Will Hall of Fame come knocking on former Steelers lineman Alan Faneca's door?

Sometime on Saturday afternoon or evening, Alan Faneca will learn whether he has been selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As the late Tom Petty memorably sang, the waiting is the hardest part — at least for Faneca, a perennial Pro Bowl guard during his decade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Faneca has experienced the wait on the eve of the Super Bowl before, so he knows the drill.

“You can’t let the emotions get the best of you,” Faneca told NFL Network last month,” until you get to the day when you’re sitting in the hotel room waiting for the knock or no knock.”

A finalist for the fourth time, Faneca is hoping to hear that elusive knock on Saturday. He is among 15 modern-day finalists trying to make it to the final five and get the necessary votes for induction. The Class of 2019 will be announced during the “NFL Honors” show at 9 p.m. on CBS.

“Just to have my name in consideration is an honor,” Faneca said in July after the Steelers made him a member of their second Hall of Honor class. “They bring us to the Super Bowl. You get to see the group and see how special it is instead of being from afar. You get to see it up close, and you recognize how much more it means to be part of that elite team.”

Faneca, 42, is among four offensive linemen that are part of the 2019 finalists. The other three also have been in this situation before. Tony Boselli and Kevin Mawae are finalists for the third time, and Steve Hutchinson is a second-time finalist.

Faneca told NFL Network that he’s happy to see interior linemen such as Mawae, Hutchinson and himself recognized by the Hall of Fame electorate.

“You’re talking about guys that set the tone, not only for their team, but in the league, that changed the way the game is played to a certain extent,” Faneca said. “They are guys who went out week in and week out, year in and year out and laid it on the line and showed up.”

Given such a heavy offensive line presence in the class, it would seem that one of four would make the final cut. Then again, other finalists include holdovers John Lynch, Isaac Bruce, Edgerrin James and Steve Atwater, plus first-timers Richard Seymour, Ed Reed, Champ Bailey and Tony Gonzalez. From the coaching ranks, Don Coryell, a five-time finalist, and Tom Flores, a first-timer, also are among the final 15.

Aliquippa native Ty Law, who spent most of his 15-year NFL career with the New England Patriots, is a finalist for the third time.

The 48-member Hall of Fame selection committee will meet Saturday morning to whittle the 15 modern-day finalists down to 10. Those 10 will be reduced to five. Another vote will be taken, with those five finalists needing to receive 80 percent “yes” votes in order to receive induction.

Faneca missed only two games in his 13-year career, which included 10 seasons with the Steelers. He was selected to the Pro Bowl nine times and was a six-time first-team All-Pro.

“Alan deserves to be in Canton,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in July. “I think he will be deserving. I think he’ll make it sooner or later.”

Faneca, of course, hopes it is sooner.

“I went out there, and I laid it on the line and helped pave the way for a little bit of how we changed the game,” Faneca said. “When I joined the league, anybody thought you could play guard. Now, guard is kind of a premier position with me and (Hutchinson) coming along. We’re changing that mentality and that attitude.”

Law was selected to the Pro Bowl five times and was a two-time All-Pro. He had 53 career interceptions, including 10 in the 2005 season when he played for the New York Jets. That’s two more interceptions than the entire Steelers team had in 2018.

Law’s 36 interceptions in his 10 seasons with the Patriots tied a franchise record, and quarterback Tom Brady wrote a letter to the selection committee throwing his support behind his former teammate.

“I can remember how upset I would get when I would make a mistake in practice and Ty would capitalize on it,” Brady wrote in his letter. “Looking back, I realize how lucky I was then to be challenged every day by one of the greatest cornerbacks to ever play the game. It helped me work harder to become successful in this league and ultimately prepared me to become the player I am today.”

Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at jrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tribjoerutter.