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The South Side Works, a Pittsburgh development that includes shops, eateries, offices and the training complex of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is named after the steel mill that once occupied the site. While the furnaces are gone, the Steelers continue to produce linebackers of top quality, as they have for decades.
James Harrison, the NFL’s defensive player of the year this season, is reminded of that each time he’s at the complex as he passes photos of linebackers that played for Pittsburgh.

“I’m definitely conscious of what the tradition is. If you go upstairs, you’ll see a wall full of linebackers. I’m definitely aware of it,” Harrison says.

This season, Harrison at outside linebacker and James Farrior on the inside made the Pro Bowl, just as Jack Ham, Jack Lambert, Kevin Greene, Greg Lloyd and Joey Porter did in years past. Since 1969, 16 Steelers linebackers have earned a total of 51 berths in the Pro Bowl.

Now Pittsburgh’s linebackers, in a top-ranked defense orchestrated by 71-year-old coordinator Dick LeBeau, will be tested Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII on whether they can put the heat on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, limit his ability to get the ball to star receivers such as Larry Fitzgerald and put the clamps on a revived Cardinals running game.

Harrison will be front and center, a typical big-play Pittsburgh linebacker. However, it took Harrison awhile to find a fit in Pittsburgh, and it took the Steelers awhile to figure out what they had in him. They cut him three times early in his career.

That he has arrived is no surprise to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He and Harrison played in the Mid-American Conference, Roethlisberger at Miami of Ohio and Harrison at Kent State.

“We played against each other in college, and I knew back then he was going to be something special. … He hits you hard, he’s strong, he’s fast,” Roethlisberger says.

At 6-0, 242 pounds, Harrison also uses his relative lack of height by NFL standards to his advantage. He has a knack for getting underneath taller blockers and exploding past them.

But coming out of college in 2002, that didn’t register enough with NFL teams to spend a draft pick on him. Pittsburgh signed him as a free agent.

After being on and off the Steelers practice squad and roster during his first two seasons, he was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens in early 2004. He played that spring with the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. He was cut by the Ravens after he came home.

“I almost quit to become a bus driver. … If I didn’t get in (to the NFL), I was going to get a regular job like everyone else.”

But the Steelers called him back during training camp in 2004. When star linebacker Joey Porter left via free agency in 2007, Harrison stepped in and became another Steelers star.

“It came down to opportunity,” Harrison says. “Once I got the opportunity, it came down to getting better at my craft. … It’s a long road to go, and I just thank God that I was able to make it.”

Sunday, it will take a team effort. Defensive linemen Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel will have to tie up the blockers up front. Pittsburgh also has playmakers such as Troy Polamalu in the secondary.

But the Pittsburgh linebackers will have to deliver the punch. The four starters ranked among the top six Steelers in regular-season tackles. Harrison led the team with 16 sacks in the regular season, followed by second-year linebacker LaMarr Woodley with 11½.

“The defense is built around the linebackers,” Harrison says. “If you don’t have linebackers that can play the run and the pass, then you’re not going to have a successful defense. The 3-4 is built to let the linebackers run.”

Says Farrior: “It takes everybody on that field. … But the athletes we’ve got at the linebacker position enable us to do a lot of the things. … We’re able to cover, we’re able to blitz and we’re able to play the run.”