PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) \u2013 It was a perfect ending to a perfect Pittsburgh draft, Naval Academy star and Mt. Lebanon native Eli Heidenreich selected by the Steelers Saturday while he sat in the NFL Draft Green Room, where two days earlier the greatest players of 2026 hung out.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After an emotional moment with family and friends and an NFL Network camera, Heidenreich was on his own, with the videographer, to make a couple hundred foot walk down a walkway with logos of all the NFL teams hanging on each side. He touched the Steelers logo made out of steel by a local artist as he emerged to the stage. <\/p>\n
He describes what he saw.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty incredible,\u201d Heidenreich said to reporters at the UPMC Rooney facility on the South Side. \u201cI think the biggest thing is that I turned that corner and you see the city skyline in the background and the crowd is 90% black and gold. It\u2019s all Steelers fans out there. It was such a cool moment, everything came together. I was pretty overwhelmed with emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first Steelers memory was Super Bowl XLIII when the Steelers beat Arizona and James Harrison\u2019s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. It made such an impression on him he asked his dad for a Harrison jersey, which he did get later that summer.<\/p>\n
Now he will wear that same team jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think leading up to the Draft there is always some buzz going around, especially from your agent,\u201d Heidenreich said. \u201cHe\u2019s hearing things from different teams, but I think that buzz was probably the loudest from the Steelers. I definitely had some sort of inkling coming into the draft that the Steelers were interested. Time started ticking down at the end and I saw they had one more pick. I was hoping, back of my mind I was like \u2018come on\u2019. Then the call came through and it was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Navy star said it hasn\u2019t hit him yet that all this has happened. He thinks maybe after a sleep, he\u2019ll wake up Sunday morning and realize \u2018I\u2019m a Pittsburgh Steeler now\u2019.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t a ceremonial decision, Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said he has plans for one of the best offensive players in recent Navy history. <\/p>\n