Jack Ham Talks Steelers, Penn St Prospects

0:00We see you. Your calendar's color coded. Your outfit for tomorrow is already laid out. You have everything in top-aware labeled in your fridge. You buy in bulk. You meal prep. You know what you're doing in 2027. You're a planner. And we're here to say you don't have to do it all. S&T Bank makes banking easy. From our friendly team to our online and mobile solutions, we do more so you can do less. Stop by your local branch. Visit STBank.com or call 800-325-2265 S&T Bank. Member FDIC. You're tuned to a drive on your 24-7 home of the Black & Gold Steelers Nation Radio. Back on the drive here on this Friday afternoon. And we go to the phone lines to welcome a very special guest, four-time Super Bowl champion, pro football Hall of Famer, the great Jack Ham,

1:02of course, part of the Penn State Radio Network broadcast crew as well. Jack, how you doing? Thank you so much for taking the time. How's the golf game? I got to imagine you're very ready for spring and summer in this weather attorney. Well, I'm doing fine, but I don't think my golf game is doing fine. So that's something I've got to work on. It seems like I've got to work on it all year round. It's a tough sport to master. It certainly is. What's the I got to imagine? That's probably been a little more frustrating than the football skill set that you had. Golf a little bit more difficult than the grid iron. I'll be it in a different way. Oh, especially when I'm going to go up against guys like Chris Wu and people like that, who are so talented in so many different ways. That's just a violin, but golf as well. So it's very difficult. It's a competition out there. Jack, just do me a favor and please don't let my old man take your money because then I'll never

2:05hear the end of it. All right. You are so correct. Okay. So Jack, obviously, we wanted to have you on just to catch up and say hello and you're obviously a legend amongst our listeners and people have been very excited for this. But we did want to pick your brain kind of the meat of the conversation here. For those unfamiliar, Jack is part of the Penn State Radio Broadcast team, like I said, and he is the color commentator for their broadcast there. So very dialed in, as you can imagine, with Penn State football. We wanted to talk to you about some of these prospects because Penn State has some very intriguing ones this year. And I think some that fit the needs that the Steelers will be looking for at draft time. I want to talk to you about the Matt and I both think the best interior lineman in this draft class, Vinga Ioane, who has a little bit of a mouthful of a name, but I've been working the last couple of weeks to pronounce that. What do we need to know about him? What do you like about him? How do you kind of see him translating to the next level? Well, you want to just make himself into an outstanding

3:08offensive lineman. Number one, we lined him up. You wouldn't think of a guard being lined up all over the place, but especially down in red zone areas, short yarded situation. We have him lined up as a flanker coming in motion. And you can imagine a crackback block with 300 pounds plus coming through there. And he is very athletic. He doesn't lose his feet on contact when he's downfield trying to go after either a corner or a safety downfield. And that's why I think he's projected to be a number one pick. He's got the overall strength you need for an offensive lineman. He's athletic enough as well. And he said he's very good quick feet and good balance. And you saw I get better and better each year. And I firmly believe his best years are ahead of him when he gets into his pro career. Jack, great to talk to you. And I want to get back to some of these prospects in a minute. But the Steelers signed a former Nittany

4:10lion in Briskar, the safety. What do you think they're getting there? They're getting a really quality player. And I was doing a broad cast for some of the years. He's a smart guy in that secondary. He was kind of the quarterback in the secondary for Penn State. And he anticipates well. He gets involved in the running game. It doesn't take fall steps in that safety position. He doesn't get the he gets a quarterback bad pre-reads. He was they've got a really good player. And I think he is healthy as well. So they got a really good prospect right there in Briskar, who's just a yeah, those are kind of guys you can win football games with and win champions games with because the guy's going to be not only physically but mentally into the game. And he's all around outstanding player. And I think they got a good one here. Well, kind of staying with the Penn State connection there. I have to imagine, you know, Briskar reuniting with his former Nittany Lion teammate and Joey Porter Jr. now in the Steelers secondary. And those two obviously,

5:14you know, played high school football in the Whipiole Penn State now reuniting in the black and gold. Jack, I have to think that that you've loved the growth and the game that we've seen from Joey Porter Jr. Especially this season. It feels like the game is really slowed down for him. He's leveled up, if you will, and is kind of ready to take off. And very excited for what that tandem can do in the secondary this year. Oh, I think Joey Porter just another guy who's just he got better once he left Penn State and got into Pittsburgh. But you know, early in his career, he was he got his hands on people and got some penalties and so forth. He has eliminated that. You know, you work on your weaknesses and that's what Joey Porter is able to do. It's very athletic, very physical. You know, you got to be confident out there as a corner on the outside of New New College of Pro Football. And he has that that as well. And he does a great job of getting his hands on people at the line of scrimmage. And I mean, his timing is I think impeccable in a sense. He's up for a new contract here in Pittsburgh and probably had his best year last

6:18year for Pittsburgh. He's going to start to be that lockdown corner. You're looking for from a high draft pick like Joey Porter and he has delivered so far. So I'm not sure if Jack if the Steelers will be in the the running back market, but Penn State has two good ones in his draft. And what's the difference between the two? Who would you expect to go higher? What's kind of your scouting report on the two running backs? I'd say what both of the first of all, they did a good job at Penn State. When you have two of these running backs, you you don't come in an approach with all bunch of injuries and a lot of wear and tear on your tires as they're running back. They split carries throughout their career at Penn State, both Singleton and Allen. And the guy that really came on last year for Penn State and was really the guy that he went to, what was Allen? Singleton probably he's a four four guy. I know he had a put injury, I think, in one of the one of the bull games or whatever, but he's he's that he's got that kind of equipment, but Allen was able to get better each year. He was able to be more physical. He

7:24made people miss. He was always going to, Allen was always going to be guy because you try to run over people and he was able to do that in state healthy the entire year. I see both those guys, they're stock going high, but Allen is the guy who I think really has helped himself with the year he had last year. And I know running backs are not going high in the draft and they kind of do go into lower rounds, but I would imagine both these guys are going to go somewhere in that second round. It is the Hall of Famer Jack Ham with us here on the drive on Steelers Nation Radio. Jack, maybe I kind of buried the lead a little bit because I think the biggest name that people here in Western Pennsylvania across Steelers Nation want to hear about is Drew Aller. Obviously, we know it leaning towards I think we were all feeling like Aaron Rogers is going to come back, but even if that's the case, he is going to be 43 years old this year and clearly is to use

8:25another golf analogy, teeing off on the 18th hole and certainly not on the front nine. They're still in that process of trying to identify the next franchise quarterback and Drew Aller, one of the names in the conversation this year. I think there's a lot to like about him. He's got a lot of the natural raw ability, but obviously there's plenty of concerns as well. What's kind of your scouting report on Drew Aller, how you've seen him grow and what you think might be his options at the next level and making it as an NFL quarterback. Well, I think everybody with the Penn State coaching staff and all the players expected Drew Aller last year to have the big breakout year with all the talent coming back with the running backs and the offensive line, our tight ends and so forth. But it didn't it didn't pan out that way for a number of different reasons. And number one, I don't think Drew Aller has never had a really solid wide receiver core to throw to football too. And in big games when you're playing

9:29against very good secondary deal, Ohio States, the Michigans or against people like that, the Notre Dame in the game last year where we're one game away from playing for the national championship. We know we never did have that wide receiver core to throw to. And he's taking a lot of heat by not being able to finish games against good football team. And that's valid because that's on at his on his resume. But he's got all the all the intangibles in the sense of being able to be six five. Look over top of a defensive line to throw to football. He's got a rocket of an arm. He can't put touch on it as well. But that's one thing to do it in the combine. One day, thing to do it is pro day. But you have to put it on tape. And so he has not done that as of yet. But I think his potential is out there. Somebody's going to take a shot at him and probably in in the first couple of rounds. And we'll see what happens. But I think people have to make

10:32be aware that he never in his entire career at Penn State had a quality wide receiver core in front of him. It's a great point. And even with the addition of brisker, I think the Steelers will probably draft a safety at some point. What are your thoughts on Wheatley as an NFL prospect? Well, Wheatley is a kind of like a brisker. Brisker is probably a little bit quicker. I don't think that Wheatley timed well on the 40, which you know, that's a big barometer for defensive backs and wide receivers, especially. But he has guided, I mean, he just made himself into a great player. The one that he does that he has outstanding hands to, you know, exceptions that come towards him. He does not miss him. He probably had the best hands of anybody on the entire Penn State football team last year. That's including wide receivers and tight hands as well. And he's that type of player. Again, he's like brisker, a smart player. Each year got better, very physical, good, a good tackler. That's that, but that 40 yard dash time, I think, is somebody that would

11:35have probably knocked him down a couple of, a couple of rounds. But he's a, he's a true football player. And again, a safety that knows how to play back there. Mentally, he's very, very, toxic. So I look for him to have a long career, but I think that 40 yard dash time is going to hold him back. Jack, last thing I have for you is I think there's an unsung member of one of your teammates of the steel curtain in Ernie Holmes. And I bet a lot of our younger listeners don't understand what a force he was on the field. Could you kind of tell us a little bit about what he meant to your guy's success? You talked about guys on our defense who didn't get the recognition that they deserve Ernie Holmes for about five or six years was just a dominant defensive line. And you're playing next to, you know, the all-world Joe Green. So you are not going to get that kind of recognition. And if that was difficult for him to handle, but he was a guy that in a

12:39championship game against the, I look back at the game against Oakland when he played against Gene Upshaw, an all pro Hall of Fame offensive guard, and absolutely destroyed him in our first run to our first Super Bowl, beating Oakland out in Oakland. Ernie Holmes was that type of dominant player in with leverage. She was about 285 pounds. And you know, you talk about a guy he was tough on the field, tough off the field. Yeah. He had a reputation that I think offense alignment. I know pro football, you're not afraid of anybody, but you're ever going to be afraid of somebody would be Ernie Holmes. Fantastic. The great Jack Ham pro football Hall of Famer, college football Hall of Famer, four times Super Bowl champion, kind enough to lend us some of his time on a Friday. Jack, great stuff. Thank you so much for taking the time and all the best. We'll talk to you soon. Okay. Okay, guys. Thank you very much. Take care. We see you. Your calendar's color coded. Your outfit for tomorrow is already laid out. You have everything in top of where labeled

13:41in your fridge. You buy in bulk. You meal prep. You know what you're doing in 2027. You're a planner. And we're here to say you don't have to do it all. S and T bank makes banking easy from our friendly team to our online and mobile solutions. We do more so you can do less. Stop by your local branch. Visit STBank.com or call 800-325-2265 S and T bank member FDIC.