First and 10 with Justin Hartwig

The Steelers signed veteran center Justin Hartwig to a two-year contract in March, fortifying the center position. Hartwig played for the Tennessee Titans and became a stalwart for their offensive line before moving on to the Carolina Panthers as a free agent. Injuries derailed his career in Carolina, and he was released before signing with the Steelers this offseason. PSR Editor Tony DeFazio caught up with Hartwig the day after his alma mater, the Kansas Jayhawks, won the NCAA Basketball Championship.

TD: Your Jayhawks got it done last night.

Hartwig: Yep. I might have collected a few pennies from the guys in the locker room. Everybody picked Memphis but things worked out, man. I guess it was pretty crazy in Lawrence last night. I wouldn't have minded to be there, but I need to be here working.

TD: What about this team made you sign here?

Hartwig: I just felt really comfortable with my visit and my meetings with coach Tomlin and coach Zierlein. This is a winning organization and the last four years I've either been .500 or less, so just knowing that we have a lot of weapons on offense and one of the best defenses in the league, and I'm getting into the latter stages of my career, so winning is something I want to be a part of. I just felt that this was my chance to get that done.

TD: Are you expecting to come in and anchor the offensive line?

Hartwig: You have personal goals and expectations for yourself. I'm not going to sit here and say that's going to happen, but obviously that's my goal - to come in and be the starter. That's the business of the NFL. I don't care who you are, every year you are competing for a job. That's how I look at it - I'm going to come in and train and hard and my goal is obviously to be a force in the middle of that line. So we'll see what happens. Today I took my first snaps with the quarterbacks, so I have a long way to go.

TD: What does that mean for you as an offensive lineman to have the offensive weapons this team has?

Hartwig: It really opens up what you do as an offense. You can't be one dimensional in the NFL. You have to have a quarterback first and foremost, and obviously we have that. We have the playmakers and I feel like what little I know about the guys in the offensive line room, it seems like we have a really good group of guys. I think we potentially can be a really good offense.

TD: Ben Roethlisberger has made a career out of making plays on the run. How does a quarterback who makes plays out of the pocket impact the line?

Hartwig: I blocked for Steve McNair early in my career and he was kind of older when I played with him, but he still liked to run and make things happen. One of the things with a mobile quarterback is you can never let up and you always have to know that until someone says that ball is out, you have to keep blocking. You're going to have to win for at least four seconds every time.

TD: You had a lot of success early on in your career with Tennessee, but things didn't go your way for a variety of reasons in Carolina. What was the difference?

Hartwig: Obviously in Carolina things were tough because I was the new guy who'd just signed a big contract and there were a lot of expectations. I go and get injured right away. You're paid to be on the field, and when you're not out there, nobody's happy. That's just the business - injuries happen. When I was in Tennessee, after my first year, I started every game after that and had a lot of success and the team really believed in me. I think that was key, having coaching that believed in you. I had a really good situation there.

TD: How familiar are you with the Steelers tradition at center?

Hartwig: It's something I'm definitely aware of. Immediately when I signed with the Steelers I thought about their legacy of centers, and it's been brought up to me several times. I'm going into my seventh year now and I feel like I've learned a lot in my time in the NFL. I've led really good offensive lines in the past, so that's my goal -to step up here and be a solid player here and win ballgames. That's the bottom line.