See it, do it: At Friday’s training camp practice, Steelers outside linebacker Alex Highsmith got his foot stepped on and briefly left an 11-on-11 drill that was the first-team defense working against the first-team offense.
In came rookie Nick Herbig in his place.
On his first snap, Herbig hit the edge against left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and did a quick duck under, coming up to pressure quarterback Kenny Pickett.
It was a move that would have made the outside linebacker on the opposite side of Herbig, T.J. Watt, proud.
After all, Herbig, a fourth-round draft pick out of Wisconsin, learned the move watching tape of Watt.
“Yeah. That’s new,” Herbig said Saturday acknowledging the move. “I learned that from T.J. If you watch, he does that move a lot. I’ve been trying to work that.
“I actually saw him doing it when I watched film on him, and I asked hi about it.”
As if Herbig needed something new for his repertoire. The former Wisconsin star had 20 sacks and 30 tackles for a loss in his final two seasons at Wisconsin, which also happens to be where Watt starred in college.
Studying Watt, Highsmith and other edge rushers is one thing. Actually getting to pick their brains on a regular basis is another.
“T.J. and Alex in our room, they’ve helped me in every single way with every question I’ve had,” Herbig said. “They’ve been there for me.”
Herbig and Watt didn’t attend Wisconsin at the same time. But the former Badgers’ star has enjoyed the process of getting to know the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and seeing what he’s like not only on the field, but off it.
“You really get to see what it’s like when the lights aren’t on,” Herbig said. “Everybody gets to see what it’s like when the lights are on on Sunday, what he does, and he’s a heck of a player. But you really don’t get to see all the work he puts in and the daily routine and schedule he follows. It’s second-to-none. I really admire that about him.”
And he’s obviously been taking notes.
The Steelers haven’t put the pads on yet for practice. That won’t come until Tuesday.
But Herbig, who does everything at 100 percent, regardless of the situation, has things he can work on during these situations, the duck-under move among them.
“I’m just out here trying to be a Steeler, trying to do what I can. Coach (Mike) Tomlin, he emphasizes the same thing,” Herbig said. “It’s mostly just technical stuff, your hands, your footwork, bending the edge. When the pads come on, it’s different. There’s a bigger surface to hit, bull rush. You just do different things.”
— Blog entry by Dale Lolley
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
