The youngster didn't always understand why his father was pushing him so hard. It caused some friction.

"Every time. Every single day," Queen said. "It never got to the point where I would want to. He would be like, 'We've got to do this work.'"

People noticed.

Mary Sue Queen would get calls from neighbors watching the father and son go through the workouts.

"They would call and say, 'Oh my god, he's going to kill him,'" Mary Sue told NBC 33 in Louisiana. "I would get home and say, 'That's enough. You're doing too much.'"

But Dwayne Queen knew his son wasn't like everyone else.

Patrick starred on the football field. He was an outstanding baseball player, good enough to get NCAA Division I offers to play that sport in college. He even played AAU basketball for a time until playing three sports became to be too much.

"I loved baseball," Queen admitted. "When (my dad) would ask me to go and do baseball, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Football wasn't my first love, baseball was. He coached me in football. He tried to coach me in baseball, but I ended up moving on to travel ball. It was just two sports I had to try to maintain. I had basketball in there, too. I played AAU, but it was just too much to handle. So I dropped basketball and just did travel ball in the summertime and football once school came around."

Thing was, Queen was good at baseball, very good. But he was a great football player.

The coaches at Livonia High School saw it as soon as Queen walked onto the field as a sophomore.

"It's one of those deals that when you see him you know he's going to be a good one," said then Livonia offensive coordinator Marc Brown, now head coach at White Castle High School. "You just kind of know. He was always a hard worker, always did everything right. You just knew that he had a very bright future. He was a sophomore and we actually won a state championship that year. He was one of the only sophomores that actually played offensively for me. He was just that good. We had a very good team, obviously, winning state, but he showed out then. That's just kind of how he always was. And the way he went about his business was always right."

Dwayne Queen's training had worked.

"Yeah. I think absolutely," Brown said. "His parents did a wonderful job with him. His dad trained him. His dad spent a lot of time with him preparing him for football. I have to be honest, he also prepared him to be a man. He had that structure and everything in place at home, and that really played a big part, as well. You put that with the talent and you get what you get right here."

Queen was a star running back for Livonia, but he didn't move over to defense on a regular basis until his senior season.

It wasn't an easy decision for then-Livonia head coach Guy Mistretta, but it was what was best for Queen and his future – though Queen is convinced he could have played running back in college if he had stayed with that.

But his future was as a defensive player.

"We all figured his future was on the defensive side of the ball," Mistretta told NBC 33 in Louisiana. "That said, he was so important to us and was such a special running back, that's where we needed him. His junior year, we played him a little bit on the defensive side, knowing that we had to prepare him somewhat. Then, his senior year, you just couldn't get him off the field. He had 1,500 yards rushing and over 70 tackles on the other side of the ball."

College offers came. Just not from LSU.

Part of the reason for that might have been because recruiting services weren't sure what position Queen would play in college.

Though he played linebacker for Livonia, there were questions because of his size if he would stick at that position or somewhere else.

All the major scouting services listed him at different positions, from running back to cornerback to safety to linebacker. One thing everyone was certain of was that Queen was a superior athlete.

"There was temptation to play safety. That's what I really wanted to play, to be able to come down 15 yards and hit somebody," Queen said. "But everybody looked at my frame. I think in high school, I came out at 185, 195 pounds. Everybody was like, I don't know how he'll play linebacker. But once I got to LSU, they were like, 'We're going to put you at linebacker.' I tried to gain weight. I got up to 205, 210 on a good day. I got up to 215 by the end. It was tough, a tough transition."

But he didn't get that offer from LSU right away, no matter how much he wanted it to come.

Though Queen was one of the top-rated players in Louisiana, the Tigers were slow to warm up on the player right in their backyard.

In fact, Queen was ready to commit to Mississippi when the offer from LSU finally came. But when it finally happened, Queen didn't hesitate.

"At the time, it meant a lot," Queen admitted. "I committed on the spot. Before that, though, I hated LSU. They would always say they were going to offer, but they never offered. I was about to go to Ole Miss. But as soon as they offered me, I was like, 'Yeah, I'm coming.'"

His father's dreams had come true.

He also broke ground for future players at Livonia, becoming the first player from the school to earn a football scholarship at LSU.

"I'm from a small place, there is some small-mindedness," Queen said. "I felt I would just go out there and do the best I can. (My dad) just had big visions, and those big visions led to big chances that I've gotten. I've just made the most out of every opportunity I've gotten."

It would take some time for that opportunity to happen at LSU. The Tigers had a talented lineup that wasn't going to be easy to break into – especially for an undersized true freshman.

The Tigers' roster included NFL first-round draft picks Devin White, Arden Key and K'Lavon Chaisson at linebacker. The defensive backfield included cornerbacks Donte Jackson, now Queen's teammate with the Steelers, Kristian Fulton and Greedy Williams.

For a small-town guy such as Queen, it was a big move.

"He was a highly recruited player in the state of Louisiana. I'm sure expectations were there from a coaching standpoint, a recruiting standpoint," Jackson said. "The only thing that really stood out was that he still had that deep voice like he has now when he was like 16. That would be the biggest thing, he talked like a grown man when he first got to campus.

"He came in hungry. He came in willing to learn, willing to do anything from special teams to scout team to whatever. That's a university where you learn to swim with sharks and become a shark yourself. That's something he learned pretty quickly."

Queen didn't do much swimming as a true freshman. Though he appeared in all 12 games, his playing time consisted mainly of special teams work. He ended the season with six tackles, including one for a loss.

The next season, Queen had 40 tackles and a sack. His junior season, he blew up, posting 85 tackles, including 12 for a loss, three sacks and an interception as the Tigers won the national championship.

Queen was the defensive MVP of that 42-25 win by LSU over Clemson, recording a team-high eight tackles, including 2 ½ for a loss, and half a sack.

He had learned his lessons well.

"It was fun. It was eye-opening," Queen said of heading to LSU. "You learn so much when you're sitting behind guys. You ask a lot of questions. Having guys like Devin (White) and Donnie (Alexander). Before I got there, Duke (Riley) was there. I used to love watching him. Kwon (Alexander). Deion (Jones). Donte Jackson was there. Getting to watch all those guys.

"Then you get to see them up close and personal and train with those guys, you get to see what they do every day. You grow into the mold and you just want to get better. So, when people come into LSU, now you get to be that guy. It's just an LSU thing, a Louisiana thing. Every time I watched those guys, it was like with my dad. It was already instilled in me."

His dad taught him well.

And all of that hard work ended with Queen being a first-round draft pick of the Ravens in the 2020 NFL Draft.

In four seasons with the Ravens, Queen started all 67 games. He had three seasons with more than 100 tackles, while also recording 13.5 sacks, four interceptions, 15 pass defenses and five forced fumbles.

But after trading for another former first-round pick at linebacker in Roquan Smith at the deadline in 2022, the Ravens chose not to pick up Queen's fifth-year option.

He responded by posting his best season in 2023, earning second-team All-Pro honors.

And when he became available in free agency, the Steelers were only too happy to acquire his services, making him a priority.

"Pat's a unique guy in that he has both youth and experience," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in the offseason when the Steelers acquired Queen. "This guy's been in the league for years, hasn't missed a game. And he's 24-and-a-half years old. And so, obviously, we're extremely familiar with him and his skill set and talent level. Excited about it. He's an all-situations guy. He's good versus run. He's good in coverage. He's a good blitzer. We're just really excited about having a guy of his caliber that brings that unique combination of youth and experience."

It's shown early, as Queen hasn't missed a defensive snap in the team's first two games, both victories on the road.

Sunday, Queen will make his regular season home debut for the Steelers when they host the Chargers.

Queen has won a championship in high school. He's won one in college. He desperately wants to add an NFL title to his resume.

"We need that N0. 7. We need it ASAP," Queen said. "That's the plan. Hopefully, we have that. It's another chance to try to be great, another chance to try to be on top. I think we've got the team to do it. I can't wait to try."

It would be the crowning moment in his career, one his father envisioned for him so many years ago.

All of that hard work, all of those training sessions, all of the arguing, it would all have been worth it.

In fact, that already has been the case.

"Heated," Queen called those sessions. Argument after argument, just pushing me. To this day, it has made me who I am. We always talk about it, how if we could go back, he would change stuff and I would change stuff. But at the end of the day, we're here now. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to, and I couldn't thank him more."