GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Growing up fewer than 20 miles from Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, a few things were constant as A.Q. Shipley came of age: playing football, watching the Steelers and listening to radio legend Myron Cope.
Shipley made football his life, first at Penn State and then a 13-year NFL career, which started when the Steelers selected him in the seventh round of the 2009 draft.
Now, he'll follow in the footsteps of Cope, who was the voice of the Steelers for 35 years. Shipley will be the analyst for the Arizona Cardinals, for whom he played center from 2015-2019 before retiring after a year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I kind of grew up with Myron Cope's voice echoing my ears in Pittsburgh," Shipley said. "And, as a kid, that's kind of all I remember. And, so for me to get here and have this opportunity is an awesome opportunity."
When word got out in February that Ron Wolfley would step down after 20 seasons as the Cardinals' radio analyst, Shipley was ready. He had been dabbling in the media for a few years since retiring in 2021, talking about offensive line play on the Pat McAfee Show since 2022 and working on a fantasy football podcast with former Cardinals quarterback Colt McCoy, former Cardinals offensive lineman Justin Pugh and former NFL head coach Jay Gruden.
Armed with that experience, Shipley fired off a few texts to let the Cardinals know he'd be interested in interviewing for Wolfley's spot. He didn't expect to land the job "in a million years," but that's what happened. Shipley will join veteran play-by-play man Dave Pasch, who's entering his 24th season with the Cardinals, in the booth in Week 1 when the Cardinals begin the season at the New Orleans Saints.
"I mean that voice is unduplicatable, if that's even a word," Shipley said of Wolfley. "The growl, the sound. It's so recognizable in this city. And, so for me, not even going to try and do that. I don't have that deep of a voice. I don't have that growl, but I do study the heck out of football.
"I know football inside and out. I know offensive line play, obviously, more than most. But I also know the whole field. I know the whole game and I think I can bring a unique perspective from that."
Rich Ohrnberger agrees.
He played with Shipley at Penn State and then spent six years in the NFL before heading to the radio booth. He's about to enter his ninth year as the analyst for San Diego State University football.
"I played with a lot of super intelligent players over the course of my career in college and professionally, and A.Q. is easily one of the most intelligent," Ohrnberger said. "He has a command for the sport that extends beyond his position and always has. He's had a curiosity for the way the whole scheme works.
"And that even expanded out to the route concepts that players were running in front of the scheme. I remember thinking to myself, 'How does he have time to know so much?' But he has a natural football IQ."
Known in locker rooms as someone who tells it as he sees it, Shipley doesn't plan on changing. He has a relatability and an authenticity that most strive for, Ohrnberger said. And that'll come through clearly over the airwaves.
His wife likes to tell people who meet him for the first time that they'll either love him or hate him.
"At the end of the day, I'm honest," Shipley said. "I'm very honest and I'm going to see the game and I'm going to call the game the way it is. Obviously, I'm going to be fair, I'm going to be fair, but I see the game and if somebody gets beat, I'm not going to sit there and be like, oh, let's make an excuse for him. That's not the way this works."
Shipley will make his radio debut on Saturday night, when the Cardinals host the Kansas City Chiefs in their preseason opener. However, with Pasch scheduled to call the TV broadcasts of the Cardinals' preseason games, Shipley won't get to work with his radio partner until the first week of the season.
It'll be the preseason for Shipley, too. There'll be a learning curve for him in the booth, Ohrnberger said. Although Ohrnberger believes Shipley's intelligence will help him shorten that.
For Ohrnberger, whose wit and humor made him a locker room favorite, understanding his role as an analyst -- and not as a former player or a fan -- was his highest hurdle.
"You've got to divorce yourself from the game a little bit because we're all fans of the sport, but it's your job to spotlight something particularly interesting to you that you want to convey to the fans," Ohrnberger said. "If it's a great run play, well, why was it a great run play? You have to decipher in a second what made that play work and convey it as concisely as possible and as quickly as possible in certain situations to the people listening at home. And that timing and the dance you do all broadcast along is something that took me a little time.
"I think you'll think you're listening to a 10-year veteran of the broadcast by week three of the season."
Until then, though, the two will try to establish as much of a bond as they can without riffing off each other on air to create a seamless transition from Wolfley to Shipley.