PITTSBURGH (AP) — Derrick Harmon showed up for work on Friday, eager to get his NFL career started while still coming to terms with the loss of his mother Tiffany Saine, who died shortly after the Pittsburgh Steelers selected the defensive tackle from Oregon with the 21st overall pick in last month’s draft.
“I’m doing the best I can right now, I’m doing the best that I can,” Harmon said during the first day of Pittsburgh’s rookie minicamp. “I’m at football. I’m in my element, so got my mind off a few things, but I’m OK.”
The 21-year-old Harmon called the moment he walked into the Steelers locker room “a dream come true,” aware that his mother — who endured a series of health setbacks in recent years — is still with him in many ways.
Asked how he’s coping, Harmon shrugged.
‘I don’t know, I’m still dealing with it,” Harmon said. “I don’t know. I’m just putting one foot in front of the other, really.”
The annual camp provides rookies, first-year players and veterans who received a tryout invitation with three days of introductions, relatively informal workouts and bonding. For Harmon, it also provides a brief return to normalcy during a time when not much feels normal.
The 21-year-old Detroit-area native has already texted with longtime Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward and has connected in person with fellow defensive lineman Keeanu Benton, who occupies the next locker over.
“We’ve been talking since we’ve got here, (he) sat next to me and all,” Harmon said. “So that’s a nice teammate to have. He came from the Big Ten, just like me, so we know how ball is.”
Pittsburgh hopes the 6-foot-4, 324-pound Harmon can be the next link in a chain of defensive line greats that runs from Heyward to Casey Hampton and on and on, all the way to the Steel Curtain greats of the 1970s.
Harmon understands the expectation that comes when the Steelers take you in the first round, particularly at a position so closely associated with some of the best defenses in NFL history. He’s not trying to put too much pressure on himself and is instead focusing on absorbing as much information as possible, as quickly as possible.
“(I) just want to help my team out, man, just to get to work with my team, be a good rookie and find that vet to get under his wing and just learn this game because it’s a whole different game from college,” Harmon said.
Well, maybe not that different. Harmon spent his first three years at Michigan State before transferring to Oregon, where he blossomed into a second-team All-American.
“I’m coming from Oregon,” he said. “And they throw everything at us (there). … I was in the NFL at Oregon and I feel like they prepare us at Oregon very well for this type place.”
Harmon has the size to help fill up run lanes but also the athleticism to get to the quarterback, not unlike Heyward, the last defensive lineman taken by the Steelers in the first round.
A full 14 years after being selected, Heyward is still among the best in the league at his position while putting together a resume that will receive Hall of Fame consideration. Harmon has a long, long way to go to get to that standard. He’s got plenty of time, however, and a work ethic Harmon attributes to his mom, who found ways to provide for her family amid persistent health problems.
Harmon also shot down any concerns over potential shoulder issues that cropped up ahead of the draft, saying he was “100 percent healthy.” He also is embracing the idea that he has “Steelers DNA,” as general manager Omar Khan and coach Mike Tomlin described Harmon and the rest of Pittsburgh’s incoming draft class.
“You’ve got to have some grit to be in this organization,” he said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of edge to you and you’ve got to play with a little pride to you, and I feel like that’s me.”
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