Big brother Nate pounded the table for the Pittsburgh Steelers to draft Nick Herbig last year; he had the opportunity to return the favor last month on behalf of third-round draft pick Roman Wilson.
Nick and Wilson both attended St. Louis High School back in Hawaii. They knew each other quite well playing youth football together. Wilson told reporters after the draft that they “kind of grew up together” and said of Herbig, “that’s my guy.” He’d better be after what Herbig did for him.
“He was talking to me before the draft back to when I met with the Steelers at the Senior Bowl,” Wilson said via Dale Lolley for the team’s website. “They just kept talking about how Nick kept talking about me.”
It’s reminiscent of Nate Herbig’s post-signing press conference last year. A five-year NFL veteran, he devoted a portion of his time to stump for Nick, coming out of school then. “I came in the building screaming it,” he said when asked if he’d suggested the Steelers draft the younger Herbig. “Like, come on, let’s get him here. Nick Herbig: stud. Absolute stud. I should be his agent.”
The Steelers drafted Nick Herbig in the fourth round, and it’s a good thing they did. As of now, he is their only real depth behind starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith at outside linebacker. He can only hope that his own campaigning for Roman Wilson works out equally well.
The Steelers used their first of two third-round picks to draft Wilson, who, like Herbig, went up north for school. He won the national championship a year ago with the Michigan Wolverines and is ready to add a Lombardi next.
Unlike Herbig, however, Wilson doesn’t have the same sort of positional leadership. Herbig has Watt (a fellow Wisconsin Badger) and Highsmith to draw from. The Steelers’ wide receiver room isn’t nearly impressive. George Pickens is a true talent, but he’s exhibited no meaningful leadership qualities up to this point. There’s no evidence that he can take a rookie wide receiver under his wing and bring him up. Hopefully, he proves otherwise.
However, that’s not a player’s job. Wilson has new wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni on his butt, and he seems to scratch the same itch Jim Harbaugh provided at Michigan. One imagines his new head coach, Mike Tomlin, providing a similar energy and intensity mixed with personality.
Herbig and Wilson play on opposite sides of the ball, but they share much else in common. Wilson is actually a few months older than the two, born in June 2001 compared to November. They won’t go through the same progression of their careers at the same timeline. But they have that shared history and experience they can lean upon moving forward.
It’s always helpful to have a cohort while going through a transition. Tomlin has talked before about the value of having multiple rookies in the same position group who can commiserate on their shared experiences. This year, they have three offensive linemen in their rookie class. Herbig had his brother, and an alum in Watt. Wilson, well, he has four other Hawaii natives on the team, most alumni of Saint Louis High School in Honolulu.
