ASK THE STEELERS – MIKE HUMPAL – PART 1

Steelers.com brings you the Ask the Steelers feature. Fans submitted the questions that were asked. Please understand that we receive an incredible number of questions for each player, with many of the questions being similar, and not all of the questions can be answered. We selected as many as possible, and took your questions to the current subject to get your answers.

From Lou Ellis in Newark, New Jersey: What was it like waiting to be drafted?
Mike Humpal: It was kind of nerve-racking. We had an idea if I was going to be drafted it was going to be in the later rounds, but nothing is guaranteed with that sort of stuff. I was sitting around with my family trying to keep my mind off it by playing cards and that kind of stuff. It was getting later in the day and my name hadn’t come up yet. It was getting more nerve-racking as every name came up and it wasn’t yours and it was one less chance to be drafted. The day took forever until I got the call. Once the Steelers took me the day went fast.

From Dan Abrahams in Elyria, Ohio: What was your reaction when you got the call from the Steelers telling you they drafted you?

Mike Humpal: I was pumped. All I wanted was an opportunity to be able to be with a team and play football again. I look forward to helping the team win. There are a lot of exciting things ahead.

From Jamie Miller in Morgantown, West Virginia: Did you have any idea that they were interested in you beforehand?

Mike Humpal: Not really, no. Other teams had expressed more interest. The Steelers were one team I didn’t think were interested much at all. It was a nice surprise though because they are a good organization.

From Erik Hauck in East Windsor, New Jersey: Did you ever imagine that you would be wearing the same uniform colors in college and the pros?
Mike Humpal: No, I never did. It is kind of ironic. A lot of people have made comments about that. It’s one less thing to adjust to, which is nice. We played at Penn State and my family was wearing their Iowa stuff and some people actually thought they were Steelers fans.

From SSG Michael Molinaro stationed in Camp Liberty (Baghdad), Iraq: What was your favorite moment during your college career? 
Mike Humpal: This past season when we beat Illinois at home. At the time Illinois was 5-0 and we were not doing so well. They came to our place and it was a big game. They had a high-powered offense and we held them to six points and kept them out of the end zone. We ended up winning the game and that was really exciting.

From Dan Bower in Cincinnati, Ohio: You grew up in Iowa, did you always want to play for Iowa as a kid?
Mike Humpal: Not really. My oldest brother went to Iowa State so I knew a lot more about Iowa State than Iowa growing up. I never really thought about being a Haweye growing up, I just wanted to play college football wherever that was.