Joey Porter Jr. ready to follow in father's footsteps

INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. spent most of his 20 minutes with the media on Thursday smiling, which represents a departure from the demeanor most football fans remember seeing from his father, Joey Porter.

Dad was a linebacker, an All-Pro pass rusher, a four-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl champion for the Steelers. He retired in the summer of 2012.

The son is a cornerback, long and lanky, just starting his NFL journey. And he remembers being on the Steelers’ practice field as a kid, going one-on-one against Antonio Brown.

“That was a nice treat,” Porter Jr. said Thursday at the NFL Combine. “I know he wasn’t going 100%, but to be able to line up against him was something special.”

As of Thursday, Porter had not yet met with the Giants. He will. Cornerback is among their needs.

Porter could follow in his father’s footsteps and play with the Steelers, who have the 17th pick. He already had met with the Patriots, an opponent his father detested.

“I don’t think Dad would be too mad at the situation,” the son said, smiling. “He’d just be happy I got picked up by a team that wanted me.”

Asked specifically about Bill Belichick, Porter Jr. said: “Seems like a cool guy, kind of a cold shoulder, but that’s awesome. I love that.”

Asked to describe his game, he said: “I’m a physical press corner who’s gonna get in your face and do my job and do it well.”

At 6-2, Porter is long by cornerback standards, and his wingspan is ridiculous. His arms measure 35 inches each, the longest of any player at Penn State last season.

Nittany Lions coach James Franklin said Porter’s play largely allowed the defensive coaches freedom in their play-calling. They knew Porter had half the field covered.

Porter had an interesting final college season. He initially wanted to turn pro last year. His father and mother, Christy, told him to stay in school another year, saying he wasn’t ready yet.

“It definitely hurt,” he said. “You don’t want to hear that from your parents. I knew it was with good intentions. And they were right. They were definitely right.”

In Penn State’s season opener at Purdue, Porter had six pass breakups and a fumble recovery in a win. After that, some teams barely looked his way.

Then in November, Porter dealt with appendicitis and missed time. That he returned to play with his teammates was important to him.

“It was really just that grit I have in me, that fire I have in me,” he said. “I really didn’t want to leave my guys out there; I knew they needed me. I did everything I could to go back out there and try my best.”

With Franklin’s blessing, Porter opted out of the Rose Bowl.

“He’s got a lot of physical tools that most corners do not have,” Franklin said. “And he just kept getting better. From a strength and conditioning perspective, from a technique and fundamental perspective, from an overall football perspective.”

Franklin said Porter’s presence was critical.

“We were able to call certain things or run certain schemes because of the confidence that we had in our defensive backs [and] Joey,” he said. “I’m proud of him.”

Franklin believes that Porter’s return from appendicitis said a lot.

“For him to be able to able to battle and come back as quickly as he did and do everything he possibly could to try to get back was telling,” he said. “His commitment to his teammates and his commitment to this program and university” was unquestioned.

At the Combine, Porter’s goal is to prove he is the best cornerback in this draft.

“It’s very important to me,” he said. “I feel like I’m CB1 for a reason. I’m just here to show my talents and prove why.”

That opportunity has come. For Porter, the timing is perfect.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.