The mom of Steelers first-round pick Derrick Harmon died moments after telling her the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
It was a bittersweet victory for the Oregon defensive tackle. As Derrick’s name was called, his mom was on life support. He said he was going to visit her afterward to share the good news.
“It’s a blessing,” Harmon said on being drafted. “It was a little bittersweet. My mom wasn’t with me – she’s at the hospital right now on life support. That was a little bittersweet because she worked just as hard as me to get to this moment.
“But it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Like I said, I’m very excited.”
Harmon revealed his mother, Tiffany Saine, had “about eight brain surgeries” while he was growing up. She also had a stroke when he was a freshman at Michigan State, leaving her paralyzed on her left side.
From Michigan to Oregon
“I’m originally from Detroit, Michigan, so I was probably 45 minutes from home when I went to Michigan State,” Harmon said. “It was very hard leaving and going to Oregon. It was probably the hardest decision I had to make. I sat down with my mom and we had a discussion. She told me every decision I made up to this point was for her, it’s time to make a decision for myself. I carried that through the whole process of going 2,000 miles away all the way to Oregon.”
Harmon played the first three seasons of his college career at Michigan State before transferring to Oregon for the 2024 season. He said leaving his mom was hard, but she told him it was time to do something for himself.
Ryan Clarke from The Oregonian said Saine was a single mom who scrimped and saved to send him to football camps. In return, Clarke said Derrick used some of his NIL earnings to buy her a wheelchair accessbile van. Clarke said the mother and son remained close when he was at Oregon.
“He kept in touch with her every day over FaceTime, and she actually had a chance to fly out to Eugene and take in one of the games against Boise State early in the year. So that was very special for both of them to share that time for sure,” Clarke said.
While in Oregon, Harmon became one of the best defensive linemen in college football, tallying 45 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 14 games.