Ben Roethlisberger made a smooth transition from Miami University (Ohio) to the NFL. He won the NFL Rookie of the Year Award in 2004.

In only his second season, Roethlisberger became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl, leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to a victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

Carson Wentz is looking to make the same jump from small school to the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. Both Wentz and Roethlisberger have the same agent so they have been able to talk about what lies ahead for Wentz.

Roethlisberger has been impressed with Wentz after talking to him and watching him play. He was on the Talk of Fame Network recently and weighed in on how Wentz can make the jump to the NFL.

“If you look at what Carson did in college, he’s not afraid to get under center, he did it,” Roethlisberger said. “He can drop back and pass. He can do the play-action stuff. He can do the boots and nakeds which are things you just don’t see a lot of in typical college football for the most part.

“I think he’s as prepared as anybody because of the type of system he played in and the work that he put in to get himself NFL ready.”

Wentz played in more of a pro-style offense in college. He had full control of the offense much like what NFL quarterbacks do.

A lot of the route concepts are similar to the ones that are in the Philadelphia Eagles playbook. Wentz had the liberty to change the play and protection schemes.

More and more college quarterbacks are executing a spread offense. Roethlisberger feels the style of offenses in college can hinder a quarterback’s development.

“I think they’re almost hurting quarterbacks a lot of times because of the offenses they’re running,” Roethlisberger said. “They’re running these systems that are a lot of screens. They’re looking over at the sidelines and not really huddling; it’s all shotgun. It’s not NFL football.”

In essence, North Dakota State despite being a smaller school is an advantage for Wentz because of what he was asked to do as their quarterback. Doug Pederson and the Eagles have decided to bring Wentz along slowly.

The Steelers once had the same idea when Roethlisberger first got to the NFL. He entered his rookie season as the No.3 quarterback but moved up to No.2 after Charlie Batch was injured in the preseason.

Roethlisberger stepped in for Tommy Maddux in the second game of the 2004 season. Like Roethlisberger, Wentz is not expected to play right away, but that could change this season.