Ninth in an 11-part series. Coming tomorrow: Safety.

One of the elusive elements all NFL teams seek as the draft approaches and they decide whom to select are college players’ intangibles.

In what is an extraordinarily deep class of cornerbacks this year, there’s one player who comes with built-in intangibles: Joey Porter Jr.

His father, Joey Porter, was a five-time All-Pro linebacker for the Steelers, Dolphins and Cardinals in his 13-year NFL career.

He was a leader on Pittsburgh’s title-winning defense from 1999-2006, and recorded 98 career sacks.

Porter’s son, who was a star shutdown cornerback for Penn State and will be an almost-certain first-round pick in the upcoming draft, was 5 years old when his dad won Super Bowl XL with the Steelers in 2006 and he celebrated with him on the field.

The 6-foot-2, 198-pound Porter Jr. is a junior who is leaving school early and hoping to become the first Penn State cornerback to be drafted in the first round.

Porter Jr., whose confidence rivals that of his father, felt he was ready for the NFL draft a year ago, but his father and mother advised (told?) him otherwise.

“I had a hard conversation with my parents and they told me I wasn’t ready,” Porter Jr. recalled at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. “I took that and listened to them because my dad has been there before.”

He conceded “it definitely hurt” to hear that from his parents, but added, “I knew it was from good intentions … and they were right, because if I didn’t, I don’t think I’d be in this position right now.”

Porter Jr. had his best season in 2022, allowing only 143 receiving yards in 10 games, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors while recording a career-high 11 pass breakups.

His 3.7 opponents’ yards per attempt thrown in his direction was tied for fourth best in the FBS.

The son doesn’t come off as salty as his father did during his NFL career, which was punctuated by its share of scraps and scuffles.

Currently a linebackers coach with the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL, Porter even got into a fight, as a Steelers coach, with an opposing player.

Porter Jr. does, however, have his father’s confidence.

“I would say I’m a physical press corner that’s going to get in your face and do my job and do it well,” Porter Jr. said. “I feel like I’m the best corner here.”

He may prove to be that one day. But because he recorded just one career interception (largely because opposing quarterbacks rarely threw his way) and because this draft is so heavy on top corners, Porter Jr. isn’t expected to be the first corner off the board.

He’s projected to be selected after Devon Witherspoon from Illinois, Christian Gonzalez from Oregon and Georgia’s Kelee Ringo, to name a few.

Porter Jr. will draw on his youth spent hanging around NFL players and locker rooms (he used to do one-on-one passing drills with then-Steelers receiver Antonio Brown) while watching his dad practice and play.

Later, when his dad was an assistant coach with the Steelers, Porter Jr. hung out with Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin’s sons, Mason and Dino, and was still around the pro game.

“Professional football is less of a mystery for them,” Tomlin said in an ESPN interview, referring to sons of NFL players. “It’s less of a dream for them when someone in your close proximity is living that out, be it an older sibling or a parent. You see it, you know what it’s about, you understand it.

“There’s less dreaming about it and more planning and taking action to create that end result. And I just think that that creates a higher potential floor and makes the acquisition less mystical.”

Asked the most important thing he learned from his father, Porter Jr. said: “Just to be myself, no matter what. People are always going to make comparisons. I have my name. He has his name for a reason. Just do what I love to do for a reason.

“My dad’s been there before. He’s done it. I want to do the same thing and just be better. That’s the main thing he always told me. He wants me to be better than him. So, that’s what I’m going to strive to do.”

Porter said his son’s “gonna make the name his,”in a recent interview with ESPN.

“He’s going to add legacy to the name with the things that he can do and the things that he’s going to do,’’ the elder Porter said. “It’s really his turn, and I’m just sitting back watching.”