Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was on WDVE radio this morning to talk about the new presents that he received during the 2012 NFL draft this past weekend as well as a few other topics.
Roethlisberger was specifically asked early on what he has heard so far about first round pick David DeCastro and how he was being compared already to former Steeler guard Alan Faneca. Roethlisberger replied by saying, “I just heard he\’s the next Alan Faneca and that\’s a pretty high compliment, because obviously we know how great Alan Faneca was. But he seems like, from everything I heard, that he\’s a pretty good kid. I talked to him briefly and we\’re excited to get him in there, and like I said, see what he can do. Everyone is always telling me he looks so great and I say, yeah on paper he looks great right now. Let\’s see what he looks like when he gets on this field and the bullets are flying.” Roethlisberger later added, “We\’re excited to get him in and see how he gels with the rest of that group, because that room is a special room, and you know you got to get along with all the boys, because they\’re their own little clique.”
The interview continued on with DeCastro as the main focus and Roethlisberger was asked what he thought DeCastro needs to do right now after the draft. Roethlisberger replied, “Rest! I mean they\’re going to hit the wall, everyone does it. You go straight from college, you train for the draft, go right to training camp and then into the season. You\’re going to get worn out. The biggest thing for a lineman, as I just said, is come in and really just kind of get a feel for that room, because it is a special room, and when I mean special I mean special in a lot of ways. You just got to come in and find your place in that room and we got some good leaders in that room. Maurkice Pouncey, Willie Colon, and we got a lot of guys back. So just see how it goes with them.”
Roethlisberger was asked later about what he thought about the possibility of Colon playing guard and if he was at all nervous about the two rookies potentially starting this year. Roethlisberger replied, “I think Willie Colon can play any position on the line except center. I don\’t think that we would ever want to try that. I don\’t think he would and I don\’t think I would, but if he has to, I\’m sure he could do it because he\’s that good. I think a lot of people are trying to envision that, but who know what\’s going to happen. I think these guys have got to come in and compete. We still have a lot of guys that they\’re going to have to fight and beat out. Just because you\’re drafted high doesn\’t mean you automatically beat a guy out.”
The last thing that stuck out in the interview was when Roethlisberger was asked about what he knows so far about the new offense that offensive coordinator Todd Haley will be installing. The quarterback answered, “I do know some stuff from obviously being in the building and walking by the rooms, sneaking in the rooms by myself and trying to look at things, because you can\’t meet and talk football. So I walked into the rooms to see what was kind of going on and I thought I picked up a Rosetta Stone book. Yeah I see some stuff and we\’re going to need to meet this week, trust me, because we\’ve got to figure some stuff out.”
Overall Roethlisberger was very upbeat and excited about the addition of the new linemen and how could he not be. At the same he knows that the draft is just the first stage of things and that the rookie linemen have to prove it on the field as well as fit in with the other linemen. It also seem pretty obvious that he has seen the new playbook already and the jab about it by saying he needs a Rosetta Stone book to figure it out. That means that there are certainly quite a few changes in the offense as one would expect, and quite possibly the terminology as well. He will surely be getting together this week with Haley and figuring some things out just as he said.
You can listen to the full interview in its entirety below.
[audio:http://downloads.iheartradio.com/media/station_content/1734/Ben_Roethlisberger_4.30.12_1335791517_16730.mp3]
