame resident. Well,
you know that one time he had he had a
twenty two interception streak, and nobody cares. Nobody cares. They
care about how many games you win in the regular season.

(06:32):
So I thought it was funny how everybody was up
in arms about this, and then somebody I guess, filmed
it on their iPhone and.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Put it out and I mean, you did you did
you make that announcement.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Every time, every all last year, my first training camp,
and here I make the announcement, you're not allowed to
shoot video.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
For here's my question. Am I shooting a video? Am
I taking a photo?

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Max right now has got his phone held up again.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Let's radio. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
I'm saying, uh, neither, you're just holding your phone up.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
I mean, I mean, I am, yes.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Okay, but you could have been taking it.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
I could have been taking a video. I could have
been taking You don't know the difference. And for the security,
I'm like it's gonna happen, and it's like, you know,
we kind of know what era we're in. So I
think it's just crazy that people trying to like monitor
what went on to social media. I'm like, it doesn't
matter at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
So Max says something and it's like, uh, it's mental
whack a mole for me. Like they're like three things
I want to follow up. The first I just really quickly.
I wanted to say, yesterday I was talking about how
Rogers is the best stroller of a football I've ever seen.
It was fun to see Mahomes in person. Yeah, last year,
he's got all the throws too, I've got the entire well,
I still say Rogers is the best at that that

(07:40):
I've seen.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
But if you know, if you're Skyler Thompson.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
For example, right, and you're trying to make a name
for yourself that first inn, the first throw of the
first interception, you might be living.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
With that for a while, right, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
You're Aaron Rodgers, you know, so it might be you know,
let's say Skyler Thompson did that and he came out
and he made team, and you know, it would be
kind of a funny story.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Aaron Rodgers won't even remember that. No, I won't even
remember that.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Are you sure he won't remember that? Probably today or
tomorrow exactly. But I think, but that, but that, But
that's also the fun, right, because you have to find
something right, you know, when you're looking at the nugget
of the day. That's kind of a thing that kind
of stuck out. But I think for me, the biggest
thing was just seeing how how deep that D line is. Yes,

(08:28):
Oh my god, the depth, the depth of that D line. Man,
I was letting and I was sitting at dinner last
night and I got you know, I got to talk
to Logan Lee for a little bit. We were in
the we were in the smoothie line, and you know,
it was just like, you know, I just said, hey, man,
you know, how is He's like man, He's like, he's
like man. Last year was just it was just such
such a haze, right, And I think that's the biggest
that's the biggest way to describe, like when you're a

(08:48):
rookie in this like it goes by so quick but
feel so long because from the end of the college
season into combine into you know, pre draft visits, into
the draft process, getting in early for rookie mandatory mini
camp ot like, it's just a conveyor belt throughout the
year that you just get on and so you don't

(09:09):
really get to feel the effects or really take stock
until you get to the end of the season getting
ready for your next season and just kind of seeing
kind of the relief like I made it through. Was
kind of just a cool thing to kind of have
that quick little interaction and just check in with him.
But that D line, man, there's a lot of competentity.
I'm really excited. I would say the two groups. I'm
really excited about our secondary and our defensive line about

(09:32):
just how much depth there is right now.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
So I want to before we get into the depth
of the D line, I wanted to convey to you
a conversation I had with Troy Fultano and which I
think probably would be relatable also as well to Logan Lee,
which is at injuries, right, you're rookie, you get injured,
you don't get out there, you don't have an opportunity
to play.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
But it's not a lost season. You know.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
It wasn't a lost season for Troy Fultano because he
had you know, I think every things probably new as
a rookie, right the acclamation to meetings and coaches and
you know, your the room, the people around you, all
these sorts of things. Obviously they're working out and the
playing is a big adjustment from the college level, but
it's not like they didn't get something out there. Loganly

(10:17):
of course, was able to get out a little more
than Troy was. But I still think that they're not
you know, when we look at Fautano, when we look
at Loganly, they're not rookies, and yet they're kind of
also not second year guys. They're sort of in between somewhere.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, they're in limbo right right, they're in limbo. They're
quasi for because they've had some experience, but they didn't
get the full experience, so you got the appetizer still
waiting on the entre to come to the table. And
for them, the good thing is you did get to
see what pace looks like. You did get to see
what in season speed and strength, right and kind of

(10:52):
going through a processing of the playbook throughout the week.
How does how how does a game plan come together?
You know, the way you study and I think those
are the things that will help them, so they'll be
you know, they'll be kind of what we call one
plus right now, not quite a year two. They're one
plus in their experience because they did get regular season reps.
And when you take that into camp, now I know

(11:15):
what to expect and also coming into training camp, I
know what the expectation is from day one to the
last day of training camp. I know how it ramps
up in acclamation versus when we get that first day
of pass to Friday night lights, Like you kind of
know what the progression is, whereas a rookie you're just
kind of just wading through the fog the entire season.
Every experience is a new experience. Now they say, well,

(11:35):
I remember last year. You know, you can say remember
when that's when you're in a good place with your
progress within anything in life, but especially in professional sports.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
And all these are important, All these growing experiences are
important for plus. Yes, and I think there's more, you know, Troy,
I think was more comfortable having gone through you know,
last year.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
Of course you went through the rookie mini.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
Camp and the OTAs and the you know, the offseason
workouts and all that, and camp obviously the season, part
fell a little bit short when you talk.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
About that d line. Matt Williamson had a phenomenal stat
Matt Williams, what a treasure with all the statistics.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
He's the best.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Matt sets Matt stats.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
The Steelers were elite at stopping the run when Cam
Hayrod was on the field, elite. They were one of
the best in the NFL when he wasn't on the field.
And remember Cam is getting older sixty seventy percent of
the snaps. That's you know, that's about all you can ask.
It's hard to ask that of a young guy, much
less a veteran guy. When he wasn't on the field,

(12:32):
they were at the very bottom of the league. So
what did that tell you? That told you, well, we
need defensive linemen, we need more guys in here. So
you go out and you sign at Kuala Daniel Qualley,
a good veteran guy who can you know, hopefully provide
some depth or at least some competition for depth, because
like you said, there's so many guys. And then obviously
the two draft choices Harmon and Black. I think that

(12:55):
they have reworked this team in a larger sense. I
think Omark has done a marvelous job over the last
three years of identifying a weakness on the roster and
going out and bolstering that weakness and making something better.
And I think when if you looked at this offseason
for the Steelers, you would have said, Okay, well, they've
got to get a quarterback, okay, Aaron Rodgers. They've probably

(13:18):
got to get some guys back in the in the secondary,
maybe some more corners.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Okay, Well you had two really really good ones.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, I mean really good ones in Ramsey and Sleigh,
and you know, I don't want to discount Thornhill on
the back end as well, and Eccles who will give
you some depth and some and some athleticism. But the
biggest one to me was that defensive line, because we've
seen over the years, if you can stop the run,
you know, the defensive line does so many things. If
you stop the run, you can force the team to

(13:47):
be one dimensional. Now, you can change your person out
a little bit, you can put your best forward Schematically, Also,
if you can get after the passer with those guys
up front, you can make things very uncomfortable for or
for quarterbacks. And then that has a trickle down effect
and helps your coverage as well. So I think that's
always been the Steelers philosophy. It starts up front and

(14:07):
in the back end, you know, can kind of adjust
to that, but well, they improve the back end. But
to me, that D line there's gonna be this is
what I felt about the offensive line last year. There's
gonna be some good guys who probably don't make this
team now they're injuries. Yeah, I think there are some
good players that are probably not gonna make the Steelers.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
In the defensive line. That's a huge turnaround from a
year ago.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
It is a huge turnaround. And for Carl Dunbar, other
than the stated he also he loves to rotate guys.
You know, he wants seven to eight guys that he
can rotate through in the defensive line because, I mean,
let's face it, we've been using more kind of a
four down philosophy versus the traditional three four that we've known,
you know, for the better part of the twenty first
century has been that dick lebo three four. But you

(14:48):
can't really get into that because teams don't utilize you know,
an I formation. They don't use you know, they don't
utilize two tight ends as much anymore. Everything's eleven personnel
right as three wide receivers or if you do have
two tight ends, one split out as a slot receiver.
And so you have to get into what we call
a sub package. Sub becomes base a lot more. And
the Steelers are still good about making it a four

(15:11):
down line and still trying to keep the core concepts.
But Carl Dunbar likes to roll through and have guys fresh.
He couldn't do that because, like you said, if you
don't have Cam Hayward on the field, teams are just
gonna run right through you. And so that was a
big needs, like, hey, I need help. If we want
to be this top flight defense. We have to be
able to stop a Derek Henry and you gotta think
division first. You can't look at, you know, Kansas City

(15:33):
Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles right out the gate, even
though you know, you know, I don't know why the
football gods cursed us last year by giving us like
those two teams, you know, and Baltimore within eleven day stretch,
right and really just kind of a little bit. But
you know, I think that's that's the whole point is
you want to be able to have the opportunity to
be able to curate what your lineup is going to

(15:55):
be from week to week and have the personnel on
the roster that can fit that quote quote you know,
topic dajure or team dajure that comes up on a
weekly basis, And so you bring in a lot of
these bodies, and I think that's what the biggest thing
is figure out what the right fit is, you know,
and can Canon been kind of fill in and be
the Cam Hayward type as opposed to being on the
field at the same time as him. Maybe he rolls

(16:17):
into that second wave rotation to kind of give you
Cam like skill sets while Cam gets a break on
the sidelines. And is that Harmon? Is that black? Is
it a quale or is it even a Logan Lee
a louder Milk, Like, we have a lot of guys
to Marvin Lee al remember before he got injured, he
played the elephant en type of position where you could
give TJ and Heismith a blow with bringing in herbig

(16:40):
right until he got injured and then Wes Julius Westchoff
got injured as well. So we're trying to figure out
what is it is elephant in type of week? Is
it just a true four down? Can we run that
three outside linebacker look in some situation? So we're trying
to pick and choose, But I think the guys that
we have here really give us a lot in the
player salad, so to speak, to try and figure out
what we like.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, and to take this back a little bit for
fans that maybe are just getting into football or newer
to the game. You know this year that you talk
about the nose tackle and the three man front, Well
this yeers only did that about twenty five percent of
the time, right, So so that you know you have
the three guys, Well, those outside linebackers are are sort
of highbreds. They can come up on the on the

(17:22):
line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
You see TJ.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Watt and you see high Smith along the line of
scrimmage a lot which is the old five man front.
The old five to two defense is one of the
oldest defenses in football.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
It predated the four to three, which predated the three
four yea, Right, so there there was a lot of
There used to be a lot of front they call.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah, so you have the five man front, and now
you know basically when you have guys that are as
versatile as high Smith and Watt, that are big guys
that cannot only rush the passer but also drop back
and coverage and stop the run. You know, the prototypical
if you have a four to three of defensive end
used to be a two hundred and seventy five to
two hundred and eighty five pound guy who could run

(18:02):
a little bit and move but also set the edge
also rush the passer. Well, that's what you have here.
So you have those two guys in the middle. So
a lot of people say, well, we need a nose tackle. Okay,
that's good, I understand that. But you only use a
nose tackle twenty five percent of the time.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
At best, and that's right.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
It's gonna get less and less probably as things go on.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
So when you talk about now what a potential rotation
can look like, you're you're really looking at two defensive
linemen out there at the same time.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
And then those guys, much.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Like we praise the versatility of high Smith and Watt,
those guys, some of those guys have the versatility to
have to have the versatility to say, okay, well you
can play nose tackle when we need it. But if
you can only play nose tackle, you're not going to
play that much. You also want to be able to
slide over and play you know, the old defensive tackle
position in the three four set, and they have you know,

(18:54):
zero technique, three technique, all these different names for it,
but basically they'd be defensive tackles. And so you know
when you look at now you cam Heyward and Bent
and I think you felt really good about those guys. Well,
now you had Harmon and you had Black, and you
have a quality like you said, you have Logan Lee,
you have a veteran like Dean Lowry. There are other
guys as we move down the rocks, a louder Milk.

(19:14):
You know what's the Marvin Leal's role gonna be. Is
he gonna be, like you said, more of one of
those guys. It's, you know, maybe an outside run stuffer
that can rush the pass a little bit with herbing
on the other side. I mean kind of finding this
this mix and how it's gonna be. But the fact is,
we'll see how the mix is going to be. There's
just a lot of depth and a lot of good
looking football players. To your point, in the middle of

(19:35):
that Steelers defense.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
No, absolutely, and I think you hit it right on
the head, is that I need two d linemen that
can play between the guards in the center. That that's
their world. And every once in a while we might
have a twist or a stunt that gets them outside,
but by virtue of replacing as the play goes on
to kind of create a mismatch in any type of situation.

(19:57):
But identifying those bodies is why we're out here, right,
is to figure out who moves the best. Some guys
move better vertically, like getting straight up pressure in the pocket.
Some guys do better moving laterally along the line of scrimmage,
kind of block off holes for a guy that's like
a cutback runner. You know, you're trying to figure out
what is that and what does the quarterback like to see?
Does he like to see in the wells right? You

(20:18):
know the spaces between the linemen, you know, think of
you know, we're not playing this guy this year, but
that type of body type is like a Russell Wilson,
you know, the way that he was a shorter quarterback,
So you need to see in pockets. Kyler Murray's another one.
You're trying to look in between the linemen to find
your areas and your targets. Whereas some taller guys like
you know, Patrick Mahomes is like, I'm going to move

(20:38):
people with my feet. I'm going to manipulate the defense
by moving latterly, and if I have a gap, I'm
gonna try and cut up in it. Or Lamar Jackson
is always looking for the outdoor boot out the backside.
Those are the things that you're looking for and identifying. Okay,
what guy's good for what purpose? And we're kind of
matching it up against what the schedule looks like. You know,
you take him the schedule like, okay, week one, Okay,

(20:58):
we're at we're at the jets, Okay, what is feels like? Well,
we know we got the whole book on him because
he was with us last. You're looking at Seattle. Okay,
what did Sam Darnold do? You know you're trying to
figure that out, and then you're placing your guys according
like who has the most versatile skill set to be
able to give us the most type of options versus
what we want to run defensively By the.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
Way, fields looks like dislocated to So we talked about
him every single break yesterday, and I forgot to bring
him up on the air, but because yeah, exactly, But anyway,
I'm glad we didn't because we heard broken foot. We
heard broken toe exactly, and he came right out and
practice right so he didn't even miss the day of practice.
So no, that's good for him.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
Here's your birthday with me. By the way, March fifth.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
I told Dress that, I'm like, hey man, there's that
there's not that many famous March fifth birthdays. It's like
you go back, you like and this day in history,
you're like, you know William Shakespeare, so March fifth, it's
like you know, uh, you know Ludwig von Beaston, who
was you know, pacifically king of.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Bavaria for four months before he died. It's like that's
the most famous guys.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Really really, that's it.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
That's it. Justine's got to carry the torch for March fifth. Okay,
so stick around.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
We're going to continue our talk about the defensive line
and all things Pittsburgh students. When we continue in the
locker room with King and Starks. Presented by your neighborhood
Ford Store on the Steelers Audio.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Network, Iheartradios Live coverage of twenty twenty five Steelers Training
Camp is presented by FedEx where Now meets Next and
also brought to you by CGR Wholesale, Roofing and Siding
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(22:34):
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US Steel.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
And Welcome back to Saint Vincent Collegen Latrow Locker Room
with King and Stars, presented by Neighborhood Ford Store. On
the CITARS Audio Network, We're looking over empty fields, a
couple of coaches out there, personnel kind of wandering around,
getting ready for some walkthroughs that will occur. And I
wanted to continue the defensive line conversation because you know,

(23:15):
you played with some guys that I think, you know,
their versatility really shown, Like I'm I'm I think Casey Hampton.
I think the world of Casey Hampton as a football player.
You know, look, he's sort of the prototypical nose tackle type.
I think that you know, we're talking about how often
are going to play the three four, so you know

(23:35):
you're gonna play the three four the three defensive lineman
look about twenty five percent of the time, but that
they did last year. If Casey Hampton was here, and
I'm thinking about in terms of you know, white block,
I don't want to compare him to Casey Hampton, but
a big, huge guy that people say can play the nose,
I think you could have put Casey Hampton at the
sort of the defensive tackle position.

Speaker 4 (23:55):
We talk three technique all this.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
I think you put him at a defensive tackle for
plenty of snap and he would have been highly productive
for you.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
I don't think he had this play just the nose.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, no, I I completely agree. I think it was
just you know, it was the era we were in, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
Yeah, I'm just saying, you know, if you versatility, right,
and I.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Think, you know, if if we were more flexible, I
think he absolutely And I think also it would have
made him a more prominent figure in the NFL as
opposed to a Steelers legend. He would have been an
NFL you know, you know, just kind of perennial name
because I look at you know, the air he played
and think think of the Ted Washington's, the Jamal Williams,

(24:33):
like all these big bowling ball Sean Rodgers who he
played with at Texas. Right now, Tea, you had these
humongous middle guys Albert Haynesworth, right, these big body guys
that you know only played so much and you and
you purposely schemed him out of the play because you
didn't want to see him, because knew how good they were,

(24:53):
and you knew that that at that time, the Steelers
or whatever team was committed to keeping this a true
three four or two threw zero type of right over
the center type of guy. But I truly do believe.
I mean, and you look at Casey Hampton. He could
have played in the gaps. I mean, that's essentially what
a d tackle is, right, you're playing in the gap.
You're either playing in between the center and the guard,
or you're playing in between the guard and the tackle.

(25:14):
Those are the gaps that you play in. And then
you played directly head up over one of those three
interior positions. And I mean, he was a guy that
you didn't want to run towards him. And if he
got going, I mean, he was a problem. If he
was actually allowed to like swim instead of hold guys.
And I think we had a couple of games where
he was allowed to freestyle. Dallas Cowboys game. I'll never

(25:35):
forget this. It's er four. We're down in the Old Star,
you know, Dallas Stadium, the big crown turf that you know,
you're sitting on the sidelines. You're looking at ankles the
entire time, and it's like you're running like up a hills.
It was super crowned. Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
I was like, I was like, why.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Is a field like this right, you know, because it.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
Just trade no sense.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
It's all for drains because they can't put any gaps.
Said it. So it's like once they laid the turf,
the turf is there, and then of course they had
a little hole in the opening. So watch football. Blah
blah blah. You know it sounded great, but you guys
still sucked. It was always cool. Sorry, sorry, oh I
say that about the Cowboys. So but yeah, it was
strictly for drainage purposes to make sure they get off.

(26:17):
But man, I remember they let they let Casey kind
of get a little bit more freestyle. Said hey, Casey,
shoot the gap and you know, you're watching him and
Larry Allen like battle, and it was like, oh my god,
it's like what it's like dinosaur fight night.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
You know, that would have been you know what if
you could have just isoed on that. Yeah, oh man,
fun to watch, man.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
I mean, it was like a t rex versus a stegosaurus.
I mean it was. It was awesome for all my
dino loving kids out there. There you go, there's a
visual Jurassic World's out in the movie theaters. I believe too.
But it was just fun to watch that and watch
him actually just create havoc in the backfield because because normally,
the job of a three four and let's just break
down the principal real fast. The job of a three

(27:01):
to four defensive line, right, the down linemen, the three
guys that are responsible with their hands in the dirt.
You have one over the center, you have two over
the tackles or kind of a shade of the tackles, right,
their job is to funnel everything to the linebackers, right,
So you're funneling it to James Ferrier and Larry Foot,
and then your outside backers are the guys that are
coming for the swarm type of.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
Ten, you're trying to swallow up blockers that sort of.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
You know, to take up two blockers with one guy.
And that's what Casey Hampton was known for. If Casey
lined up over the center, the center was not moving,
you know, he was there and he was not allowed
to do anything. And he always called for a guard
to help in the run game. So his job was
to do that because now the running back has to
fill and that linebacker has free rein to run downhill.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Right, So instead of the guard being able so again
to look at it from the offensive side, the guard
wants to release from the line of scrimmage and block
that inside linebacker exactly if Casey Hampton can get both
hands out there and kind of swallow up both guys,
now a James Ferrier or Larry Foot has nobody blocking, correct.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
And now they can free flow because Casey either by
virtue of both of his hands or by him stabbing
into one guy and swinging his hip into the gap, right.
And that's a humongous Hamahawk hip that sits there, and
it's like, do you really want to run into a
side of iron? You know, I mean, essentially that's what
his hip was and so that's why you need the
guard to kind of clear that out, so it creates

(28:21):
a lane for that running back to hit. But the
problem is once they get on them, they can't get off.
So now where that running back thinks the guard is
about to detach and give a lane and a lead block,
that guy fast flows and now the guard's late, and
now that hole that you thought was there now becomes
a closed door. So that's what he was so good at.
So when you do that so much, you're not allowed

(28:42):
to just penetrate up field because now the linebackers are
getting attacked because that d lineman has vacated that area.
So now you've got a center and a guard like, oh,
this guy night through. One of us might go back
and try and wall off, but that guard's free to
go hit the linebacker. So you don't really want to
do that in the structure of a three four defense.
So every once in a while they led him freestyle

(29:02):
and he was really good at it. But more but
more importantly, the biggest thing was, you know, absorb and
chew up that guard and tackle a garden center block
so that we can throw free And that's why our tackle,
I mean our linebackers had. I want to say, James
like I think one year had like one hundred and
like fifty seven tackles at the inside linebacker position, and

(29:23):
like Larry Foot had like one hundred and two. You know,
they so a lot of that defense is principled on
getting it to your inside backers and not having the
d line and make as many plays.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Did that whole ability to chew up blockers. You go
back and look at those errors. When the Steelers are
getting you know, fifty eight sacks.

Speaker 4 (29:39):
A year and leading the league, you know, I was
surprised to go back and look at it and think,
you know, you were getting ten sacks a year from
the middle linebackers. You know, James Ferrier and Larry Foot
might have five sacks apiece. That's that's not a small
amount of sacks.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
That's a huge amount because once again you're on the
second level. Second level is not supposed to be able
to make those plays, right. But but if you have
a good enough defensive line, think about this. You had
Casey Hampton in the middle, Aaronsmith, who I think is
probably the most underrated three and then at the beginning
at Keemo von Ohhoffen and then you had Brett Keesel

(30:13):
right and yeah, and then behind him you had you
had Hokey bro Right and they had Travis Kirshky was
another one. So yeah, I had these dudes, and there
were the unsung heroes because like you said, Larry Foot,
James Ferrier, Joey Porter, Clark, Hagan's right, and then you
throw in the lamar woodlies of the world, and you

(30:35):
get all of these guys James Harrison, and you're sitting
there and you're like, well, I know those guys have
all the stats, but what about these guys. It's like, no,
their job, like an offensive line, is to make sure
everybody else looks good. And that's one of the unsung things.
So that's why, like at Casey Hampton is one of
those guys. You look at it, his teammates know his value,
and his teammates if you gave them a ballot today,

(30:56):
they would put that guy in the Hall of Fame,
no questions asked. But to the law arger media public
like us, like if you don't see it, you're not
seeing them week in and week out. It's kind of
a snapshot. You just look at a stat sheet and like, hey,
what's the stats at the end of his career. Oh,
you only had seven sacks. You know. It's like, now
we're not giving it that guy. But it's like, do
you know how many sacks he created for other people?
Like I wish there was an assist sack rate.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
It's it's the ultimate, you know. And in the NHL,
guys are gonna get their points. In Major League Baseball,
guys are gonna have a low ERA if they're great pitchers,
are gonna have a high batting average with they're great hitters,
Certainly the team around.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
Them is gonna have some correspondence to that.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
But I mean think about like Mario Lemew and hockey, right,
you're scoring gobs and gobs and points and you know, uh,
Mark Bershaman made the joke. Yeah, I played with Mario
and juniors. I was on one wing we had a
garbage can and the other the garbage can had more
goals than I did. You know, so, uh, you know,
there there's these guys are gonna get there. But in football,

(31:54):
I tell this to people all the time. I was
in Saint Louis when the Rams thought Jerome Bettis was
was done. He's watched man. I remember the narrative. Well,
he played tailback and Notre Dame. He took that you know,
runs up bright he took that beating, you know, and
they traded into the Steelers.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
And guess what, he's in the Hall of Fame now, right,
Yes he is.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
And so because you got a better offensive line, you
got a better team around you, you know. So you know,
I think it speaks volumes to Casey Hampton, I believe,
and West can maybe look this up.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
I believe he was a five time Pro Bowler. Yeah,
out of the nose tackle position, getting a sack a year.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
That tells you that at least the rest of yes
five Pro Bowls, at least the rest of.

Speaker 4 (32:38):
The league understood how valuable he was.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Thinking about that, a defensive lineman getting a sack maybe
two sacks a year, making five Pro Bowls, that speaks
volumes about how great a player he was.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Well, and you think about this, he's also up against
the field, and the field is four to three defenses, right,
So you're exactly the Richard Seymour's of the world, the
Vince will Forks of the world that you're competing with.
Like I said, Jamal Williams was over in San Diego
as well, and you're competing against those guys. Hi. I
mean that was the biggest knock for Aaron Smith. Why
Aaron Smith didn't get it because he was putting the

(33:11):
defensive end category.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
That's that's what happened to Cam Heyward early on in
his career. Right, yes, getting eight sacks at the DN Hang.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
On a second, now, wait a second, it's more de
tackle than d N if you look at the structure.
And because most people only had a four down for
their voting, so you had to put guys in these positions.
It was arguing for a long time, like get him
in the D tackle position because if you if you
rank him as a D tackle, he's at the top
of the list. But you put him at d N,
you fall down. Because you have outside linebackers, you have

(33:40):
edge rushers, you have smaller defensive ends who are playing
like that edge position, so they're blowing up up the field.
And it wasn't it wasn't correlating properly. So I mean
for Casey, like you said to get the five Pro
Bowls back when I will say this on the airwaves,
and you know, if you take offense, well that's on you.
But the Pro Bowl doesn't matter as much as it

(34:01):
did back then. So you hear a guy has Pro
Bowls now, so you're playing a flag football game. Literally
when you get to the game, they were actually playing
physical football and they still carry their pass. Their pass
it to get shipped to Hawaii and everything. You know
what I'm saying, to show up and play a game.
So it's I feel like it's ten in today's era,
like you have to multiply it by two. So for

(34:22):
him to get that is an honor. It was a
badge of honor to get that, because that means your
peers who've been playing against you recognize hey game, recognize
his game. They deserve that nod, and you're voting for him.
You know, offensive line, we didn't have as much as
much cashet because we don't have the stats or the
or the fervor you know that those guys get.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
You know, we began this conversation and we're gonna still
talk about the defensive line for the students in the
versatility they're trying to get here in twenty twenty five.
But since you mentioned Aaron Smith, this is something I've
thought for a long time, and I think Brett Keesl
would have been better served playing in a four to three.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
Also, oh his athleticism.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Aaron Smith, we might be talking if he played in
a four to three. And I'm sure he doesn't want
to give up being a Steeler. I'm sure he doesn't
want to give up being in the Hall of Honor
for the Steelers. Tree doesn't want to give up Super
Bowls for the Steelers. But if you put him in
a four to three, I think he could have played
defensive tackle or defensive end, maybe maybe the left side
and maybe the strong side of defense. Either way, I

(35:20):
think he could have played probably any of those positions.
I think we might be looking at a Hall of
Fame caliber player if he had played in a four
to three that allowed him to utilize that wasn't hold
on the guys, And I mean he had he had
monster sack seasons when he when his job was to
hold guys up, he was still getting monster I mean,

(35:41):
I don't, I don't. I don't know if I'm overstating it,
but I just think I think the world of him
as a football player. I think an attackle or defensive
end in a four to three, he'd have had multiple
multiple Pro Bowls.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, I would say I would say easily my most
underrated teammate I played with most underrated as far as
how I think national appeal, Like obviously he valued him
right and and we loved him and we knew how
important he was. Like when he got injured, you know,
that was that was like a huge blows like, oh
my god, who are we gonna get because it's like,
you know, guys can fill and play, but I mean, Aaron,

(36:14):
you gotta you gotta have big big A, Like big
A had to be in there along with hamp And
I think that was just how much we cared about him.
But you're absolutely right, there's a guy that you would
have been talking about would have been in the Hall
of Fame conversation because his stats would have matched that
if he was given more freedom or more carte blanche
to kind of just rip it and let it go
like we saw in a lot of teams. You know,
I think of you know, he had kind of had

(36:34):
that hybrid. He wasn't quite like a Warren Sap explosive,
but he was right there. I mean you're talking about
like he had the Sam Adams power, but he still
had some SIMI and rice like moves. I mean, I'm
throwing some random wild names out there, but when you
think about it, that's what he was because he had power, speed,
and he also had moves. He had he had a

(36:56):
he had a technique and skill set that went with
all of those things, and he could match you in
a game. He can play power for power with the
big boys. But then it's like, okay, if I need
if I need a razzle dazzle. He had the razzle
dazzle when he needed to, and some of our sub
four down packages allowed him that. Carl Barnsons how was
able to get some of these monster sacks when we
had to go to subset games where we knew teams

(37:18):
were going to utilize a lot more three linem because
they wanted to get rid of Casey Hampton, right. They
didn't get rid of Aaron Smith though, and so that
was the problem and the conundrum. It's like do I
want two doses of of of a sledgehammer or do
I want one dose of a sledge hammer? Like that's
what you had, that's what you had to sacrifice, and
that's when he was able to kind of shine in
those moments.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
And that's if the students want a frying pan fire scenario, Yeah,
take your choice, because it's not going to be good.
And the students hope they've done that by adding to
this defensive line in the offseason.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
Something we'll talk more about. Plenty more to get to
as we continue on from Saint Vincent College and La
Trobe Inside the Locker Room with King and Stark's presented
by your neighborhood Forde Tour on the student's audio.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Network, iHeartRadio's live coverage Job Nott twenty twenty five Steelers
Training Camp. He's presented by fat X where Now meets
Next and also brought to you by bud Light, Independence
Health System, by Pennsylvania One Call System, by Live Casino,

(38:18):
Caliente Pizza and Draft House by Tom's Appliances, South Hills Auto,
Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, we Max Select Realty, the Pittsburgh
Steelers Pro Shop and by us.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Steel Welcoming back inside the Locker Room with the King
of Stars, presented by your neighborhood ford Store on the
Standers Audio Network.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
I was getting some good Jamaican accents from West and Max.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, weized any jobs coming to America yeah,
America in living color. Aymon, Hey, yeah, here, come on,
Like you know our guy Max, he's got thirteen jobs.
You've got a lot of jobs too, You've got maybe
fourteen jobs.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Well, it's good to have this one right here and
be out looking overlooking the field with my friends. We
got wes Ulern here, we got Max Starks, we got
our buddy Ed Troup, who's along to uh to learn
some of the business.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
CJ wolfully doing uh the technical work for us.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Thank you. CJ.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
Got to call it technical. It's all technical work for me.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
Yeah, it's like do I have a microphone? And is
it on?

Speaker 4 (39:25):
That's right, That's exactly it.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
So the players are now matriculating their way down the field.
I love that from.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
Hankshram By the way, that's legendary in the NFL film
Super Bowl, was that fourculate.

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Down the field?

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Super Bowl for yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
And so the players are coming down from the dorms
and the dining area and the meeting area and they're
coming down and they're out in the field. Was there
ever a guy when you were playing who was always
first first got in the field. Gotta be the first
last guy in the field. First gut in the field
that did it.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Very James Harrison always wanted to be one of the
first guys on the fow okay all right, And it
was just a mentality that he had, even though he
might not have been doing anything when he was down there,
he just wanted to be the first one down there, okay.
And so I was like, why are you here so early?
Like we're not doing anything and you're not even I
was like I could see if you're like, oh, I
need to warm up and get the but you know,
you expect some guys that wanted to be Smitty was

(40:19):
another one. Aaron Smith always wanted to be down there early,
you know, the late, but I had we had way
more late guys. It was almost like a competition for
who could las outlast the others, you know, And and
that was more like it was Alan Fanica like Marvel.
Like Marvel had the most detailed post practice workout routine.
I tried to do it one time with him, and
I was like, you could have this, Velly like like

(40:40):
this is way too much bandwork and like my body's
already tied. We just did like four half gassers like
at the end of practice. When you're like sweaty and done,
I'm like, I've got like ten to fifteen reps in
me and then I'm going to sit in the shower
in the cold tub.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
You know, one of the things I really enjoyed about
training camp last year, and we'll get back to some
of the position groups of the Steelers, was why watching
you know, some of the veterans and the way that
they worked with some of the young guys like Cam
Sutton last year. You know, he was dealing with the suspension,
but he's here camp working out and he had.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
His like they're like they're like little pups.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
You know that he took him out after practice over
to the middle field and the group of them worked
on different things and Cam took them through that. And look,
you know, you have coaches, and you know, every sports
a little bit different. But I think that that leadership
and that that extra step you can get from the
veterans can't be replicated by coaches.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
It can't.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
It has to some of that extra little over the
top stuff, and maybe even more than that has to
come internally from the players, and and to see it
last year, that was one that that came to mind.
But I also saw uh, Mason McCormick getting some afterwork practice.
I can't now, I can't remember. I think it was
Mala was out here. Well yeah, yeah with McCormick, I

(42:01):
beg your partner exactly.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
And then Spencer Anderson and Isaac Ceamalo did a lot
of work together, and then of course him, Zach Frazier,
Nate herbig was was was working with those guys as well,
trying to get him acclimate and doing the extra snap
stuff and just getting ready for Spencer. He had to
do all five so he was like, you talk about
Jamaica like he was wearing all the hats right right.
He was like, I left tackle today, right, yeah, can

(42:24):
I go to center? Okay? I need some right guard snaps.
So it's a beautiful thing because once again, you know,
when you're talking about having peer to peer, there's a
certain lingo, there's certain terminology that they speak and that
they understand because of obviously there's an age difference between
coaching player for most intensive purposes. I mean, we had
a unique situation with Mike Tomlin came here that he

(42:46):
actually had guys that he was coaching and leading that
he actually played against the college you know, because you
think of like Charlie Batch, you know, same age, and
you're talking about like James Ferrier who he played against,
and they were right there in the Virginia area, that
Newport News, Virginia Beach area, UVA, William and Mary and
all them. So you know that was a unique dynamic.
But for the most part, you know, there is a

(43:08):
generational gap difference, and so sometimes the lingo has to
come from your peer to understand, Like some guys are
better translators of the coaches than they know some guys
that that received that coaching. So sometimes getting that peer
to peer it makes it makes a difference. And also
on the field, you're gonna talk differently than what's discussed
in the classroom. Right now, Yes, I know it's a

(43:30):
deuce block, but it's like, hey, man, come on over.
You know we're going We're going all the way, And
that might be something completely different than what the coach
is in because the coach like, no, it's called it's
called it's called a ace back and you got to
go all the way back, and it's like no, no,
we got this coach. This is our terminology. Because when
you get in game, the defense knows all the technical terms, right.
They know what an ace and a deuce and a
triple block is. So the defensive line is like, yeah,

(43:52):
keep talking because we know all of this because we
had to listen to this from our team, right, So
you have to come up with creative ways. Like I
remember when we were going on like on like a
three count once and you know, and Chris Kee me
out to that's my brother, he's my heart. He was
my left guard. But Juice could not remember the hard
count and so we're like, okay, we got we got

(44:14):
to figure out something. So we're like, how do we
tell It's like Juice, We're just gonna say twah, right,
you know what I'm saying French French. Yeah, And then
we're like trace and so it ended up turning to
like trace, like it didn't sound like trace, so like
trace trace, and that was the only way we could communicate.
But the other team doesn't know what that means, right,
So you start creating your own lingo. And I think

(44:35):
that's the other thing you get when you get players
working together like this after practice. You get to put
it in things that they understand, and you create your
own kind of sub language. Within it to get through
each play and to get through each combination because you
have that kind of interpersonal communication skills that you're developing.
So it's always important to see those guys after practice
working together because you're not working in silos, right Right,

(44:57):
This is a hive mind type of process. So how
however you process, I need to know, and especially for
the guy right next to me, like if he's not
getting the hard three, I've got to create something that's
gonna give him a memory trigger so that when we
get in the game, it's one less thing to worry about. Right.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
I also think too, there's there's something too. It's not
a perfect analogy, but think back to school, right you
had your teacher, but then you had your peer group, right, Yeah,
and there's pressure in that in that in that peer
group to behave a certain way. I think it's a
little bit like that in in football. I mean I
think that the head coaches, you know, there's more control

(45:35):
than say the teacher has, Yes, for sure, yeah, but
there still is some of that peer pressure. I think
that's involved. That should be healthy and that helps you
grow and I think it's one of the things that
sets a Steelers organization apart is that you hand that down.
This is the way we behave this is what it
means to be effective and be a steeler. You have
to behave this way. You have to do things this

(45:57):
way in meetings and a practice. Uh, and when you're
away from practice and that sort of things.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
I think some of those some of those little.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
Things maybe call it, you know, the mortar between the
bricks has to come I think from a peer group.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
No, it does. And I think the other thing is,
at the end of the day, what we're seeing out here, right,
you look at the amount of people. We have ninety
five guys out here, rob for fifty three spots. There's
a lot of competition going on. I mean, we talk
about it from a familiar sense, but you have to
realize when these guys are also talking to you're also
training your replacement.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Right, and you're training guys caught that do and.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
You don't feel that tension. A lot of places you can,
like you know, but I mean, for an example, right,
I mean, you know, not not to put it out
in a negative way, but you know, some guys like
I'm not I'm not teaching that rookie anything, right, right,
because like I don't want to train my replacement. And
look at I mean, how many quarterbacks went through New
England when Tom Brady was there, right, yeah, Garoppolo, Matt Castle,
like all and then they went on to other teams.

(46:53):
He's like, I just like, I'm not helping you that much, right, Like,
you know what I'm doing my job. You can watch me, right,
you know I can show you better. I could tell you,
but that's how you're getting it. And so we can
think about that in a lot of different ways, but
for the most part, you don't feel that out here.
There's not that type of animosity like we all get
better and like, if I'm training you, I have confidence

(47:13):
in myself that I know I can go do it
better than you. But at the end of the day,
I need you to know because it's not a matter
of if. It's a matter of when you're gonna have
to come in for me. And I need to make
sure that there's no breakdown in the quality. Right, I'm
not creating a weak link somewhere, So you do that.
I mean, I'll never forget. I mean all the guys
that are my brothers to this day, like my offensive
line now I look at Barrett Brooks. Like Barrett Brooks

(47:35):
was my big brother. He was my mentor as a
rookie because I was I was literally the youngest guy
by like four or five years in that offensive line.
Everybody's married, everybody has kids, and I'm like this young
single guy. You know, the young pupp that's one. You know,
the young boy that wants to run down the hill right.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
There.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah, we're not gonna go any further. All of you
that know you know, but it was it was a
Barrett Brooks that said, hey, hey, young hey, come sit
in the front of the room with me and meetings.
Let me see your notebook, let me see how you're
doing this, because you have to remember, Barrett Brooks, it
was our swing tackle and I'm this rookie. And he
sat down. He said, listen, I'm training you so that

(48:16):
I can get you ready to go if anything happens.
The rest of the guys aren't going to say it,
but I'm going to say it because you're this young pup,
but you need to be ready. Here. Sit down, we're
gonna watch film together. I need you to understand how
to do this because one day you're going to take
my job. You're gonna need that helmet in that jersey
on game day, and I need to make sure that
you're ready when that day does come. And so I
took that same approach when I had my guy. So

(48:37):
when Trey Essex came in the year after me, drafted
the same round to play left tackle and we had
a competition for the starting right tackle position, I wanted
to make sure he was ready. I wasn't trying to like, hey, hey,
you're coming from my job. Man, You're no. I can't,
I can't, I can't help you. It's like, no, come
sit down with me.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
And that comes from environment and culture, right.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
And that's an environment and culture that's like, I know
by me helping you is real, it's actually helping me
out because it's helping me reinforce what I already know.
And it's also gonna make me better because now I
know that you know it. So now I have to
be more honest about how I play. I can't slack off.
And then when Willie Cologne came the following year, Tony Hill,
I mean, I could name all the guys that came
after me, and it was always an open door, big

(49:18):
brother approach, like you know, reach one, teach one type
of practice. And I was like, and if the competition
happens the way it does, it does, but I'm not
gonna be the one that's an obstacle for your success.
And I think that's how a lot of guys recognize
this when they come here versus a lot of other places. Now,
I've been to a couple of other places and I've
seen how they work, and this is just unique. This

(49:38):
is different in this environment.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
Right for sure.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
Well that's words of wisdom for Max Stark's words of
experience from Max Starks. Nugget we had, nugget, we have more,
We have more, plenty more to come from Saint Vincent's
College and Latrobe. Inside the locker room with King and Starks,
presented by your neighborhood Ford Store. Here on this tee,
there's Audio Network