Ãå±±½ûµØ

Jun 2, 2018 By Jim Wexell for The 6 min read

PITTSBURGH — Mason Rudolph is a third’round pick who’s currently fourth on the Steelers’ depth chart but first in our interest level. Here’s a breezy interview with the rookie quarterback following OTA practice No. 5:

MASON RUDOLPH, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers

JW: How’s everything going? How are you picking all of this up?

MR: Oh great. Today was a lot better. Yesterday made some mistakes, made some good plays. It’s a process but every day you become more familiar. You can kind of be more vocal. You kind of earn your teammates’ respect. You’re out there with the same guys, you’re seeing the same faces, you’re learning different players’ nuances of their games, what they can handle, who your playmakers are. That type of thing. It’s been fun.

JW: You knew you had one playmaker coming with you.

MR: I know I had one. You need more than one. I’ve been trying to discover some more.

JW: End of last week, when you and James Washington were out there together, the veteran DBs kind of leaned toward him. Did you notice?

MR: Yeah. They did. And we still made ’em pay. We still went at him. That’s the kind of player he is. In college, double-covered and we still got the ball to him. Obviously it’s a new level, a new game. I expect him to take it all in stride and have a great season.

JW: Are you picking up the verbiage? Are they feeding it slowly or throwing it all at you?

MR: They’re throwing it all. We’re installing like we would regularly.

MR: I said this before, at rookie mini-camp, the first practice Friday morning was tough for me. Coach Fichtner was up my butt, getting me right on my calls and on commanding the huddle. And then Saturday was great and ever since then we’ve been taking huge steps every day. So I’m excited about the progress I’ve made and what I’ll continue to do.

JW: Randy Fichtner used to be everybody’s buddy. But I noticed he’s a different guy out there now as the coordinator.

MR: Well he’s in a leadership role now and so he’s got to command the guys, get ’em going. He’s got to motivate. He’s got to encourage. That’s who he is and what he’s doing. Everyone’s got their locked-in, going-to-work feel on the field, and off the field we can all be friends. He’s a great guy and I’ve loved my time with him. I like to be coached with an occasional chewing of butts.

JW: Western PA used to be known as the cradle of QBs. I notice your hometown of Rock Hill, S.C., is looking like the cradle of football.

MR: First-round talent. First-round picks.

JW: All rounds, a ton of guys. What’s in the water?

MR: There are three high schools in Rock Hill. If we had one, we’d probably be the best team in the nation, ranking-wise, every year. We’ve got three, so it splits the talent up, but it’s great the competition and the rivalry of the schools. Ten years ago you had guys like Ben Watson, Chris Hope, Derek Ross, Stephon Gilmore, Cordarrelle Patterson, Jonathan Meeks.

JW: Chris Hope? Great dude. He used to play here.

MR: Yep. That’s why I mentioned him. But they all came out of Rock Hill. It’s a great history, a rich history, great talent. Me and Jaleel Scott, the seventh-round pick of the Ravens, are Rock Hill guys. We’re trying to be the ’18 class and continue that reputation.

JW: I heard you tested through the roof psychologically, particularly in the resiliency category.

MR: Yeah. I haven’t even seen the results, so that’s news for me.

JW: Not sure you’re supposed to know. But what do you attribute your resiliency too? Any examples?

MR: Yeah. I think I was coached really hard by a great guy [Kyle Richardson] in high school. He’s actually the senior offensive assistant at Clemson now. He’s my guy that gave me my chance in high school, coached me hard, taught me to play the next play, do a lot of things right. Yeah, his phrase is always ‘play the next play.’ You throw a pick, fumble a ball, have a negative play, the next play’s got to be your best. You’ve got to come back, rally the troops, be resilient, make a play.

JW: Any examples on the field?

MR: Yeah. I think last week, the last week and a half, I fumbled a couple snaps throughout the last five practices. Coach Fichner’s in my ear the next play, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come back from this. We had a bad play we’ve got to turn around and you’ve got to strike back.’ That’s the way I approach it.

JW: How did meeting Ben Roethlisberger go?

MR: It was great. I met him last Tuesday in the QB meeting room and obviously on the field. It was awesome. I got to see him work. His comfortability, his knowledge of the offense were cool to see in person. I’m looking forward to working with him.

JW: You can probably compare notes about things being taken out of context in Pittsburgh and how it blows up so fast?

MR: Yeah.

JW: It was a bit much.

MR: Yeah, I’m with you. I think it was a bit of a bigger deal but it seems like that’s in the rear-view and I’m ready to work.

JW: Might have gone back to your draft night conference call and you said something about staying out of his way. It may have been taken wrong.

MR: Yeah, I don’t think many people took it as that. (Laughs) The question was something about how excited were you to learn under Ben. I said I’m very excited. I want people to know Ben’s got games to win and he’s got to prepare himself and I don’t want to be a nuisance. That’s what I was trying to say.

JW: Ninety percent took it that way, but Ben will tell you how little things blow up in this town.

MR: He did.