NFL Draft pick Nick Herbig joins brother in Pittsburgh

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Princeton wide receiver Andrei Iosivas runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis on March 4.

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Princeton wide receiver Andrei Iosivas runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis on March 4.

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Oregon’s Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu participates in the 40-yard dash at the school’s NFL Pro Day on March 14 in Eugene, Ore.

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Wisconsin linebacker Nick Herbig runs the 40-yard dash at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis on March 2.

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After two days of silence, three Hawaii high school alumni heard the sounds they wanted from their phones Saturday, on the third day of the NFL Draft.

Saint Louis alumnus Nick Herbig was projected as a Day 2 pick (rounds 2-3), but waiting a day to be taken in the fourth round turned out to be a dream scenario when the linebacker out of Wisconsin was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers 132nd overall. Not only does Herbig join his brother (and fellow former Crusader) Nate, but he also will get to learn under one of the best at his position, a player he already has a connection with, as former Badgers.

Herbig has worked out with veteran Steeler T.J. Watt, a three-time first-team All-Pro and 2022 Defensive Player of the Year, before, and says the two have also texted.

Getting the chance to play with his brother, a guard who signed with the Steelers last month after playing 44 games in four seasons with the Eagles and Jets, in particular moved Herbig to tears.

“I saw my phone ring Pittsburgh, PA, and I was like, there’s no way I’m about to be a Steeler with my brother,” Herbig told Sports Illustrated. “I picked it up, and it was Mr. Khan (Steelers GM Omar Khan), and I just started crying,” Herbig said. “I couldn’t hold it in.”

Herbig is also excited to continue working with Watt, as well a s fellow two former Badgers on the defensive line — third-year pro Isaiahh Loudermilk and fellow rookie Keeanu Benton.

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“I think they’ll take me under their wing like they already have,” Herbig said of the veterans on a conference call after his selection. “T.J.’s already took me under his wing. You know me and Keeanu are best friends. So now that we’re all going to be together, I think it’ll make the process a lot easier.”

Two other Steelers are Hawaii natives — Farrington alumnus Breiden Fehoko and guard Isaac Seumalo, who was born in Hawaii and whose father, Joe, played for the Rainbow Warriors in the 1980s and then for several years in the Canadian Football League before embarking on a coaching career that currently has him in charge of San Jose State’s defensive line.

Also drafted Saturday, both in the sixth round, were former Oregon offensive tackle Malaseala Aumavae-Laulu, who attended Keaau and was taken 199th overall by the Baltimore Ravens, and Punahou graduate Andrei Iosivas, a wide receiver out of Princeton who went 206th to the Cincinnati Bengals. He joins quarterback Joe Burrow and a talented stable or receivers that includes JaMarr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.