by DieHard batteries and Advanced. Autoparts Peter King
here in Latrobe. Pennsylvania. Steelers Camp. I'm with
Mitchell. True Biscay
who I would say anyway, is the favorite to win the starting
job of the Steelers at quarterback, succeeding, Ben
Roethlisberger. Before we get into that,
I'm dying to know
as a kid who grew up in Greater Cleveland,
what is it like now
for you to step on on the field?
Field as one of the dreaded enemy
of the Browns in the black and gold of the Pittsburgh
Steelers. Well I did not,
I wasn't hating them or ruin against them growing up, but
I definitely want saw a lot of AFC North games being from
Cleveland
the Browns were Steelers matchup Steelers Ravens
Steelers. Cincinnati. So those are the games I watched on
Sunday, growing up. Those are the channels we got on TV. So
I know all about the Rivalry
and there definitely is a divide but
there's also a lot of Steelers fans from back home. So a lot
of people are happy. I'm here. Excited to be here. So it's
it's a good time to be in the black and gold and it was just
crazy watching them growing up and now I get to get the play
for him. Yeah. Are you saying that you did not hate
the Steelers? I did kid. I didn't.
Did you hate any team? I didn't, I didn't. I like to
refer players growing up and then I just like to I just like
to watch all the games. So I root for players and then watch
all the games and then
the team I really rude for growing up was my high school, so
it was big to go to their games on Fridays and Saturdays and
Sundays.
I would just watch college and NFL games as is, I wasn't
really a huge fan for necessarily a singular team.
Tell me what it's like for you. Now, you have spent a good part
of your early pro, career learning. What it's like to
get beat up a little bit, you know in the public and
the press it seems like you must have a harder shell right now
than when you first came in the league.
What about the mental aspect of the game? Game and what your
whole the first few years in the league have done for you.
Yeah, that's why I think this process
and just on my overall experience has it has
definitely hardened me. Mentally,
just like, built up your mental toughness and you just, you
realize like what's important to you, you gain a lot of
perspective, you have a great support system that be my wife,
my family.
And now my son, so family is number one
and God, and then comes football. So
you gain a lot of perspective and people are going To say
whatever they want. But at the end of the day, I mean I could
play football for a living and that's a blessing. So you just
got to keep perspective on things and people are going to
say what they want to say. I mean,
they still there's a greatest players of all time like Tiger
Woods and LeBron and they're still trying to knock them down
to. So it doesn't really matter who you are or what you're
doing.
Somebody out there is going to be hating on you and trying to
pull you down, but it's just your job to go out there. Be
the best you can be and Inspire the Next Generation and
the kids that look up to you. So that's all I tried to do,
what is it? Like, now in a daily battle for this job.
Is it feel? How do you think or you able to kind of appreciate
the competition that you're up against? Yeah, definitely.
I mean, we have really good quarterback room
with me. Kenny Mason
and Chris are young guys. So
coach Tomlin is very transparent about the situation.
I've taken all the rest with the one so far. So
I'm just trying not to take any day for granted just take
advantage of this opportunity. Continue to lead this team
whether I'm getting reps or whether I'm watching the other
guys getting the Reps. Just
just trying to learn from every single down because we're all
in still installing this new offense together and it's
trying to get better every single day. So
it's all about leading be the best I can be and hopefully,
I have an opportunity to lead this team. Come week. One
Mike Tomlin has coached in the NFL for 15 years. He's never
had a losing season in all of those years.
What do you see? Now coming in?
One-offs one offseason, the opening of one training camp,
what do you see in Tomlin?
It's not an accident, it's his work ethic.
His attention to detail,
it's his knowledge of the game
and it's how he builds the team and how he leads the team and
he does it every single day. He brings the same energy.
And ever since I got here, it's been really impressive to me
how he leads a team as a football coach. And he, he'll
even tell you, it's not an accident that that he gets
the results. He does. Because he's a such a great leader. He's
a great football coach, and
I've learned so much in just my short time here with him.
And I'm just trying to soak in all that knowledge so I can be
the best player I can be and we can continue to go out and win
games for the Steelers.
You get a win the job.
I like to think so for sure.
Matron too risky. Good luck. This year. Thanks a lot for
joining me. Thank you
in Latrobe with the Steelers. This is Peter King.