OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRUCE ARIANS ON KRAIG URBIK AND MIKE WALLACE
Bruce Arians
RE: Kraig Urbik
Guard, Wisconsin
3rd Round - 29th Overall
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*RE: Mike Wallace
Wide Receiver, Mississippi
3rd Round – 84th Overall
RE: On Mike Wallace.
He's a guy with good size 6'0", 200-pounds with 4.3 speed. He's a burner. Outside guy that can take the top off the coverage. He's not been a guy who's gone over the middle a lot, that is part of his game that we'll train him for. He's an outside speed guy who is an excellent kick returner. We really liked him.
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*Will he work on punt returns too?
He will work on it, but he has primarily been a kick-off guy and a very good one.
Will he give Limas Sweed some competition, or will he just go into the mix?
We'll just throw him in the mix and the best ones will come out. We're looking for that guy that is going to take Nate's (Washington) spot in the 3-wides. He's a very capable player for that.
How are his hands?
Excellent!
Are you going to need to polish his route running?
Yeah, outside he's fine, but inside that takes time when you start running option routes, and decision making routes. Which we still have Hines (Ward) for that. We'll train him and let him play fast if he develops into that type of player. There are still some kids on the board that would fit the inside roll extremely will later on.
What's your take on Kraig Urbik?
I love him. Big, tough, nasty type of guy that has position flexibility. He's played some tackle. Like they showed him on TV, if you just go out and play one-on-one you aren't picking him on your team. When you put him in a football game, on offensive line there a lot of guys that don't play good one-on-one. It's learning how to play together. This kid understands football. He's a big physical guy that we think can play guard or tackle. We'll stick the ball between his legs and see if he can do that too, so he has the ability to dress on Sunday and be a guy that could possibly be a three position player for us.
He's never played center before?
No, he's practiced it but that's not something that he has done a lot of.
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*Why do you need big guys at guard now?
You've got the big strong three-techniques. For us, we're playing in a division where there are no guard doubles. So it is more can he go to the second level and still come down and block the big nose guards that we have to face on our division. He has the ability to do both. We don't pull a lot, we pull some. So the smaller more athletic trapping guards are not really in vogue for a lot of teams anymore because there are very few trapping teams. A lot of teams only pull the left guard. If they want to run the power they want to run it one way. That's being going on for fifteen years. But he is a right side player, more physical player.
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*Would he have to go out on a linebacker much at Wisconsin?
Oh yeah. They are a zone blocking team. Very similar to us, combination blocks. He understands the game very well.
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*Would you expect him to compete to start?
Yes.
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*Were these the obvious two names you had yesterday?
Yes. I wrote these two names down three weeks ago as guys I would love to have on our ball club. Just happened they fell.
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*What was the next name on your list?
They're gone, but I've got three more and they will be at the perfect spot for us and they will fit extremely well if they fall to us.
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*Will your pick possibly be a center?
Don't know if there is one left that could come in and really compete.
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*How is their character?
That's exactly what they are. They are good people on the field, they have really good football character, but they are really good kids off the field. Michael has come from a very tough situation in New Orleans and has worked his way to where he is extremely happy to be a Steeler. His hard work has paid off and you will hear all about his family history and Kraig is a solid guy.
