Jace Sternberger, a current free agent tight end who had a stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers in parts of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, talked on the Locked On Packers podcast about just how good Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is at motivating his players. He told one specific story, involving then-rookie punter Pressley Harvin III, who’s now in his third season in Pittsburgh. Sternberger said in one of his first team meetings after arriving in Pittsburgh, Tomlin called out Harvin’s performance and said he made him want to go hit the market to find another punter.
“His thing to say is he likes to keep everything in-house but he will go shopping, meaning he’s about to hit the market. This is day one, one of my first team meetings I’m in, he’s like ‘Harvin, Pressley Harvin,’ whatever he was calling him at the time. He’s like, ‘This is not the standard, this is junior varsity, this is not varsity,'” Sternberger explained via audio from the Locked on Packers podcast. “He’s like, ‘I’m not gonna lie, Pressley, you’re making me want to go shop right now.’ That starts the whole week. He’s not saying it in a bad way, he’s just straight up, he’s gonna tell you what’s gonna happen. What they’re talking about upstairs, he’s letting you know.”
Sternberger joined the Steelers practice squad on November 23, 2021, so the call out to Harvin came at some point shortly thereafter, likely following the team’s 41-10 blowout loss in Cincinnati on November 28 at the hands of the Bengals. While Harvin was far from the only problem that game, his longest punt traveled just 42 yards and he averaged only 38 yards on his five punts.
Harvin had an up-and-down first two seasons in the league, which led Pittsburgh to bring in Braden Mann this offseason to challenge him for the punter job. Harvin won out, and for the most part, he’s been solid this season although he did get called out by Tomlin after Week One.
As Sternberger said, Tomlin doesn’t have any malicious intent when calling players out, like in this situation with Harvin. He’s just calling it as he sees it and using it as motivation to get the most out of his guys. It’s worked with Harvin, as the team hasn’t yet found a replacement for him and he’s developed and started to find some consistency with Pittsburgh this season. The only time he missed was due to injury, and Brad Wing didn’t end up overtaking him despite punting in two games while Harvin battled a hamstring issue.
While Sternberger had some less positive things to say about Pittsburgh’s coaching, his praise for Tomlin and how he gets the most out of guys was effusive. He’s going to tell guys how it is and not hide or masquerade anything that’s happening with how he feels or how his discussions are going in the front office, and that’s a coaching style that’s worked for him since taking over the reins of the Steelers in 2007.
Tomlin gets the most out of his talent, finishing 8-8 in 2019 with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at QB for most of the season, and one reason for that is how he communicates with and motivates players. It’s why guys want to come to Pittsburgh to play for Tomlin, and the respect for his coaching style and motivation tactics have led to him garnering a lot of praise from his own players, opposing players, and even opposing coaches.
We’ll see if Tomlin can lead the 2023 Steelers to the playoffs, and they’re in a good spot to get there right now at 5-3.
