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After Derrick Harmon was like that Thursday’s 21st overall pickthe latest Pittsburgh Steeler had to break the news to his mother.
Harmon was unable to see his mother and draft because he was on life support in the hospital.
Harmon said being drafted was “bittersweet.”
Shortly after being selected, Harmon traveled to the hospital to visit her mother, Tiffany Thane, and told her. “Her son was drafted.”
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Oregon’s duck defensive lineman Derrick Harmon (55) will respond to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half in the 2025 Rose Bowl College Football Quarter Finals game at Rose Bowl Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
According to Pittsburgh Post GazetteThane died soon after.
A defensive tackle, Harmon, was taken away by the Steelers.
Harmon said his mother suffered a stroke when he was a Michigan freshman, leaving her paralyzed on her left side. She had “about eight brain surgeries,” Harmon said.
“She’s the reason I’m here. She’s the reason I did it all to this point.” Harmon said.
Oregon’s duck defensive lineman Derrick Harmon (55) will respond to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half in the 2025 Rose Bowl College Football Quarter Finals game at Rose Bowl Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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Harmon also said he used it. His nil money To buy an accessible van to his mother.
“Man, how resilient was she, man. I’ve just grown up from my position, my situation, I grew up with her having probably seven eight brain surgeries,” Harmon said. After being selected. “And after all the brain surgery, man, she didn’t give up.
“She still took me to practice and still went to work. The thing that has always been in my mind since the beginning of my college career is, “Why don’t I continue? I’m tired and injured.”
“So it’s just her resilience and her efforts. Really. She was my inspiration.”
Oregon duck defensive lineman Derrick Harmon will force a fumble on August 31, 2024 at Oizen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon by Idaho Vandals quarterback Jack Lane. (Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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At 6-foot-5, 310-pound Harmon spent three seasons Michigan Before moving to Oregon, there he blossomed into destructive power. Harmon was the second-team national last season, finishing with five sacks and 10½ tackles, finishing for a duck loss.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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