August 1, 2026 • 44 mins
Rob King and Max Starks give praise to the Hall of Honor class of 2026 including Steelers legend Craig Wolfley.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is live coverage of twenty twenty six Steelers training
Camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
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(00:42):
Union number three. We don't go to the office, We
build it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And welcome me. Say if it's in college and la
trope inside the locker room where we get a chance
to ceason football, I'm gonna say kill you. We got game.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah. Those whistles you hear are real live whistle. We're
not making it up.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Nope, we didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
We didn't bring it up into the booth. We have
actual practice going on.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This practice today I think extends into like one sixteen sixteen, Yeah,
not one seventeen, just another you know underline underscore for
how much every second UH is scripted out here for
or scripted out or prepared for whatever, whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
To call it for. For head coach Mike McCarthy seeing
Sante Samuel Junior with a nice.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Pass break up there against DK Metcalf h from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Right, let let's let's let people know these whether the.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Starting unit is out here right now, one's on ones,
good on good competitive team period right now to move
the ball down the field. So sitting at a third
and long, so we're getting our first like kind.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
Of team speed, team combativeness, I guess is probably the
best word to use drills of camp because mostly everything's
been two minute drills.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah, this is not a two minute situation. This is
just regular are down in distance, first, second, third and
fourth down.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Helmet's some guys, most guys doesn't look like anyone. We're
in shoulder pads really out there. That's a beautifully throw
them all on the far side of the field. Just
shell protectors, Yeah, shell protectors for DK Metcalf in front
of Brandon Echoles along the far sideline. Chris Week thrown ball,
but the Paul still just of course we talked about
this yesterday, everybody's eyes are on the quarterback position. Man,
(02:24):
it just still looks Chris coming out of the hand
of Aaron Rodgers. Here's a handoff to Lout Nichols off
the left side. He's getting to run with the ones,
a little change up there.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You want to see what all of these guys can do, because,
let's be frank, you know, outside of Rico Duo and
Jalen Warren, you want to know who your third and
fourth running back is. So full audition for Lou Nichols,
for Caleb Johnson, Eli heiden Reich. Right, we have all
these guys that are available to us to see what.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
They can do.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Travis Homer and Riley Nolkowski more full back. But you know,
maybe maybe he'll get maybe he'll get a little plug
and hug here and there.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Right, you know, and again, one of the things that's
going to be interesting to see is how things are valued.
You know. So Mike McCarthy was asked about a Sante
Samuel Junior yesterday. We talked about that I coached against
his dad, and he went on to rave about how
good is Sante looked in practice thus far. Again, it's
early days, you know, we haven't seen the hitting and
(03:21):
that sort of stuff, but his aggression and all the
things that he's like. Even going back to OTAs and
you know, he was asked about Travis Homer and what
a good special teams player is and he goes, you know,
he said, look, he's got to make a team. Now, again,
that's not We're not We're not. I'm not sure he's
trying to send a message. We're certainly not trying to
send a message. What we're what we're saying is that
(03:42):
there's there were for Mike Tomlin, it felt like there
were going to be several players whose special teams prowess.
And there's a lofted ball this time knocked away intended
for Metcalf on the near side by Eccles, And you know,
so I think Carson Brunner is a guy that's going
to be interesting. Travis Homer is a guy who's going
(04:04):
to be interesting. Because Mike Tomlin had guys like Miles
Killibrew who's a Pro Bowl special teams player, and that's
what he did. I mean, there were times in which,
certainly if somebody got hurt during the game, you see
Miles Kilbrouge safety, but you know, if safety got hurt
and you need to start somebody, they might bring up
somebody from the practice squad. You know, so Miles's abilities
on special teams were highly valued. We don't know how
(04:28):
this staff is going to evaluate some of some of
those guys a little further down the roster, like the
third running back.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, so you want to put every opportunity out there
to put film for all these guys and put them
in a variety of situations.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I think that's one of the key things is how
do I put these guys in a stress test? Because
what if it does happen in a game and you
happen to be dressed Lou Nichols and Rico du or
Jalen Warren's unavailable and I need you to jump in. Well,
you need to not get enamored with the fact that
Aaron Rogers talking to you, you know, or worry about
who else is in that huddle, like you have a
(05:04):
job to do.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
How are you going to respond to that pressure of
the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And I think that's you know, we talk about Mike
Mike Tomlin being a master of situational football, like putting
guys in un comfortable situations and trying to make them comfortable.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Mike McCarthy is also a guy. He's not gonna leave
any stone unturned and he's going.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
To be methodical about putting guys in these situations so
that it becomes reactionary.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Right, and I think the same.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So two different ways to skin that cat, but still
the same result in it.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Right. And what we don't know is are there going
to be that handful of players that make the team
because of their prowess on special teams? And that's that
that's going to be, you know, like Connor Hayward, Right,
Connor Hayward could do a bunch of different things, but
his bread and butter was that special teams. Miles Killerbrew
special teams are other guys who's you know, ability Carson Bruner,
(05:56):
his ability on special teams was his ticket to making
your roster. It might be your ticket to making the roster.
Is we want the best fifth inside linebacker, best third
running back. Now, if you're that guy, you better be
able to play special teams also, right, So.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Or have a willingness.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You might not be good at it, but you better
have a willingness to go down there track and do
your job.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So this might be a nice little crossing pattern to
Jeremy Bernard there, this might be another way of putting it.
So let's say you had three running backs, right, one
running back which really good on special teams, not much
of a running back. Another guy, and I'm just making
this up. I'm not trying to innimate who's one guy
was a really good running back but not good on
special teams. That last guy was split the difference that
(06:42):
might be enough to make the team. You know, hey,
you're our best third running back. You're not our best
special teamer, but you're you're not our worst special teamer
in that group, you know what I mean. So we
don't know how the roster is going to be constructed.
You just need to be the eighth best special teamer, right,
you know, right, like the eleven that go on the fields.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Right, And like you said, and maybe that running back
is a little bit better, has a little bit better
hands out of the backfield to catch some swing passes
or some screenplays. He's a little more elusive, and like
you said, and as a decent special teamer, that's right,
that might be the guy versus the guy who's like, oh,
he's just straight ground and pound. Right, a traditional running
back that doesn't really catch a ball here and there.
He might catch a check down.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Or he's a special team's ace, but not much of
a running back.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So exactly, he's just a he's a decoy when you
get there.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Offensive lift seam pattern completed to Pat Fryar.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Mood he heard him moves you knew who you know.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Who've caught the football. Yeah, a nice seam pattern to
the back shoulder. Patrick Kuman was in good coverage on that.
But again just to the only expression. He threw him
open there.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
He threw him open.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
And that was a second pass in that drive for
Pat Fryar move that he caught across the middle.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So great job there of them moving down the field.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
They had one fourth down situation during that drive that
we didn't really highlight. That was the play that that
kept the chains moving. And now we'll get a look
at what will Howard maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
No, no, no, I would imagine Mason Rudolph will see though.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
He's Rudolph is off to the side, so it might
be Rowler.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, because Mason's right in the backside over here to
our left, and he's sitting there next to Will Hawens.
Got to be it's got to be Aler that's going
to get a crack here with the second unit offensive,
Why Maxiana Schore And at the right tackle position, Ryan McCollum,
I can't tell who's that guard?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So interesting thing happened again today. You know we talked
about this yesterday. Troy Foutan, who looked like he flinched
a little on a drill. It comes Maxie hona Art
right tackle over to left tackle goes Dylan Cook. So
even the veteran guys, you know, it's attention to detail
small things. You make it premake a free stan right.
Here's a quick, good cross to cole Purchase thrown by
(08:45):
a quick slant.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I asked Stephen Jones at the right guard next to
you and in between McCollum as well, Roger Jones had
left tackle on that boy.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Pretty good catch by a T Perry on a ball
that was behind him on a slant to the left
that led him. It might have been intercepted.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Who's that in the backfield? It's a Navy man like
hid and right from Mount Lebanon.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And rosstat that is that's not a good throw to
cole Bert just behind him. And falls in completely. Loo's
think they're still going to hurry up even though it's
an incomplete pass.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And to round out that offensive line, you have brock
Hoffman playing the left guard. So I just want to
make sure we got the five linemen in there. My
area of expertise, because I think this is what kind
of your second line looks like.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean, not a bad line. I mean you think
of definitely, yeah, vets.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
In the middle and two first round draft picks on
the edge of Yeah, that's pretty nice, and hide and
right moving out to the left here, so you have
two receivers to the left, three to the right.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But you know, watching that show, that throw from jew Aller,
you know he is he is, he's got the size.
It's just this sort of fluidity, the arm strength you like.
But again he just siales one there. You know again,
whether it's these are mechanical things like that little cross
that's one where you got to it's.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Not it's not a difficult throw. I said, Dolly put
it on him. Yeah, you need to put a dart
on him.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That one. That one was a touch drow and yeah,
and he just kind of lofted that one. That would
look more like.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
A like a twelve or thirteen yard seam route versus
versus a stop route on the eighth.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So you know, these are some of the things.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And this is why he was kind of a project, right,
why you while you wait for the third round to
go get him. There's a lot of the measurables, but
you got to have some of that intangible that coach McCarthy's.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Gonna have to coach into him.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, and that size and arm strength. You know, as
they say, like in basketball, when a guy's a seven
footer and there's an errant throw intended for cole Burgess
out to the right to three off the mark here
in row for aller But you know they say, you
can't teach size, right, you can't teach you can't teach.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Arm strength, and you can't coach speed. Right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
There's little things you can do to make people faster,
there's little things you can do to improve arm strength.
But you know those are those are you know, those
aren't the talents that attract you and the talents that
can get you.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You want to get off the bus team first?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah that's right, Yeah, that's right. And now fourth and
ten heres we're watching.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yeah, fourth and ten, well four to two Nickel deployed
by the defense, Jack Sawyer off the defensive.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Left, Henderson and Castro the deep safeties. Yeah, hour's gonna
zip went up the left side. Ohful back shoulder throw
caught by at Perry. And again that's the sort of thing.
So that ball, I'm gonna say that traveled maybe forty
yards vertically.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
In the air.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Now you have to remember the high pot news of
the triangle. You got to add another seven eight yards
at that was loft and everything that was forty five
to fifty yards on mostly.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
On a rope. I mean, you know, not everybody here
on power.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, not everybody can make that throw. You know, we
were talking about this yesterday, Like I'm a big believer
that you've got to be able to throw a ball
on a line about forty yards. Yeah, And you know
that's that covers the deep out, you know, the deep
middle throw. If a guy's running a twenty yard cross
and you've taken a you know, a five step drop
(12:11):
or whatever, you know, that's that's a twenty five yard
throw over the middle and they take that same pattern
and running out. Now it gets closer to forty yards
You've got to be able to throw that ball on
a line, not hanging up there so it gets intercepted.
That's what I've always thought. And then you know, we
think about like a Joe Montana who didn't have maybe
that elite arm strength, but he had the savvy, the
(12:31):
ability to run defenses, the touch or redefenses, the touch,
the timing to make those throws to Jerry Rice, so
they didn't have to vombit seventy eighty yards down field.
They could throw it fifty and catch Jerry and stride
and bye bye.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, it was bye bye. And and just kind of
think about this. This is kind of what you get
with Drew Aller, Right, you had that spectacular.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Play, but if you look at the last five throws
for completion, right two of five, so that's kind of
the boom or bust. You kind of get what Aller
right now, and that's the potential you have to weed
through to figure out what he can do in the future.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And just overthrowing Burgess on a crossing pattern in the
back of the end zone, now, yeah, and that was
Darren Perry and trail carverage back there, or Daryl Porter.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I beg your Daryl Porter junior. Yeah. Yeah, And did
I say Darren Perry, Yeah you did.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Uh No, it's Darryl Porter.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's junior.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It's okay, he he He was a defensive back here
at one point.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah. Yeah, that was a while ago.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And he was a coach here, so.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
I mean, yeah, I mean, it's not like you just
pulled some name randomly. It wasn't like the fifty six
Pirates roster.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right. Yeah, I could probably run that down for you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
You could, you could. I don't doubt that at all.
But this is kind of where we're at. We're in
that no man's land, right fourth down and you're four. Yeah,
hide and right to the right of aler in the shotgun.
Let's see what we got here.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Rollout.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Oh that might that might Hey, that might have been
a whole first and goal on the one because that
was a pretty good tug on the back shoulder.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I don't know if they're gonna call that.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
They're not gonna call it.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Now. If we could see the jersey being stretched from.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Here, yeah that was that was not a good one.
The throw was the at Perry, but uh, the jersey
grab already.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I couldn't tell who that was, but I think it
was Jack Henderson, but I'm not sure, but it might
even Castro. I couldn't tell in the back of the
end zone there whether it's forty eight or forty nine.
Still trying to get a look out of here from
our vantage point, and that's yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I have a big I have a big like poll
post here that I can't see a lot, So I'm
like trying to duck between two.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Pieces of glass or one piece of glass.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
To see on the far side of the field going
towards the scoreboard at Saint Vincent College.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That's a visibility herder. So the Ring of Honor class
announced today. We're gonna dive into that. This practices ended here,
but it was fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It was good practice and gave us.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
A nice little moment where we could banter back but
live matriculation of the football.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
That was a good That was a good little little
teaser for us. Good times.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
The last of the acclamation practices next week they get
into it with with pads and uh and doing some
hitting and that sort of thing. So that'll be fun
to look forward to you. Yes, what are you pointing out?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Mike McCarthy just wheeled down a young man in a
wheelchair and the players all did.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
A tunnel for him. Oh yes, and brought him down.
That's that. That's pretty often.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
You'll know if there's make a wish or something uh special,
maybe somebody that he knows.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
That's that's pretty awesome. That's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It is, Uh, you know, you're reminded that these guys
are they're young men and you know, yeah, they're just
so many of them happy to help out, most of
them in situations like that.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
So you have a lot of people looking up to
them and they unders I think I think this generation
of player understands kind of mind.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I mean, you know, I grew up in the no
role models, Charles Barkley era, you know of of sports.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
But now these guys they understand there's a there's a
social responsibility right to do things the right way and
that you know, people are watching you.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
So that was a pretty cool site. It was.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Indeed, we're gonna we have much more to come. We're
gonna talk about the Ring of Honor Class one that's
gonna hit home very close to both Max and myself,
and we'll go through that more. To discuss here obviously
about this year's Steelers team. We continue here from Saint
Vincent College in the locker room. Here on this year
there's audio.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Network please live Covery Jump dot twenty twenty six Steelers
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Speaker 2 (17:30):
Welcome back inside the locker room and Saint Vincent College
in Latrover Max Field, Max and I had a nice
discussion during the break, continued on.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We love sports.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
We love sports. We do love sports. So Ring of
Honor just an incredible them class. Oh it just uh
so let's start with JT.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Thomas.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean first, round pick in nineteen seventy three. He
was the first African American football player to play football.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And graduate from Florida State University.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
He's an impressive guy. J J.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Thomas, JT. I mean, and listen, I met JA. It's funny.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I used to I used to always when I saw
JT calling the ribman right because he had red hot
and blue uh down in the waterfront for a long time,
I had, I had a barbecue, a restaurant tour. So, yeah,
he's an entrepreneur, yeah, exactly, so I restaurant, Yeah so
I So that's how I first got introduced to him.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
When I first got here to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I was going down to the movie theater and I
was like, oh, there's a barbecue restaurant. I'm from the
South Love Barbecue. Went in there, and JT is in there,
and so I'm talking to him, and then you know,
I didn't know all of the Steel Curtain, right, coming
from Florida and not really being exposed to Pittsburgh as
a young rookie coming into this league, and you know,
and then you learn the.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
History, You're like, oh my god, there was JT done.
He's like four Super Bowl titles. Yeah, he got nineteen interset.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Like he started three of the four Super Bowl The
only reason he didn't start the first one was because
he was he was ill and he was injured, so
he did not get it, but he still got a ring.
And so you know, rare air when you're talking about
a key contributor at the cornerback position at you know,
for for j T. Thomas, he makes it in all
the other four Super Bowl guys that are already in
(19:13):
this Hall of Honor, right, so it kind of you know,
it's FNN. I was talking with Mike Pursuita. He was like,
I'm gonna be honest, because he's been on he's been
on the voting board for it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
He's like, I thought he was already in. I saw
his name, like, oh oh yeah, we gotta get him in.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Because he's right there with the with those core guys
of the Steel Curtain era that won four Super Bowls, uh,
you know, in that time. So it's really cool to
see JT get in and he wasn't here today, but
you know, you can't imagine when we have when we
have the Hall of Honor game, when it's announced, you
know where he'll be down there and take his rightful
place with the rest of his his teammates that are already.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
In the hall.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Right. Well, I mean he was you know, he played
opposite of of mel Blunt, right, I mean you know
this is uh, this is just an restive, impressive player.
And I mean you talk about, you know, a pair
of lockdown corners. And of course everybody knows all about
Mel Blunt and the rule changes and all that. But
JT made himself a pro Bowl and you know, a
(20:11):
starter on again four different Super Bowl championship teams. I
mean its starter throughout the year of course, as you
mentioned in that the first Super Bowl. But you know,
a great player on I think what you would just
have to call the greatest defense of all time.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Yeah, no, Steeve curtain for that reason, Like you don't
even it's like you say steel curtain and it's already
synonymous with it. You don't even have to say steel
curtain defense, Like it's just you say steel care like
oh shoot shoot, Pittsburgh defense.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right all you think of the seventies.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And like you said, you go down that list and
you say the mel Blunt, you say the Joe Greens,
the Jack Lambert's.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Right, there's all these guys on this defense and there's like,
oh yeah, by the way, JT.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Thomas as well, another Pro Bowl or nineteen to like
they threw at him because they were scared of Mel
Blunt and that's how I got so many more opportunities.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
But he also had to hold his water right, because.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
You couldn't have any weak links along that group. Donnie
Shell right, also another another devastator and the secondary for
that group, Jack Hamm, Like we just you could keep
going to White White, el C Greenwood, right, Ernie Hult,
like you know who these names are, and he's just
one of those many names in that group.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yep, a great, great group and nineteen interceptions with this yee,
there's twenty in his career because he went out and
played nine games with Denver in nineteen eighty two as
a thirty one year old. But JT. Thomas goes into
the ring of honor Kevin Colbert.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I mean, what an.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Incredible job he did as an executive general manager. They
didn't have that title for many years and finally was
awarded that title. And you know, you think about two
Super Bowl champions, but you also think about all the
teams he was involved in all came close and then
drafted all the players. He drafted left tackle at A Florida.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah. Yeah, this this dark scrub, little small kid that
had potential.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
But we think about you know, I mean, you just go,
you know, just instantly. Of course, you did get Troy Polamalo,
and you get n Roethlisberg, and then he executes the
trade that gets you Jerome Bettis, you know, and just
on and on and on. The acquisition to the players,
you know, the ability to find free agents on the
team and give them opportunities. You know, guys like Willie Parker,
(22:28):
who's in the Hall of Honor, Guys like James Harrison.
You know, Casey Hampton. Casey Hampton was a was a
was a first round selection. So just I mean, well
deserved for a really really modest, unassuming guy in Kevin Colbert.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Yeah no, I mean, and Kevin served in that role
for twenty two years here in Pittsburgh and responsible for
bringing over Charlie bass because he was GM over in Detroit.
Came over here, brought brought Charlie Basch, brought Jeff Hardings
over in that initial wave of guys that came that
he felt comfortable with to help construct a roster for
Bill Cower, and then of course all the time that
(23:05):
he spent with Mike Tomlin. You're right, but constructed three
super Bowl teams in his time here, and I would say,
when it's all said and done, he'll have probably about
five six seven Hall of Famers under his under his
watch that he that he brought in. And of course
I have a personal feeling for him because of the
fact that he chose to take me in the third
(23:26):
round of the two thousand and four draft pick number
seventy five, but number seventy eight in your programs in
our hearts, yeah, and one in our heart number one
in our hearts of course always.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
But I would say the second most GM in Steelers history.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Obviously Dick Haley gets that number one nine because of
the aforementioned steel curtain in those seventies for super Bowl teams,
but he's responsible for the other two. So combined between
those two GM stewardships, you have all six Super Bowl
championships comprised between two men that helped construct these rosters.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Right, and you know, again totally different eras of football.
So I think that, and again I'm not trying to
say one is easier than the other. But you know,
in the in the first tenure of you know, the seventies,
when you won the four Super Bowls, two things were prevalent.
One is that the Steelers were way out in front
(24:20):
of every school, every other team frankly and sadly still
segregated America in many ways of going into those you know,
southern schools and finding the Joe Greens and the Melballants
and the on and you know, Donnie Shell's and and
so on and so forth. You know, so many of
those great players came from those schools, and the Steelers
were just way out and thanks to Bill nn just
(24:43):
way out in front of everybody else, the historically black
colleges and US and universities HBCUs.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
And I'm proud to say that I get to call
the a SBCU National Championship every year, so I get
to see those schools.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I grew up as a kid.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Around a lot of those colleges and had parents who
went to those schools, and you know, to think about
just the pioneering job that a Bill Nunn did, you know,
and and they're there and there's some legendary stories between
Bill Nunn and Gil Brandt, so Cowboys Steelers. It didn't
just start with the America's team and going back for
Super Bowls in the seventies, there was a scouting like
(25:21):
feud and rivalry where Bill Nunn would famous famously stole
the John Stalwart tapes that gil Brant was looking for,
and that's why they were able to get him laid
in the draft because nobody had any tape because you know,
as the story goes, he ran a bad forty, it
was wet, it was all this other stuff, and Bill
Nunn hung around and then he ran him privately the
(25:41):
next day on a forty and saw it and went
and took all the tape with him and drove back
to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Gil Brant was looking for the tape and he couldn't
find it.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So, you know, you just think about those type of
stories and like you said, going in there and finding
these type of players, and like you said, we're talking
about A.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
JT.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Thomas, the first African American to play at Florida State University.
I'm from Florida, you know, I went to University of Florida.
Florida State was another school that I looked at and
just that history. And we had John Mitchell here on
the staff, one of the first African American players to
play for Bear Bryant. Like, there's all these different things,
and so it's really cool to kind of see those
(26:18):
individuals kind of highlighting especially on this day the Hall
of Honor class pretty special occasion and situation. Yeah, and
the other thing that there's a lot of Jaquan Brisker fans, Like,
I know we're talking about this, but I'm like, there's
a flood of yellow shirts with three Brisker down on
the field. There's got and there's got to be at
(26:38):
least like fifty sixty people on the field here for
Jaquan brisk So it's just it's out of the corner
of our I we got it, but we got to
make note of it. You can't see it, but we
can here sitting up top the press box area. But
his family is here in full effect. It's like a
Brisker family reunion down there.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
It looks like So I had the chance to talk
to Khalem Morris, I think he I think he might
be an uncle, yeah of Jakwan Brisker. I didn't catch
the family connection because we were talking about other stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But his nephew was in the autograph.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I was signing autographs earlier today in the in the
fan zone, and his nephew came through and I signed
one of those yellow shirts down there.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
So a lot of his family came in town today
for practice.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So Kalem, how about this for a degrees of separation?
So Khalem Morris born in Pittsburgh, by the way, doctor
Khalem Morris, Okay is now in Virginia where he is
a math teacher and teaches nine through twelve and is
(27:46):
the instructor for.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Daleen Evertts younger brother Don. That's crazy about that. That's
a small world.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Is a small words awesome connection.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That was fun. So yes, there's there's it's it's got
to be fifty.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, easily, easily.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
People wearing Jakwan Brisker number three jerseys and yeah yeah,
and uh oh, there goes a little a little girl
zipping across the field, got her hair done up. She's
got a she got a jersey on thought number three jersey.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yeah, got a jersey. There's jerseys. There's Cusho T shirt,
but all brisker. You definitely know who they're here to
see today. It's not a questions less. We'd like to
see nineties and ninety seven's right, t J. Watson, Cam
Haywards and Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
These are all threes. These are all and it's not
Jeff Reed, and it's no, it's not Jeff Reed.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And it's so very cool. I mean, look, you have
to you have to make the team on your own merits.
But when you have you know, a Joey Porter whose
dad obviously played for the Steelers, but he went to
you know, North Alleghania High School. Jakwan went to Gateway
High School. When you see these guys that are local
and that connection that you know they have with this
(28:59):
the city of Pittsburgh, it's so awesome. I mean the Bines,
you know, the ties at Bine Runs, you know, are
just so tight, so snug that that tie the uh,
the Steelers to the community of Pittsburgh. And then you
get a chance to see a local guy.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Like this, right, you know, you come back home and
there's always that dream.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Like we talked about the Jaquan Briskers, right, the Eli
heyden Reich's and different guys throughout time.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I mean I played with a couple I talked.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
About my time with Russell Stuven, So it was my
roommate my first year in the league, and Russell was
was from here. You also have Mike Logan, so you
get these local guys who go from you know, they
go to other schools, but you get to come back
home and and it is that homecoming family reunion type
of feel out here for those local guys. And like
(29:51):
I said, people gonna come out for you. And and
and his family is in full representation here at up
here on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Full representation. Just wonderful to see. We're going to take
a break because we want to talk at some length
about the third and final member going into the Hall
of Honor Class Press. He's going to get one when
we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
Training Camp or the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and brought to you
in part by Clearview Federal Credit Union. For every touchdown
the Black and Gold score in twenty twenty six, Clearview
will donate five hundred dollars to the Light of Life
(30:38):
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Speaker 2 (31:04):
And welcome back inside the locker room where nobody, and
I mean nobody is having more fun than the Brisker
family still hanging out out of the field. They're in
no hurry to leave. They're enjoying themselves out there. You know,
there is a lone fifty six Jersey out there. I
noticed that. I don't know if that's part of the
Brisker family.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Everybody else You can a La Woodley fan.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Okay, I mean it's a Super Bowl Lamar Woodleigh Jersey
at least Super Bowl forty three.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Patch on there.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, good job knowing that, right.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah, Well, I think I can kind of id that one. Yes,
I kind of remember what that looks like. Yes, that's
probably a good one.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, because I was wondered if that was maybe an
Alex Heismith jersey.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, no, not in the past. That that is.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
That's Woodley, So ring of honor announced for this year's class.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We talked about J. T. Thomas, the outstanding corner place
a little safety but mostly opposite of of melt Blunt,
the steel curtain defenses of the seventies, parts of four
Super Bowl Championship teams. Kevin Colbert, the architect of two
more Super Bowl champions another super Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
The other thing I was gonna say about that era,
just to talk about that quickly, is the fact that
no free agency. So you signed Joe Green, you got
him for life. You signed Jack Ham, he got him
for life for as long as you right, Yeah, I
mean maybe he said we're done with you. Well I'm
gonna I'm gonna wand drop the seattle to see if
there's anything left in the tank. But yes, you were
(32:35):
able to keep those guys, and so when you when
you did a great job drafting, and yes, the front office,
for sure, the scouts for sure, had to keep those
but you get to keep those guys, not wondering you
know who am I gonna lose in free agency? And
how am I going to navigate that? So different errors,
just different errors, but but both incredible and our buddy
(32:57):
Craig Wolfley.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I mean, such a well deserved, overdue honor for Wolf
And the one thing that makes it bittersweet, it's posthumous,
I know, like I know, could you imagine the speech
he would have given had it been had he been here?
And I think that's what you know, gets us a
(33:22):
little choked up about it thinking about it, but most
assuredly deserves to be in that and that hall mentioned
amongst that, and not only for the ten years he
spent as an active player here and of course going
on to Minnesota after that for a number of years
playing with my uncle Joey, but the twenty five plus
years as a broadcaster on these airwaves, the show's originator
(33:50):
him and Touch like we're carrying on that tradition literally
on these airwaves, and we're talking about him being in
the Hall of Honor just a sume special moment, and
you know he would be overfilled with joy. He joins
the ranks with his with his with his brother Touch Yep,
they now both get to reside in the Hall and
(34:12):
live on in football immortality here in Western PA. And
what he's meant not only to the Steelers organization, but
I think to the Pittsburgh Western Pennsylvania country, you know,
part of the country as a whole.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Like what he meant off the field, what he meant
in the.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Community, light of life rescue mission, you know, adventures in
training with the purpose that he that he would volunteer
his time with with his good buddy John Colb, one
of his former teammates, and the countless lives that he touched.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Along the way.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
He played with a lot of the guys were talking
about the Steel Curtain right towards the end of their
career was kind of the budding of his. He came
right there in nineteen eighty, so he saw a lot
of these guys. He played with him, played with the J. T.
Thomas for two years before he left for Denver, right,
played with Mike Webster and all of these guys, Frank
Go and and and the list goes on. And he's
(35:03):
just been an indelible part of our lives for the
better part of you know, it's called it five almost
five decades of him of having him in this in
this community. So a remarkable member, our friend, our brother,
and uh, you know, it's it's really special to have
him come in.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
You know, there's a lot of things that I love
about Wolf and you know in the you know, his
personality was so out in front that you sometimes forget
he was a really, really fine football player.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yes, he was an excellent player.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
There's some legendary photos of him and and NFL history
right sitting on the bench just covered in mud and
kind of that grizzled look.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
I mean, yes, there was a point when Wolf had hair.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I know, we we kind of gloss over that because
of obviously the later years, and he was out in
front with the cue ball.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But this guy had the flowing, flowing locks.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
You know, he had the he had, he had the
main and and he was just an excellent guard, an
excellent guard in this league, a pulling guard. And he
had some Titanic matchups back in the day. I know
we talk about like the Reggie White and Tounch Yolkin
match matchups, but I mean he was going against some
of the best, and you know, he was a guy
(36:15):
we used to always kid that we we we were
we were the we were the all Alternate team because
both of us would get Pro Bowl Alternate nods for
a number of years, but never quite made it to
the Pro Bowl itself. But but a fine a Fine
Human and the and the and the Syracuse Hall of
Fame Broadcasting Hall of Fame there at his university where
(36:36):
he played his college ball, and you know he and
he also had two other brothers that played college ball.
And then Ron, who I worked without in Arizona, and
it was it was a fun time early on in
my career here where you know, I would I would
play telephone between the both of them because I would
do our show in the mornings and every Wednesday I
worked at nine A seven and and and Craig would
(36:57):
always get off. He'd be like, hey, tell me I
love him. And then I get I get in the
studio with with with Ron, I'd be like, hey, Craig
says he loves you. He's like, oh my gosh, He's like,
tell him I love him that. So then the next
morning I would tell So we just had that and
I called myself. I jokingly coined the phrase. I was like,
between two wolves.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
You know, it's good, yeah, good stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
You know. I was at a an event with John
Coleb last year and he spoke about how you Coleb
of course was here earlier and and Wolfe was able
to play with him, but that. You know, he's playing
left tackle with Wolf. I think it was it might
have been a preseason game, might have been a regular
season game. And Wolf was up there, and you know,
(37:38):
John Colep said, look, you know we used to communicate.
We didn't even have to talk. We just grunt or
make a movement. Yeah, And Wolf's up there saying, what
are we doing? You know, what are we what are
we calling? And Colep's like, hey, quiet man, just come on,
do what you're supposed to do. And they're communicating back
and forth, and and uh, Wolf's kind of getting at
his nerves a little bit because he's not just he's
you know, he's eager. He wants to he wants to
(38:00):
make sure. And then he was Cold was playing against
some I think it was a regular season game. Bradshaw
was in it. It was a regular season game, and
Cold was playing against a premiere pass rusher I don't
remember who it was. And it's third and long and
he gets spun like a top olaid and now he's
down face first on the ground and he hears a
(38:21):
roar from the crowd and he gets up thinking it's
a sack, and instead it's a Terry Bradshaw touchdown completion
and Wolf is standing over the top of the pass
rusher he had peeled back and flattened him, and John
Colep looked up and Wolf looked at him and said,
I got you, old man. So I mean, don't forget
(38:43):
with all of the personality that he was a terrific
football player. I think, I think one of the things
I there's so many things I admired about Craig Wolfley.
You know, you touched on a little bit that using
he used. He took seriously helping people out, took it
very seriously. What he didn't take seriously too seriously was
(39:05):
himself and you know the ability, So the wolf you
saw with a big personality, that was him for sure,
that ability to to to go for it, but also
uh you know, laughing yourself like you know, he went
on the Strongest Man competition on TV. She remember that
he's pulling, you know, pulling a semi truck behind him,
(39:28):
jumped up on a on stage with Albert Collins and
played some guitar. I mean he was a decent guitar player,
but yeah, I mean that's that's intimidating. He didn't allow
himself to be sim wrestling in Japan. He fought Butterbean
in a box. He's most most people. I used to
tell my kids be like mister Wolf when they were
(39:49):
growing up. I'm like he and I would tell them
these stories. I said, he was fearless, and don't you
don't when you get to my age, Almost everything you
regret is some you didn't do. It's the omission, not
the co mission. Of course, there's things I wish I
hadn't done in my life, but by and large, you're like, man,
I wish i'd I wish I'd done that. I wish
(40:10):
I'd tried that. Craig Wolf, we never had to say that.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
He went for it.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
He tried it, and you know what if because what
holds a lot of us back, I think max is
the fear of making a fool of yourself and being
laughed at. You know what, if Wolf made a fool
of himself, he'd be the one laughing first and laughing
the loudest. And it's just that combination of I wouldn't
say not caring, because that's not exactly right, but that
(40:36):
ability to go for it, no fear, no fear.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
It was not fearful of himself, that's right, or the
image that he's trying to project. He had no pretenses.
He was an He lived authentically, He did true within himself.
And he's not afraid to admit mistakes. I think a
lot of us get fearful of the mistake of the
retraction of the fall yep. And he was like, no,
(41:01):
this is what the human condition is. We're supposed to
fail in order to figure out how to succeed.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
And he took that part very serious. He took seriously
the unserious aspects of life.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Yes, and he did not care if it was I
mean just talking about when we're up here and he
chipped his tooth eating and chicken wing, right, most people
be scared to say.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
That, Oh my god, I gotta cap over my too.
He didn't care. He was like, no, this is what
it is. Or him trying to.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
Trying to bend galvanized horseshoes, knowing that galvanized horseshoes cannot.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Be bent, you know, so you know, just having that.
He enjoyed life to the fullest.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
He and he enjoyed the experience of life. Yes, it's
ups and it's downs, and he you know, he loved
roller coasters. That's what his life was, right. You enjoy
the falls as well as the climbing back up because
it creates a complete story. He wasn't afraid of trying
to redact anything from you.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
He left it all as an open book and and
that part of that love.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Like you know, I'm thinking, as you're at your time,
I think you put it beautifully. You know, when people
think about, you know, living life to its fullest. You know,
some people might think, oh, going out to the finest restaurants.
What that meant for him was all the things that
he did, but also that sense of community that he
built and the way everybody felt part of that, you know,
whether it was doing a high school football game or
(42:20):
just you know, unfortunately my one brief year with him
in the booth here, when Craig Wolfly walked into a room,
you know, he was a big, powerful man. He lifted
everybody up. Everybody felt better about themselves in the presence
of Craig Wolfly. Everybody felt more energetic in the presence
of Craig Wolfly. There's not a lot of people who
(42:42):
you can say that about, and wolf is a person
you could definitely say that about.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
Absolutely, he lifted you spiritually, he lifted you emotionally, and
he could physically lift a lot of things. As we've
talked about as strongman competition and powerlifting like. He took
that and brought it to reaspect of his life. He
was a power man, you know, so to speak, and
he lived that. It was in the core of his
(43:07):
being an ethos. He loved his family fiercely. He loved
his brothers, He loved where he came up in Western
New York, talks about fondly about his days in Buffalo,
and loved his wife, love Faith, yep, and what she
did for him in his life. He loves his kids.
I mean, nobody could be more proud of Kyle Jacob.
We know if you say Kyle Jacob, we already know
(43:27):
he's a wolf le because he talked about his son,
he talked about his daughters, and you know, and I
think that's the one thing. He lived life at one
hundred percent. He didn't exactly right anything else. He was
a one hundred percent pure life bringer and a life
giver and he lived it to the fullest.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Yep. Just a wonderful, wonderful guy and a great addition
to the Hall of Honor Craig Wolfy going in with J. T.
Thomas and Kevin Colbert. This year's twenty twenty six Hall
of Honor class, going to dive back into the Steelers roster.
Want to take a look at the tight end group
because it's interesting. It's one of the things that's going
to be completely different as far as the approach we
(44:09):
think of utilizing the tight end in this Mike McCarthy offense,
and it was in the Arthur Smith offense. So that's
something we're going to dive into here as we continue
to break down this roster, continue to break down things
all Steelers at training camp here at Saint Vincent College
and the trope when we continue in the locker room
on the Steelers Audio Network
This is live coverage of twenty twenty six Steelers training
Camp on the Steelers Audio Network, presented by bud Light,
Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and brought to you
in part by Pennsylvania one Call Systems Dial eight one
one before You Dig SNT Bank People Forward Banking by
(00:22):
kalucy Chevrolet, serving the Pittsburgh area for over one hundred
and eight years. Clearview Federal Credit Union. For every touchdown
the Black and Gold score in twenty twenty six, Clearview
will donate five hundred dollars to the Light of Life
Mission Listit CLEARVIEWFCU dot org and by iron Workers Local
(00:42):
Union number three. We don't go to the office, We
build it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And welcome me. Say if it's in college and la
trope inside the locker room where we get a chance
to ceason football, I'm gonna say kill you. We got game.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah. Those whistles you hear are real live whistle. We're
not making it up.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Nope, we didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
We didn't bring it up into the booth. We have
actual practice going on.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This practice today I think extends into like one sixteen sixteen, Yeah,
not one seventeen, just another you know underline underscore for
how much every second UH is scripted out here for
or scripted out or prepared for whatever, whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
To call it for. For head coach Mike McCarthy seeing
Sante Samuel Junior with a nice.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Pass break up there against DK Metcalf h from Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Right, let let's let's let people know these whether the.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Starting unit is out here right now, one's on ones,
good on good competitive team period right now to move
the ball down the field. So sitting at a third
and long, so we're getting our first like kind.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
Of team speed, team combativeness, I guess is probably the
best word to use drills of camp because mostly everything's
been two minute drills.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah, this is not a two minute situation. This is
just regular are down in distance, first, second, third and
fourth down.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Helmet's some guys, most guys doesn't look like anyone. We're
in shoulder pads really out there. That's a beautifully throw
them all on the far side of the field. Just
shell protectors, Yeah, shell protectors for DK Metcalf in front
of Brandon Echoles along the far sideline. Chris Week thrown ball,
but the Paul still just of course we talked about
this yesterday, everybody's eyes are on the quarterback position. Man,
(02:24):
it just still looks Chris coming out of the hand
of Aaron Rodgers. Here's a handoff to Lout Nichols off
the left side. He's getting to run with the ones,
a little change up there.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You want to see what all of these guys can do, because,
let's be frank, you know, outside of Rico Duo and
Jalen Warren, you want to know who your third and
fourth running back is. So full audition for Lou Nichols,
for Caleb Johnson, Eli heiden Reich. Right, we have all
these guys that are available to us to see what.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
They can do.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Travis Homer and Riley Nolkowski more full back. But you know,
maybe maybe he'll get maybe he'll get a little plug
and hug here and there.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Right, you know, and again, one of the things that's
going to be interesting to see is how things are valued.
You know. So Mike McCarthy was asked about a Sante
Samuel Junior yesterday. We talked about that I coached against
his dad, and he went on to rave about how
good is Sante looked in practice thus far. Again, it's
early days, you know, we haven't seen the hitting and
(03:21):
that sort of stuff, but his aggression and all the
things that he's like. Even going back to OTAs and
you know, he was asked about Travis Homer and what
a good special teams player is and he goes, you know,
he said, look, he's got to make a team. Now, again,
that's not We're not We're not. I'm not sure he's
trying to send a message. We're certainly not trying to
send a message. What we're what we're saying is that
(03:42):
there's there were for Mike Tomlin, it felt like there
were going to be several players whose special teams prowess.
And there's a lofted ball this time knocked away intended
for Metcalf on the near side by Eccles, And you know,
so I think Carson Brunner is a guy that's going
to be interesting. Travis Homer is a guy who's going
(04:04):
to be interesting. Because Mike Tomlin had guys like Miles
Killibrew who's a Pro Bowl special teams player, and that's
what he did. I mean, there were times in which,
certainly if somebody got hurt during the game, you see
Miles Kilbrouge safety, but you know, if safety got hurt
and you need to start somebody, they might bring up
somebody from the practice squad. You know, so Miles's abilities
on special teams were highly valued. We don't know how
(04:28):
this staff is going to evaluate some of some of
those guys a little further down the roster, like the
third running back.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, so you want to put every opportunity out there
to put film for all these guys and put them
in a variety of situations.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I think that's one of the key things is how
do I put these guys in a stress test? Because
what if it does happen in a game and you
happen to be dressed Lou Nichols and Rico du or
Jalen Warren's unavailable and I need you to jump in. Well,
you need to not get enamored with the fact that
Aaron Rogers talking to you, you know, or worry about
who else is in that huddle, like you have a
(05:04):
job to do.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
How are you going to respond to that pressure of
the moment.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And I think that's you know, we talk about Mike
Mike Tomlin being a master of situational football, like putting
guys in un comfortable situations and trying to make them comfortable.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Mike McCarthy is also a guy. He's not gonna leave
any stone unturned and he's going.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
To be methodical about putting guys in these situations so
that it becomes reactionary.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Right, and I think the same.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
So two different ways to skin that cat, but still
the same result in it.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Right. And what we don't know is are there going
to be that handful of players that make the team
because of their prowess on special teams? And that's that
that's going to be, you know, like Connor Hayward, Right,
Connor Hayward could do a bunch of different things, but
his bread and butter was that special teams. Miles Killerbrew
special teams are other guys who's you know, ability Carson Bruner,
(05:56):
his ability on special teams was his ticket to making
your roster. It might be your ticket to making the roster.
Is we want the best fifth inside linebacker, best third
running back. Now, if you're that guy, you better be
able to play special teams also, right, So.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Or have a willingness.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
You might not be good at it, but you better
have a willingness to go down there track and do
your job.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
So this might be a nice little crossing pattern to
Jeremy Bernard there, this might be another way of putting it.
So let's say you had three running backs, right, one
running back which really good on special teams, not much
of a running back. Another guy, and I'm just making
this up. I'm not trying to innimate who's one guy
was a really good running back but not good on
special teams. That last guy was split the difference that
(06:42):
might be enough to make the team. You know, hey,
you're our best third running back. You're not our best
special teamer, but you're you're not our worst special teamer
in that group, you know what I mean. So we
don't know how the roster is going to be constructed.
You just need to be the eighth best special teamer, right,
you know, right, like the eleven that go on the fields.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Right, And like you said, and maybe that running back
is a little bit better, has a little bit better
hands out of the backfield to catch some swing passes
or some screenplays. He's a little more elusive, and like
you said, and as a decent special teamer, that's right,
that might be the guy versus the guy who's like, oh,
he's just straight ground and pound. Right, a traditional running
back that doesn't really catch a ball here and there.
He might catch a check down.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Or he's a special team's ace, but not much of
a running back.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So exactly, he's just a he's a decoy when you
get there.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Offensive lift seam pattern completed to Pat Fryar.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Mood he heard him moves you knew who you know.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Who've caught the football. Yeah, a nice seam pattern to
the back shoulder. Patrick Kuman was in good coverage on that.
But again just to the only expression. He threw him
open there.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
He threw him open.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
And that was a second pass in that drive for
Pat Fryar move that he caught across the middle.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So great job there of them moving down the field.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
They had one fourth down situation during that drive that
we didn't really highlight. That was the play that that
kept the chains moving. And now we'll get a look
at what will Howard maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
No, no, no, I would imagine Mason Rudolph will see though.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
He's Rudolph is off to the side, so it might
be Rowler.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, because Mason's right in the backside over here to
our left, and he's sitting there next to Will Hawens.
Got to be it's got to be Aler that's going
to get a crack here with the second unit offensive,
Why Maxiana Schore And at the right tackle position, Ryan McCollum,
I can't tell who's that guard?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So interesting thing happened again today. You know we talked
about this yesterday. Troy Foutan, who looked like he flinched
a little on a drill. It comes Maxie hona Art
right tackle over to left tackle goes Dylan Cook. So
even the veteran guys, you know, it's attention to detail
small things. You make it premake a free stan right.
Here's a quick, good cross to cole Purchase thrown by
(08:45):
a quick slant.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
I asked Stephen Jones at the right guard next to
you and in between McCollum as well, Roger Jones had
left tackle on that boy.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Pretty good catch by a T Perry on a ball
that was behind him on a slant to the left
that led him. It might have been intercepted.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Who's that in the backfield? It's a Navy man like
hid and right from Mount Lebanon.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And rosstat that is that's not a good throw to
cole Bert just behind him. And falls in completely. Loo's
think they're still going to hurry up even though it's
an incomplete pass.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
And to round out that offensive line, you have brock
Hoffman playing the left guard. So I just want to
make sure we got the five linemen in there. My
area of expertise, because I think this is what kind
of your second line looks like.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean, not a bad line. I mean you think
of definitely, yeah, vets.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
In the middle and two first round draft picks on
the edge of Yeah, that's pretty nice, and hide and
right moving out to the left here, so you have
two receivers to the left, three to the right.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
But you know, watching that show, that throw from jew Aller,
you know he is he is, he's got the size.
It's just this sort of fluidity, the arm strength you like.
But again he just siales one there. You know again,
whether it's these are mechanical things like that little cross
that's one where you got to it's.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Not it's not a difficult throw. I said, Dolly put
it on him. Yeah, you need to put a dart
on him.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
That one. That one was a touch drow and yeah,
and he just kind of lofted that one. That would
look more like.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
A like a twelve or thirteen yard seam route versus
versus a stop route on the eighth.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
So you know, these are some of the things.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And this is why he was kind of a project, right,
why you while you wait for the third round to
go get him. There's a lot of the measurables, but
you got to have some of that intangible that coach McCarthy's.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Gonna have to coach into him.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, and that size and arm strength. You know, as
they say, like in basketball, when a guy's a seven
footer and there's an errant throw intended for cole Burgess
out to the right to three off the mark here
in row for aller But you know they say, you
can't teach size, right, you can't teach you can't teach.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Arm strength, and you can't coach speed. Right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
There's little things you can do to make people faster,
there's little things you can do to improve arm strength.
But you know those are those are you know, those
aren't the talents that attract you and the talents that
can get you.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
You want to get off the bus team first?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah that's right, Yeah, that's right. And now fourth and
ten heres we're watching.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Yeah, fourth and ten, well four to two Nickel deployed
by the defense, Jack Sawyer off the defensive.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Left, Henderson and Castro the deep safeties. Yeah, hour's gonna
zip went up the left side. Ohful back shoulder throw
caught by at Perry. And again that's the sort of thing.
So that ball, I'm gonna say that traveled maybe forty
yards vertically.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
In the air.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Now you have to remember the high pot news of
the triangle. You got to add another seven eight yards
at that was loft and everything that was forty five
to fifty yards on mostly.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
On a rope. I mean, you know, not everybody here
on power.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, not everybody can make that throw. You know, we
were talking about this yesterday, Like I'm a big believer
that you've got to be able to throw a ball
on a line about forty yards. Yeah, And you know
that's that covers the deep out, you know, the deep
middle throw. If a guy's running a twenty yard cross
and you've taken a you know, a five step drop
(12:11):
or whatever, you know, that's that's a twenty five yard
throw over the middle and they take that same pattern
and running out. Now it gets closer to forty yards
You've got to be able to throw that ball on
a line, not hanging up there so it gets intercepted.
That's what I've always thought. And then you know, we
think about like a Joe Montana who didn't have maybe
that elite arm strength, but he had the savvy, the
(12:31):
ability to run defenses, the touch or redefenses, the touch,
the timing to make those throws to Jerry Rice, so
they didn't have to vombit seventy eighty yards down field.
They could throw it fifty and catch Jerry and stride
and bye bye.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, it was bye bye. And and just kind of
think about this. This is kind of what you get
with Drew Aller, Right, you had that spectacular.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Play, but if you look at the last five throws
for completion, right two of five, so that's kind of
the boom or bust. You kind of get what Aller
right now, and that's the potential you have to weed
through to figure out what he can do in the future.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
And just overthrowing Burgess on a crossing pattern in the
back of the end zone, now, yeah, and that was
Darren Perry and trail carverage back there, or Daryl Porter.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
I beg your Daryl Porter junior. Yeah. Yeah, And did
I say Darren Perry, Yeah you did.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Uh No, it's Darryl Porter.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's junior.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It's okay, he he He was a defensive back here
at one point.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah. Yeah, that was a while ago.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And he was a coach here, so.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
I mean, yeah, I mean, it's not like you just
pulled some name randomly. It wasn't like the fifty six
Pirates roster.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right. Yeah, I could probably run that down for you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
You could, you could. I don't doubt that at all.
But this is kind of where we're at. We're in
that no man's land, right fourth down and you're four. Yeah,
hide and right to the right of aler in the shotgun.
Let's see what we got here.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Rollout.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Oh that might that might Hey, that might have been
a whole first and goal on the one because that
was a pretty good tug on the back shoulder.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I don't know if they're gonna call that.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
They're not gonna call it.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Now. If we could see the jersey being stretched from.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Here, yeah that was that was not a good one.
The throw was the at Perry, but uh, the jersey
grab already.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I couldn't tell who that was, but I think it
was Jack Henderson, but I'm not sure, but it might
even Castro. I couldn't tell in the back of the
end zone there whether it's forty eight or forty nine.
Still trying to get a look out of here from
our vantage point, and that's yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I have a big I have a big like poll
post here that I can't see a lot, So I'm
like trying to duck between two.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Pieces of glass or one piece of glass.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
To see on the far side of the field going
towards the scoreboard at Saint Vincent College.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
That's a visibility herder. So the Ring of Honor class
announced today. We're gonna dive into that. This practices ended here,
but it was fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
It was good practice and gave us.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
A nice little moment where we could banter back but
live matriculation of the football.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
That was a good That was a good little little
teaser for us. Good times.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
The last of the acclamation practices next week they get
into it with with pads and uh and doing some
hitting and that sort of thing. So that'll be fun
to look forward to you. Yes, what are you pointing out?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Mike McCarthy just wheeled down a young man in a
wheelchair and the players all did.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
A tunnel for him. Oh yes, and brought him down.
That's that. That's pretty often.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
You'll know if there's make a wish or something uh special,
maybe somebody that he knows.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
That's that's pretty awesome. That's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
It is, Uh, you know, you're reminded that these guys
are they're young men and you know, yeah, they're just
so many of them happy to help out, most of
them in situations like that.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
So you have a lot of people looking up to
them and they unders I think I think this generation
of player understands kind of mind.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I mean, you know, I grew up in the no
role models, Charles Barkley era, you know of of sports.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
But now these guys they understand there's a there's a
social responsibility right to do things the right way and
that you know, people are watching you.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
So that was a pretty cool site. It was.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Indeed, we're gonna we have much more to come. We're
gonna talk about the Ring of Honor Class one that's
gonna hit home very close to both Max and myself,
and we'll go through that more. To discuss here obviously
about this year's Steelers team. We continue here from Saint
Vincent College in the locker room. Here on this year
there's audio.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Network please live Covery Jump dot twenty twenty six Steelers
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(16:54):
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(17:18):
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and buy Condiente Pizza and Drafthouse.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Welcome back inside the locker room and Saint Vincent College
in Latrover Max Field, Max and I had a nice
discussion during the break, continued on.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
We love sports.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
We love sports. We do love sports. So Ring of
Honor just an incredible them class. Oh it just uh
so let's start with JT.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Thomas.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean first, round pick in nineteen seventy three. He
was the first African American football player to play football.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And graduate from Florida State University.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
He's an impressive guy. J J.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Thomas, JT. I mean, and listen, I met JA. It's funny.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I used to I used to always when I saw
JT calling the ribman right because he had red hot
and blue uh down in the waterfront for a long time,
I had, I had a barbecue, a restaurant tour. So, yeah,
he's an entrepreneur, yeah, exactly, so I restaurant, Yeah so
I So that's how I first got introduced to him.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
When I first got here to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I was going down to the movie theater and I
was like, oh, there's a barbecue restaurant. I'm from the
South Love Barbecue. Went in there, and JT is in there,
and so I'm talking to him, and then you know,
I didn't know all of the Steel Curtain, right, coming
from Florida and not really being exposed to Pittsburgh as
a young rookie coming into this league, and you know,
and then you learn the.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
History, You're like, oh my god, there was JT done.
He's like four Super Bowl titles. Yeah, he got nineteen interset.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Like he started three of the four Super Bowl The
only reason he didn't start the first one was because
he was he was ill and he was injured, so
he did not get it, but he still got a ring.
And so you know, rare air when you're talking about
a key contributor at the cornerback position at you know,
for for j T. Thomas, he makes it in all
the other four Super Bowl guys that are already in
(19:13):
this Hall of Honor, right, so it kind of you know,
it's FNN. I was talking with Mike Pursuita. He was like,
I'm gonna be honest, because he's been on he's been
on the voting board for it.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
He's like, I thought he was already in. I saw
his name, like, oh oh yeah, we gotta get him in.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Because he's right there with the with those core guys
of the Steel Curtain era that won four Super Bowls, uh,
you know, in that time. So it's really cool to
see JT get in and he wasn't here today, but
you know, you can't imagine when we have when we
have the Hall of Honor game, when it's announced, you
know where he'll be down there and take his rightful
place with the rest of his his teammates that are already.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
In the hall.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Right. Well, I mean he was you know, he played
opposite of of mel Blunt, right, I mean you know
this is uh, this is just an restive, impressive player.
And I mean you talk about, you know, a pair
of lockdown corners. And of course everybody knows all about
Mel Blunt and the rule changes and all that. But
JT made himself a pro Bowl and you know, a
(20:11):
starter on again four different Super Bowl championship teams. I
mean its starter throughout the year of course, as you
mentioned in that the first Super Bowl. But you know,
a great player on I think what you would just
have to call the greatest defense of all time.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Yeah, no, Steeve curtain for that reason, Like you don't
even it's like you say steel curtain and it's already
synonymous with it. You don't even have to say steel
curtain defense, Like it's just you say steel care like
oh shoot shoot, Pittsburgh defense.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Right all you think of the seventies.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And like you said, you go down that list and
you say the mel Blunt, you say the Joe Greens,
the Jack Lambert's.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Right, there's all these guys on this defense and there's like,
oh yeah, by the way, JT.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
Thomas as well, another Pro Bowl or nineteen to like
they threw at him because they were scared of Mel
Blunt and that's how I got so many more opportunities.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
But he also had to hold his water right, because.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
You couldn't have any weak links along that group. Donnie
Shell right, also another another devastator and the secondary for
that group, Jack Hamm, Like we just you could keep
going to White White, el C Greenwood, right, Ernie Hult,
like you know who these names are, and he's just
one of those many names in that group.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yep, a great, great group and nineteen interceptions with this yee,
there's twenty in his career because he went out and
played nine games with Denver in nineteen eighty two as
a thirty one year old. But JT. Thomas goes into
the ring of honor Kevin Colbert.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I mean, what an.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Incredible job he did as an executive general manager. They
didn't have that title for many years and finally was
awarded that title. And you know, you think about two
Super Bowl champions, but you also think about all the
teams he was involved in all came close and then
drafted all the players. He drafted left tackle at A Florida.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Yeah. Yeah, this this dark scrub, little small kid that
had potential.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
But we think about you know, I mean, you just go,
you know, just instantly. Of course, you did get Troy Polamalo,
and you get n Roethlisberg, and then he executes the
trade that gets you Jerome Bettis, you know, and just
on and on and on. The acquisition to the players,
you know, the ability to find free agents on the
team and give them opportunities. You know, guys like Willie Parker,
(22:28):
who's in the Hall of Honor, Guys like James Harrison.
You know, Casey Hampton. Casey Hampton was a was a
was a first round selection. So just I mean, well
deserved for a really really modest, unassuming guy in Kevin Colbert.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Yeah no, I mean, and Kevin served in that role
for twenty two years here in Pittsburgh and responsible for
bringing over Charlie bass because he was GM over in Detroit.
Came over here, brought brought Charlie Basch, brought Jeff Hardings
over in that initial wave of guys that came that
he felt comfortable with to help construct a roster for
Bill Cower, and then of course all the time that
(23:05):
he spent with Mike Tomlin. You're right, but constructed three
super Bowl teams in his time here, and I would say,
when it's all said and done, he'll have probably about
five six seven Hall of Famers under his under his
watch that he that he brought in. And of course
I have a personal feeling for him because of the
fact that he chose to take me in the third
(23:26):
round of the two thousand and four draft pick number
seventy five, but number seventy eight in your programs in
our hearts, yeah, and one in our heart number one
in our hearts of course always.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
But I would say the second most GM in Steelers history.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Obviously Dick Haley gets that number one nine because of
the aforementioned steel curtain in those seventies for super Bowl teams,
but he's responsible for the other two. So combined between
those two GM stewardships, you have all six Super Bowl
championships comprised between two men that helped construct these rosters.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Right, and you know, again totally different eras of football.
So I think that, and again I'm not trying to
say one is easier than the other. But you know,
in the in the first tenure of you know, the seventies,
when you won the four Super Bowls, two things were prevalent.
One is that the Steelers were way out in front
(24:20):
of every school, every other team frankly and sadly still
segregated America in many ways of going into those you know,
southern schools and finding the Joe Greens and the Melballants
and the on and you know, Donnie Shell's and and
so on and so forth. You know, so many of
those great players came from those schools, and the Steelers
were just way out and thanks to Bill nn just
(24:43):
way out in front of everybody else, the historically black
colleges and US and universities HBCUs.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
And I'm proud to say that I get to call
the a SBCU National Championship every year, so I get
to see those schools.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
I grew up as a kid.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Around a lot of those colleges and had parents who
went to those schools, and you know, to think about
just the pioneering job that a Bill Nunn did, you know,
and and they're there and there's some legendary stories between
Bill Nunn and Gil Brandt, so Cowboys Steelers. It didn't
just start with the America's team and going back for
Super Bowls in the seventies, there was a scouting like
(25:21):
feud and rivalry where Bill Nunn would famous famously stole
the John Stalwart tapes that gil Brant was looking for,
and that's why they were able to get him laid
in the draft because nobody had any tape because you know,
as the story goes, he ran a bad forty, it
was wet, it was all this other stuff, and Bill
Nunn hung around and then he ran him privately the
(25:41):
next day on a forty and saw it and went
and took all the tape with him and drove back
to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Gil Brant was looking for the tape and he couldn't
find it.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
So, you know, you just think about those type of
stories and like you said, going in there and finding
these type of players, and like you said, we're talking
about A.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
JT.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Thomas, the first African American to play at Florida State University.
I'm from Florida, you know, I went to University of Florida.
Florida State was another school that I looked at and
just that history. And we had John Mitchell here on
the staff, one of the first African American players to
play for Bear Bryant. Like, there's all these different things,
and so it's really cool to kind of see those
(26:18):
individuals kind of highlighting especially on this day the Hall
of Honor class pretty special occasion and situation. Yeah, and
the other thing that there's a lot of Jaquan Brisker fans, Like,
I know we're talking about this, but I'm like, there's
a flood of yellow shirts with three Brisker down on
the field. There's got and there's got to be at
(26:38):
least like fifty sixty people on the field here for
Jaquan brisk So it's just it's out of the corner
of our I we got it, but we got to
make note of it. You can't see it, but we
can here sitting up top the press box area. But
his family is here in full effect. It's like a
Brisker family reunion down there.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
It looks like So I had the chance to talk
to Khalem Morris, I think he I think he might
be an uncle, yeah of Jakwan Brisker. I didn't catch
the family connection because we were talking about other stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
But his nephew was in the autograph.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
I was signing autographs earlier today in the in the
fan zone, and his nephew came through and I signed
one of those yellow shirts down there.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
So a lot of his family came in town today
for practice.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So Kalem, how about this for a degrees of separation?
So Khalem Morris born in Pittsburgh, by the way, doctor
Khalem Morris, Okay is now in Virginia where he is
a math teacher and teaches nine through twelve and is
(27:46):
the instructor for.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Daleen Evertts younger brother Don. That's crazy about that. That's
a small world.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Is a small words awesome connection.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
That was fun. So yes, there's there's it's it's got
to be fifty.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, easily, easily.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
People wearing Jakwan Brisker number three jerseys and yeah yeah,
and uh oh, there goes a little a little girl
zipping across the field, got her hair done up. She's
got a she got a jersey on thought number three jersey.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Yeah, got a jersey. There's jerseys. There's Cusho T shirt,
but all brisker. You definitely know who they're here to
see today. It's not a questions less. We'd like to
see nineties and ninety seven's right, t J. Watson, Cam
Haywards and Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
These are all threes. These are all and it's not
Jeff Reed, and it's no, it's not Jeff Reed.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And it's so very cool. I mean, look, you have
to you have to make the team on your own merits.
But when you have you know, a Joey Porter whose
dad obviously played for the Steelers, but he went to
you know, North Alleghania High School. Jakwan went to Gateway
High School. When you see these guys that are local
and that connection that you know they have with this
(28:59):
the city of Pittsburgh, it's so awesome. I mean the Bines,
you know, the ties at Bine Runs, you know, are
just so tight, so snug that that tie the uh,
the Steelers to the community of Pittsburgh. And then you
get a chance to see a local guy.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Like this, right, you know, you come back home and
there's always that dream.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Like we talked about the Jaquan Briskers, right, the Eli
heyden Reich's and different guys throughout time.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
I mean I played with a couple I talked.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
About my time with Russell Stuven, So it was my
roommate my first year in the league, and Russell was
was from here. You also have Mike Logan, so you
get these local guys who go from you know, they
go to other schools, but you get to come back
home and and it is that homecoming family reunion type
of feel out here for those local guys. And like
(29:51):
I said, people gonna come out for you. And and
and his family is in full representation here at up
here on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Full representation. Just wonderful to see. We're going to take
a break because we want to talk at some length
about the third and final member going into the Hall
of Honor Class Press. He's going to get one when
we continue in the locker room here on the Steelers
Audio Network.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
This is live coverage of the twenty twenty six Steelers
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Speaker 2 (31:04):
And welcome back inside the locker room where nobody, and
I mean nobody is having more fun than the Brisker
family still hanging out out of the field. They're in
no hurry to leave. They're enjoying themselves out there. You know,
there is a lone fifty six Jersey out there. I
noticed that. I don't know if that's part of the
Brisker family.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Everybody else You can a La Woodley fan.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Okay, I mean it's a Super Bowl Lamar Woodleigh Jersey
at least Super Bowl forty three.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Patch on there.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yeah, good job knowing that, right.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah, Well, I think I can kind of id that one. Yes,
I kind of remember what that looks like. Yes, that's
probably a good one.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, because I was wondered if that was maybe an
Alex Heismith jersey.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Yeah, no, not in the past. That that is.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
That's Woodley, So ring of honor announced for this year's class.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
We talked about J. T. Thomas, the outstanding corner place
a little safety but mostly opposite of of melt Blunt,
the steel curtain defenses of the seventies, parts of four
Super Bowl Championship teams. Kevin Colbert, the architect of two
more Super Bowl champions another super Bowl team.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
The other thing I was gonna say about that era,
just to talk about that quickly, is the fact that
no free agency. So you signed Joe Green, you got
him for life. You signed Jack Ham, he got him
for life for as long as you right, Yeah, I
mean maybe he said we're done with you. Well I'm
gonna I'm gonna wand drop the seattle to see if
there's anything left in the tank. But yes, you were
(32:35):
able to keep those guys, and so when you when
you did a great job drafting, and yes, the front office,
for sure, the scouts for sure, had to keep those
but you get to keep those guys, not wondering you
know who am I gonna lose in free agency? And
how am I going to navigate that? So different errors,
just different errors, but but both incredible and our buddy
(32:57):
Craig Wolfley.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
I mean, such a well deserved, overdue honor for Wolf
And the one thing that makes it bittersweet, it's posthumous,
I know, like I know, could you imagine the speech
he would have given had it been had he been here?
And I think that's what you know, gets us a
(33:22):
little choked up about it thinking about it, but most
assuredly deserves to be in that and that hall mentioned
amongst that, and not only for the ten years he
spent as an active player here and of course going
on to Minnesota after that for a number of years
playing with my uncle Joey, but the twenty five plus
years as a broadcaster on these airwaves, the show's originator
(33:50):
him and Touch like we're carrying on that tradition literally
on these airwaves, and we're talking about him being in
the Hall of Honor just a sume special moment, and
you know he would be overfilled with joy. He joins
the ranks with his with his with his brother Touch Yep,
they now both get to reside in the Hall and
(34:12):
live on in football immortality here in Western PA. And
what he's meant not only to the Steelers organization, but
I think to the Pittsburgh Western Pennsylvania country, you know,
part of the country as a whole.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Like what he meant off the field, what he meant
in the.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Community, light of life rescue mission, you know, adventures in
training with the purpose that he that he would volunteer
his time with with his good buddy John Colb, one
of his former teammates, and the countless lives that he touched.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Along the way.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
He played with a lot of the guys were talking
about the Steel Curtain right towards the end of their
career was kind of the budding of his. He came
right there in nineteen eighty, so he saw a lot
of these guys. He played with him, played with the J. T.
Thomas for two years before he left for Denver, right,
played with Mike Webster and all of these guys, Frank
Go and and and the list goes on. And he's
(35:03):
just been an indelible part of our lives for the
better part of you know, it's called it five almost
five decades of him of having him in this in
this community. So a remarkable member, our friend, our brother,
and uh, you know, it's it's really special to have
him come in.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
You know, there's a lot of things that I love
about Wolf and you know in the you know, his
personality was so out in front that you sometimes forget
he was a really, really fine football player.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Yes, he was an excellent player.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
There's some legendary photos of him and and NFL history
right sitting on the bench just covered in mud and
kind of that grizzled look.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
I mean, yes, there was a point when Wolf had hair.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I know, we we kind of gloss over that because
of obviously the later years, and he was out in
front with the cue ball.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
But this guy had the flowing, flowing locks.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
You know, he had the he had, he had the
main and and he was just an excellent guard, an
excellent guard in this league, a pulling guard. And he
had some Titanic matchups back in the day. I know
we talk about like the Reggie White and Tounch Yolkin
match matchups, but I mean he was going against some
of the best, and you know, he was a guy
(36:15):
we used to always kid that we we we were
we were the we were the all Alternate team because
both of us would get Pro Bowl Alternate nods for
a number of years, but never quite made it to
the Pro Bowl itself. But but a fine a Fine
Human and the and the and the Syracuse Hall of
Fame Broadcasting Hall of Fame there at his university where
(36:36):
he played his college ball, and you know he and
he also had two other brothers that played college ball.
And then Ron, who I worked without in Arizona, and
it was it was a fun time early on in
my career here where you know, I would I would
play telephone between the both of them because I would
do our show in the mornings and every Wednesday I
worked at nine A seven and and and Craig would
(36:57):
always get off. He'd be like, hey, tell me I
love him. And then I get I get in the
studio with with with Ron, I'd be like, hey, Craig
says he loves you. He's like, oh my gosh, He's like,
tell him I love him that. So then the next
morning I would tell So we just had that and
I called myself. I jokingly coined the phrase. I was like,
between two wolves.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
You know, it's good, yeah, good stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
You know. I was at a an event with John
Coleb last year and he spoke about how you Coleb
of course was here earlier and and Wolfe was able
to play with him, but that. You know, he's playing
left tackle with Wolf. I think it was it might
have been a preseason game, might have been a regular
season game. And Wolf was up there, and you know,
(37:38):
John Colep said, look, you know we used to communicate.
We didn't even have to talk. We just grunt or
make a movement. Yeah, And Wolf's up there saying, what
are we doing? You know, what are we what are
we calling? And Colep's like, hey, quiet man, just come on,
do what you're supposed to do. And they're communicating back
and forth, and and uh, Wolf's kind of getting at
his nerves a little bit because he's not just he's
you know, he's eager. He wants to he wants to
(38:00):
make sure. And then he was Cold was playing against
some I think it was a regular season game. Bradshaw
was in it. It was a regular season game, and
Cold was playing against a premiere pass rusher I don't
remember who it was. And it's third and long and
he gets spun like a top olaid and now he's
down face first on the ground and he hears a
(38:21):
roar from the crowd and he gets up thinking it's
a sack, and instead it's a Terry Bradshaw touchdown completion
and Wolf is standing over the top of the pass
rusher he had peeled back and flattened him, and John
Colep looked up and Wolf looked at him and said,
I got you, old man. So I mean, don't forget
(38:43):
with all of the personality that he was a terrific
football player. I think, I think one of the things
I there's so many things I admired about Craig Wolfley.
You know, you touched on a little bit that using
he used. He took seriously helping people out, took it
very seriously. What he didn't take seriously too seriously was
(39:05):
himself and you know the ability, So the wolf you
saw with a big personality, that was him for sure,
that ability to to to go for it, but also
uh you know, laughing yourself like you know, he went
on the Strongest Man competition on TV. She remember that
he's pulling, you know, pulling a semi truck behind him,
(39:28):
jumped up on a on stage with Albert Collins and
played some guitar. I mean he was a decent guitar player,
but yeah, I mean that's that's intimidating. He didn't allow
himself to be sim wrestling in Japan. He fought Butterbean
in a box. He's most most people. I used to
tell my kids be like mister Wolf when they were
(39:49):
growing up. I'm like he and I would tell them
these stories. I said, he was fearless, and don't you
don't when you get to my age, Almost everything you
regret is some you didn't do. It's the omission, not
the co mission. Of course, there's things I wish I
hadn't done in my life, but by and large, you're like, man,
I wish i'd I wish I'd done that. I wish
(40:10):
I'd tried that. Craig Wolf, we never had to say that.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
He went for it.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
He tried it, and you know what if because what
holds a lot of us back, I think max is
the fear of making a fool of yourself and being
laughed at. You know what, if Wolf made a fool
of himself, he'd be the one laughing first and laughing
the loudest. And it's just that combination of I wouldn't
say not caring, because that's not exactly right, but that
(40:36):
ability to go for it, no fear, no fear.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
It was not fearful of himself, that's right, or the
image that he's trying to project. He had no pretenses.
He was an He lived authentically, He did true within himself.
And he's not afraid to admit mistakes. I think a
lot of us get fearful of the mistake of the
retraction of the fall yep. And he was like, no,
(41:01):
this is what the human condition is. We're supposed to
fail in order to figure out how to succeed.
Speaker 3 (41:07):
And he took that part very serious. He took seriously
the unserious aspects of life.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Yes, and he did not care if it was I
mean just talking about when we're up here and he
chipped his tooth eating and chicken wing, right, most people
be scared to say.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
That, Oh my god, I gotta cap over my too.
He didn't care. He was like, no, this is what
it is. Or him trying to.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
Trying to bend galvanized horseshoes, knowing that galvanized horseshoes cannot.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Be bent, you know, so you know, just having that.
He enjoyed life to the fullest.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
He and he enjoyed the experience of life. Yes, it's
ups and it's downs, and he you know, he loved
roller coasters. That's what his life was, right. You enjoy
the falls as well as the climbing back up because
it creates a complete story. He wasn't afraid of trying
to redact anything from you.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
He left it all as an open book and and
that part of that love.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Like you know, I'm thinking, as you're at your time,
I think you put it beautifully. You know, when people
think about, you know, living life to its fullest. You know,
some people might think, oh, going out to the finest restaurants.
What that meant for him was all the things that
he did, but also that sense of community that he
built and the way everybody felt part of that, you know,
whether it was doing a high school football game or
(42:20):
just you know, unfortunately my one brief year with him
in the booth here, when Craig Wolfly walked into a room,
you know, he was a big, powerful man. He lifted
everybody up. Everybody felt better about themselves in the presence
of Craig Wolfly. Everybody felt more energetic in the presence
of Craig Wolfly. There's not a lot of people who
(42:42):
you can say that about, and wolf is a person
you could definitely say that about.
Speaker 4 (42:46):
Absolutely, he lifted you spiritually, he lifted you emotionally, and
he could physically lift a lot of things. As we've
talked about as strongman competition and powerlifting like. He took
that and brought it to reaspect of his life. He
was a power man, you know, so to speak, and
he lived that. It was in the core of his
(43:07):
being an ethos. He loved his family fiercely. He loved
his brothers, He loved where he came up in Western
New York, talks about fondly about his days in Buffalo,
and loved his wife, love Faith, yep, and what she
did for him in his life. He loves his kids.
I mean, nobody could be more proud of Kyle Jacob.
We know if you say Kyle Jacob, we already know
(43:27):
he's a wolf le because he talked about his son,
he talked about his daughters, and you know, and I
think that's the one thing. He lived life at one
hundred percent. He didn't exactly right anything else. He was
a one hundred percent pure life bringer and a life
giver and he lived it to the fullest.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Yep. Just a wonderful, wonderful guy and a great addition
to the Hall of Honor Craig Wolfy going in with J. T.
Thomas and Kevin Colbert. This year's twenty twenty six Hall
of Honor class, going to dive back into the Steelers roster.
Want to take a look at the tight end group
because it's interesting. It's one of the things that's going
to be completely different as far as the approach we
(44:09):
think of utilizing the tight end in this Mike McCarthy offense,
and it was in the Arthur Smith offense. So that's
something we're going to dive into here as we continue
to break down this roster, continue to break down things
all Steelers at training camp here at Saint Vincent College
and the trope when we continue in the locker room
on the Steelers Audio Network
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