Steelers Throwback Thursday: Big Ten draft pipeline delivers

Steel City Underground takes fans back in time to feature events, special moments, and historical times and players in the world of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Steelers Nation. Join us as we revisit these moments in our “Steelers Throwback Thursday” series.

Back in the smoky days when Chuck Noll was building his Steel Curtain in the shadow of the Three Rivers Stadium, the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t chase glamour. They hunted grit. And time after time, their scouts rolled into the frozen Midwest – those Big Ten (Big 10) battlegrounds where cornfields meet concrete – and came home with the kind of tough, blue-collar kids who fit right into the Steel City soul.

From the late 1960s onward, the conference’s pipeline has been less a recruiting strategy and more a family tradition, repeatedly pumping in the physical, intelligent warriors who turned the Steelers into six-time Super Bowl champions and perennial contenders.

It started with the dynasty class that defined an era. In 1969, Noll plucked linebacker Jack Ham out of Penn State in the second round. “Hambone” wasn’t flashy; he was a technician, a film-room savant with the speed to drop into coverage and the instincts to read plays before they unfolded. Ham anchored the linebacking corps through four Super Bowl wins, earning eight Pro Bowls and a spot in Canton.

Two years later, in 1972, the Steelers grabbed running back Franco Harris from the same Nittany Lions program in the first round. The Immaculate Reception hero rushed for more than 12,000 yards in black and gold, powering the ground game that wore down opponents like a foundry hammer.

Then came 1974: fifth-round center Mike Webster from Wisconsin. “Iron Mike” became the heartbeat of the offensive line, snapping the ball through four Super Bowls and nine Pro Bowls, his durability a living tribute to Big Ten toughness.

The pipeline never slowed. Purdue’s Rod Woodson, drafted in the first round in 1987, arrived as a do-it-all defensive back who could cover, hit, and return kicks like a man possessed. A Hall of Famer with 11 Pro Bowls (most with Pittsburgh), Woodson embodied the versatile, hard-nosed defender the Steelers prized.

Across the decades, names from Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, and Illinois kept the flow steady – guys who understood trench warfare because they’d survived it every Saturday in the Big Ten.

Fast-forward to the Kevin Colbert era (starting in 2000) and Mike Tomlin as head coach and the numbers tell the story in cold, hard ink. Of the 167 players the Steelers drafted through the early 2020s, 36 (fully 22 percent) came from Big Ten schools. That’s seven first-round picks, or 35 percent of their opening-round hauls in that span.

Ohio State led the charge with eight selections, but Penn State, Wisconsin, and Michigan weren’t far behind.

Santonio Holmes (Ohio State, 2006) caught the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII. Cameron Heyward (Ohio State, 2011) became a captain and perennial Pro Bowler on the defensive line. Ryan Shazier (Ohio State, 2014) and Devin Bush (Michigan, 2019) brought explosive linebacker play until injuries struck. And in 2017, Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt – another first-rounder – exploded onto the scene, racking up Defensive Player of the Year honors and sacks like it was still the ’70s.

The connection runs deeper than stats. Big Ten football has always mirrored Pittsburgh: cold-weather grinders who win with leverage, technique, and unrelenting physicality. Noll saw it first. Bill Cowher and Tomlin kept the faith. Even as the conference expanded – welcoming fresh blood from Oregon and Washington – the Steelers’ draft room stayed loyal to the heartland ethos.

Look at the recent hauls. In 2023, they took Joey Porter Jr. (Penn State) and Keeanu Benton (Wisconsin) in the second round, both immediate defensive contributors, and Nick Herbig (Wisconsin) in the fourth. The 2024 class added Michigan’s Roman Wilson in the third and Iowa’s Logan Lee in the sixth. By 2025, the Steelers went heavy again: Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson and Yahya Black, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer and Will Howard, plus more from the expanded Big Ten ranks.

All-time, Penn State stands as the Steelers’ top Big Ten supplier with roughly 27-28 selections. Not surprising due to proximity. Ohio State (around 22) and Purdue (23) follow closely.

Those numbers don’t include the pre-conference realignment tweaks, but the impact does: Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, and locker-room anchors who understood what it meant to play for a city that worked steel for a living.

Why does it work so well and keep delivering, repeatedly? Simple. Big Ten kids arrive ready for the NFL’s grind. They’ve blocked in the snow, tackled in the mud, and competed in rivalries older than most franchises. They fit the black and gold because they already play like it: tough, team-first, no excuses. As one old scout once put it, “You can teach scheme, but you can’t teach the Midwest mentality.”

Today, as the Steelers prepare for another NFL Draft class with impact and a successful path to their seventh Lombardi, that pipeline hums stronger than ever. It just keeps pumping and delivering.

From Ham and Harris to Watt and Heyward, Porter Jr and Black… and beyond, the Big Ten boys keep showing up in the draft, lacing up, and reminding everyone: in Pittsburgh, the steel is forged in the heartland. And the dynasty? It’s built one Midwest block at a time.