He’s worked with him for just a few short weeks through rookie minicamp, Organized Team Activities and last week’s three-day mandatory minicamp, but in that short time Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie first-round pick Derrick Harmon already believes he’s working under a great coach in DL coach Karl Dunbar.
Speaking to reporters last week during minicamp, Harmon praised his new position coach, crediting Dunbar for having a drill for every position on the field and focusing on all the little details each and every day. Dunbar is helping the defensive line make incremental improvements under his watch.
“Just in a short time, you could tell he’s a great coach,” Harmon said of Dunbar, according to video via Steelers Live on X. “He’s a guy that’s on the little details 24/7. He’s worried about the little details. He has a drill for every position on the field, whatever position we get in for any of our defenses, he has a drill for now. That’s what I really love about working with Coach Dunbar.”
During his time in college at both Michigan State and Oregon, Harmon worked with a number of different defensive line coaches. That included Marco Coleman in 2022, Diron Reynolds in 2023 at Michigan State and Tony Tuioti at Oregon.
He had his breakout season under Tuioti at Oregon, putting the whole package together as a run defender and pass rusher. He now steps into a good situation in Pittsburgh where Dunbar is well established, highly regarded and has a great resume throughout his time around the game of football.
Dunbar came to Pittsburgh from the University of Alabama, where he coached a number of first-round picks during his time in the SEC. Since coming to Pittsburgh ahead of the 2018 season, Dunbar’s defensive lines have had some ups and downs.
When the trio of Cameron Heyward, Javon Hargrave and Stephon Tuitt was healthy and on the field together, they were dominant. It Dunbar look like one of the best defensive line coaches in the league.
But in recent years with the Steelers not really investing in the defensive line, the group has struggled. Things have changed in the past few years, though, as the Steelers have invested heavily in the position group with the recent selections of Harmon and Yahya Black in the 2025 NFL Draft, as well as Keeanu Benton in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Heyward continues to play at an elite level, too, which Harmon is getting an up-close-and-personal crash course on.
While the talent is immense with Harmon coming out of college, he needs to be pushed and coached hard in the NFL. Dunbar is going to do that. He’s a coach who holds people accountable and demands a certain standard in the NFL, especially from the details aspect.
That’s a great type of coach for Harmon to learn from right away in the NFL.
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