Coming out of college, CB Joey Porter Jr. was often criticized for a lack of ball skills, having only one career interception during his time at Penn State. He had displayed a knack for defending passes against strong competition but was unable to capitalize on the opportunities he saw as a Nittany Lion to effectively take the ball away.
After selecting Porter with the first pick in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Pittsburgh Steelers GM Omar Khan mentioned that the team wasn’t worried with the lack of ball production by Porter coming out of college. He mentioned that his coverage skills stood out and that interceptions could come with more development and experience, having hope that Porter could improve that aspect of his game.
Porter managed to make his first splash play of training camp yesterday, jumping a route run by WR Cody White for the pick. Porter, when asked about the interception after practice by the media, said that he’s put in a lot of time to improve that aspect of his game to silence his doubters.
“Felt great,” Porter said about the interception, according to video via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Felt great to get the first one under my belt training camp. So, we just gonna keep trying to keep stacking. Just like everything I used to rep before practice and after practice locating the ball, coming up with my hands. I’ve been really working on that so the fact that it’s paying off feels good.”
As Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot has pointed out the last several days covering training camp in Latrobe, Porter has been diligently working on his ball skills. As seen in the video below, Porter has spent much of his down time during practice and even after practice has concluded working his hands on the JUGS machine, catching numerous balls to improve his hand-eye coordination.
The process has yielded positive results for Porter with an interception on the first day of padded practice, showing that the lack of college interceptions may have indeed been a fluke. We’ll have to see that production translate to a game setting, hopefully as soon as the preseason with three exhibition games for Porter to make his mark. Either way, Porter is motivated to be great, and is tirelessly putting in the work to make that happen.
