July 27, 2022 • 46 mins
Bob Labriola and Tom Opferman bring you the Training Camp Report, an hour recap of the previous day of Training Camp as well as a preview of the day to come. Labs and Tom discuss Tomlin's presser from move in day yesterday, and they also hear from Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris during their move in day media scrums.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get started. And so now we take off. Hec's the
training camp report what Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio. The Steelers have their first practice at St.
Vincent College for training camp since kicking off, and oh,
(00:27):
I'd say a little under five hours from now, labs,
how great is it to be back up there at St. Vincent.
Everybody seems to have that kind of sentiment that it
is just like that first day at a new high
school where everything is fresh and exciting and new. You
feel the same way. You have to feel the same way. Well,
I've been to be honest with you, when when the
(00:48):
pandemic hid in uh and then you saw how the
NFL reacted to it, especially um with some of the
you know, restrictions that the league in the Union we're
putting on team you know that like to go away,
you know, and a lot of the things that the
same things that make Saint Vincent College so charming and
such a nice place for a training camp setting, you know,
(01:12):
for all of the reasons that we're going to get
into during this hour. Um. Also where some of the
things that I thought that might preclude the Steelers from
ever coming back here. You know, the the dormitories, um,
smaller rooms, uh, sharing bathrooms, the cafeteria it's cozy, kind
(01:33):
of small. Um. The meeting rooms. I mean again, this
is a college campus, so you know, it's not like
being in a major hotel chain. Uh, you know, meeting
rooms situations, which is something like the cowboys have when
they go to Thousand Oaks, California. So a lot of
(01:53):
these things, you know, the intimacy, closeness. You know, you're
you're you're spending a lot of time with people in
close proximity. I thought, well, this that's gonna this pandemic
is gonna end that. But you know it's it's uh,
it didn't. You know. It was a couple of years
(02:13):
having camp in Pittsburgh. Now we're back in Latrobe and
um it's you know driving up here, um, thirties third,
it's still the same. Didn't bring a tear to your
eye when you were driving up thirty? Um, well what
(02:35):
brought tier to what? What brought a tear to my
eye was you know the first time I woke up
in my room the Steelers Nation radio sweep by the
way is it's yes, UM, and you know you you
pick open your one eye and you're staring at a
painted cement block wall. And then that's when I know
(02:57):
this is not uh, this is not UM on a
five star hotel, but it does you know, it's it's
training camp and um. You know Mike Tomlin was saying
in his UH camp opening pressor you know, if you're
if you have been a part of a football team
since you were a kid, which all of these guys
(03:20):
have been, because they're not playing at this level, if
they haven't been playing football most of or if not all,
of their UM lives, this means something to you. This
this is you know, you learned how to um go
away to camp, high school, maybe middle school, depending upon
you know what state they grew up in, and you
(03:41):
know Texas, if you know that they started playing organized
football attle, those seems like right out of the crib.
So UM. You know, Mike Tomlin made the reference yesterday
of UM putting your mouthpiece in boiling water, you know what,
which is what kids too when they get you know,
(04:01):
you know, you kind of put it in the boiling
water to melt it. You mold it to your teeth. Um,
And you know, he was talking about remembering that, and
I'm sure just about everybody you know in in Rooney Hall,
the Player's dorm, they've they've experienced that, and so um,
you know, it's I'm sure that the emotion won't emotion
(04:24):
might be a bad word. The anticipation is much higher,
you know, for those kinds of guys than for old
people like me. Um, but it's still, you know, it's
it's good to be back. Let me say that it
will get old, I'm sure, probably very soon, but it's
good to be back. Well, we're definitely gonna get into
(04:46):
a lot of the things that Tomlin had to say
in his press conference a little later on in this segment.
Later on in the show, we'll hear from Kenny Pickett
and Nagi Harris on their little media scrumbs when they
moved into the dorms at St. Vincent. But you know,
back to something that you just said there and something
that you wrote about in your piece at Steelers dot Com,
which if you haven't ready yet, folks, I mean, what
are you waiting for? Just phenomenal work from Labs as
(05:06):
always uh titled bring Back Being Back at SVC has value.
And you talked about how there's so much difference with
this Pittsburgh Steelers team from last year to this year.
Different quarterback, different look at the offense, different decordinator, different assistance,
different general manager. It's got to feel good for a
guy like Tomlin to have something that he's familiar with
going into this, and on top of that, it's going
(05:28):
to help, you know, with the team building aspect for
all these different pieces, right. And you know, I think
that Mike Tomlin definitely believes that this is the kind
of setting that can help a team in the situation
in which the Steelers find themselves. You know, at this
particular time in the calendar, you know, you have a
(05:50):
lot of those differences. Um, and it's not a veteran
team anymore. It's not a veteran team in terms of
the most important position on the team anymore. And um,
you know there's a lot of opportunity here in downtime,
as he explained, where you can um work on things
(06:12):
or develop things. You know, he refers to his team building. Uh.
And you know Mike Tomlin made the point that you know,
it's not necessarily something that you can quantify, but you uh,
you acknowledge it because it exists. And whether I'm not
going to sit here and claim that, you know, being
(06:34):
up here for three plus weeks or whatever it is,
usually I count the days. But that's too depressing. This
earlier that's cinder block while that you were talking about. No,
that's that's you do that in prison. This is prison.
But um, you know, for right now, it uh, it's
(06:55):
it's exciting, and I'm sure that there's a lot of
energy I imagine even in you know, benedicts were uh,
the staff and a lot of you know, support personnel
from the Steelers stay even in in this in this dormitory,
there's a lot of excitement. And again it gets old,
(07:16):
it gets pouring quickly, living in the in the college
dorm um. But you know, again it's it's part of
the process. And I'm not saying that it's going to
translate into victories, but it's it's a help to build
a foundation, you know, for what's gonna come. Starting September eleven.
One piece of news that I wanted to touch on
(07:37):
right out of the gate here was the news of
uh Trey Edmonds being cut yesterday on moving day and
Jeremy McNichols being signed to the Steelers roster. Tomlin actually
talked about that. He was asking his press conference about
how McNichols will fit into the running back makes He said,
we'll see. He's a guy that has an NFL resume.
We've been in some stadiums with him in the past.
We know what he's capable. He and others will be
(07:59):
given an opportunity to kind of define their roles and
divide the labor up as we get into it. But
we're happy that he's with us. I I don't view
this as just a simple swapping of bodies ahead of camp.
I do think that there's some pedigree in McNichols that
Edmunds just didn't really have at the NFL level. Got
a decent amount of carries with Tennessee the past two
seasons as he was there. I think he had over
two hundred yards two years ago, a little bit over
(08:20):
a hundred last year. So I think it's more than
just let's shuffle some deck chairs around. I think that
they liked something in McNichols. They want to give him
a shot and see if he can work his way
into that division of labor. As Tom and put it. Yeah,
and you know, especially at the running back position. I mean,
Naja Harris is the guy. Whether he gets the five
touches that you know he talked about UM when he
(08:43):
checked in or not, he's the guy. And you know,
the Steelers have had two are somewhat recent examples of
you know, adding a veteran running back to a group
that had UM one young budding star almost called it
(09:06):
almost a STU superstar. But and let's not get ahead
of bump the brakes a bit. You know, the one
that worked out spectacularly was the Angelo Williams okay, and
the one that flamed out spectacularly was La Garrett Blunt. Now,
what those two UM instances I believe taught Mike Tomlin
(09:27):
and the team in graphic in a graphic way, was that,
you know, the ability of the player is part of it,
but his willingness to understand and accept his spot on
the team is critical. So you know, what happened with
La Garrett Blunt. Um, as as as it was explained
(09:51):
to me, was that, you know, levy On Bell was
really in the infancy of his career when the Steelers
added Lagarrett Blunt, and you Blunt had some pedigree certainly
as a UM, a college player and in the NFL
to that point, he also had some problems. But you know,
he had some pedigree, and and it was explained to
(10:13):
me that he accepted the role without really understanding how good,
how and how quickly good levy On Bell was going
to become. And so once the season began, even in
you know, in the in the early stages of it,
(10:34):
you know, Blunt wasn't getting the touch that touches or
the playing time that he thought that he was going
to get. Because when he looked at the situation from
the beginning as the young guy, he's he really isn't
anything in the league. Yet you know I should be
able to, you know, be splitting time with this guy. Well,
then levy On Bell starts developing into the kind of
(10:56):
dual threat that he was um and Blunt's playing time
he wasn't getting what he was he thought he was getting,
and he became disgruntled and it became a problem, and
you know, he quit on the team when that victory
over Tennessee that year in Tennessee. So that didn't work.
De Angelo Williams was the situation worked perfectly because he
(11:21):
was a veteran NFL player, I would say, close to
the twilight of his career, and this landing spot here
gave him an opportunity to kind of continue to be
an NFL player and live the NFL lifestyle without having
to be you know what he was in his first incarnation.
(11:41):
I believe it was with the Carolina Panthers, and it
worked out spectacularly well. I mean, de' angelo Williams has
some very good complimentary seasons here. Was very productive. He
was never a problem. Um, you know, he was he
was acquired taste in terms of from you know, the
(12:01):
kind of guy he was. But he wasn't a bad guy.
That's the biggest key, like you said, to understanding your
role and he did that. Yeah, and you know he
he told um a bunch of us, uh you know,
in Steelers media, the team media, right before camp his
first training camp. He you know, we were down in
(12:22):
that one area of the UPMC where any sports complex
as a studio and all that. Ind' angelo Williams was
just kind of walking through and he stopped in and
he pretty much said, hey, look, I hate training camp.
I'm not going to be pleasant. You know. He was
much more graphic and sulty than that. But you got
(12:42):
the point right away, uh, he said. So it's nothing personal.
You know, I don't want you to think I don't
like you or don't understand your job or anything. But
I hate training camp. I hate everything about it. So, UM,
don't judge me. And I'm paraphrasing, don't judge me how
how how much? Um you know how short I am
(13:07):
or brusque or you know, profane or any of that
kind of stuff when you asked me for things, and UM,
you know then he was he was honest. He was
truthful because you know he wasn't you know, he wasn't
a ray of sunshine every day up here. But you know,
when the Steelers needed him to fill in for Bell,
(13:30):
either because of injury or you know, giving him a
break or whatever, he was very productive and a team
guy and all that kind of stuff. So, UM, I
think that this signing, as you mentioned, to talk about,
a roundabout way to get to the point. Um, this
signing isn't exactly rearranging deck chairs, but I think the
(13:51):
Steelers also understand they have to be careful adding a veteran.
We saw it with Melvin Ingram at outside linebacker and
Alex high Smith. I don't think Ingram um understood, um
that the Spielers were not going to retard Alex Highsmith's
development um by playing, you know, a veteran towards the
(14:12):
end of his career, and Ingram you know, wanted to
play more. So, Um, they're adding this guy. Uh, it's
not just a camp body. He has a little bit
of history and pedigree as you mentioned in the NFL.
But I also don't think he's gonna come in here
based on his NFL career to this point and think
(14:33):
I'm gonna split Carrious with Nagy Harris, because it ain't
gonna happen. It's just not I know, fans like the
idea of a one to punch at running back, but
it's it's never gonna be that. You don't spend what
you spent in draft capital for a guy like Nagy Harris,
(14:54):
who who's turning out to be everything advertised and take
him out for alone. You know that that number whole site, right,
You just don't do that. So, uh, it'll be interesting
and we'll see how this guy fits in and works
out well. Unlike the Angelo Williams. I know the fans
are excited for practice to open up today one fifty
(15:16):
five at St. Vincent College, although we should mention it's
only helmets their first padded practice, which is like Toma
likes to say, when the liabullets start to fly and
you really start to figure things out. That's not until Monday,
August one. But a few guys that Tomlin mentioned won't
be participating at the start of training camp in his
injury report, touching on them quickly before we hit our
first break. Uh make a Fitzpatrick, Tyson Allue Allue, both
(15:40):
guys make a placed on the non football injury list,
fell off his bike apparently on vacation, which Labs that's
just a brutal injury. You don't look good when you
fall off of a bike and you can really hurt yourself.
It's it's an embarrassment and it's also a lot of pain.
So I feel for Maka there. Tyson Allu Allue has
been placed on the pup list. He, as Tomlin described,
has a need that's been swelling on him a little bit,
(16:01):
probably from overtraining. Nothing to worry about for either of
those guys. And then Larry Ogan job there are offseason
addition on the defensive line who had his contract voided
with the Chicago Bears because of his injury. Uh is
still trying to work his way back from that. Tomlin said,
it's it's more of a get to know him and
feel out the process of Larry Ogan job, so we
can judge how to you know, ramp up his workload
(16:24):
as we get closer to the season. So three guys
that are pretty key members of that defense on the
injury report to start this training camp. But I don't
think you should be worried about any three of them. Well,
the and and to me, theog and job news is actually, um,
good news because I didn't know whether you know, he
would be able to start on the active roster. Uh.
(16:45):
And and so he is and so that means to
at least that he passed the physical, which he did
not do with the Bears, and that's why they avoided
the contract. So there has been progress there. And um,
you know again, uh, he doesn't you know, he's he's
a veteran. They know what they're getting. Uh. Mike Tomlin
kind of outlined general idea of what his role is
(17:08):
going to be on the team, and uh, you know,
you you don't want to push him too hard, too fast,
and so instead of being on the pup list, he
will start on the active roster, which means he will
be eligible to practice every day. But as Mike Tomlin explained, um,
they're gonna be cautious with him as they learn, you know,
(17:30):
what he needs, how he works, those kinds of things,
because you don't want to push him too hard and
then he suffers a setback. When we come back, we're
gonna take a look at some more Tomlin now gets
from the press conference, including on the offensive side of
the ball, and talk about the quarterback depth chart that
hasn't changed at all since the spring sessions of workouts.
So we'll also hear from Kenny Pickett as well in
(17:52):
our next segment. That's all on the way on the
Training Camp Report. Right here on SNRDC is the Training
Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers
Nation Radio, working our way through some of Mike Tomlin's
comments in his presser after the run test at St.
(18:16):
Vincent yesterday. Were you out on the field watching the
run test? By the way, Labs, I meant to ask
you that was it exciting? Did you have a stopwatch. No,
I'll be honest with you. Um, No, I don't do that.
I've watched a little bit on my way down to
the uh the Rogers Center, which is the building where
the it's kind of the media headquarters now where all
(18:38):
the press conferences are and that kind of stuff. Um,
but you know, I try and stay far away from
that because I'm always afraid that they're going to say, Okay, now,
all you guys on the side, we're just watching this
line up on the goal line. Your turn. Yeah, that
ain't happening. The run test, it's kind of, you know,
more tradition than it actually serves a purpose, wouldn't you say, now,
(18:59):
just because back when it was a real thing, guys were,
you know, working on their jobs in the off season,
showing up to camp out of shape, using camp to
get into shape. If you fail that conditioning test in
these day and age, that's a lot of trouble from
the team's perspective as far as how you handled your
off season right. And it's a serious red flag and so, um,
(19:20):
you know, a good run test to me is um,
you know, that's the bare minimum. The Mendowes aligned, so
to speak. Uh, and they do. They do make it
look effortless. Let me say that, and I can imagine
that it is not because, um, you know, just walking
(19:40):
down the hill to the down the road and over
to the Rogers Center, you know, carrying the stuff that
I needed to have with me. Um, you know, you
broke a light sweat. Wasn't even that hot, so um,
you know, yeah, it's it's it's it's for those professional athletes,
and I am not one of those, Tomlin said. Everybody,
(20:01):
of course past their conditioning, So no worries there as
far as the Steelers are concerned. If anybody listens to
our Asked an Answered podcast, which I'm sure everybody out
there does, it's one of the most popular podcasts, not
just on the Steelers network but in the world, uh internationally.
We were, go ahead, where are you putting the Where
are you putting our awards? You have a little room
(20:21):
in your house. I do. They're in my attic right now.
We're getting that wing built. As you know, we're not
supposed to share that, so you shouldn't have said that
right now. But sorry, But you know, we love to
talk about the quarterback competition and I can't believe we
waited this long to really get into it. Tomlin had
some words about it. Um, you know, he talked about
how the depth chart is still the same as it
was in mini camp and O t a s where
(20:43):
Mitch Dubisky is gonna be the one, Mason is going
to be the two, and Kenny Pickett will be the three.
Uh starting today with the first official practice of training camp.
The one thing that I really uh took a lot
away from was how Tomlin discussed the reps between the
three guys and how that can be a challenge and labs.
He did not seem very overly concerned about that. Do
(21:03):
you think that's more just you know, coach speak saying, Oh, yeah,
it's not gonna be a problem. We're gonna be able
to distribute these reps easily amongst these three guys. I
find that hard to believe, though it's gonna be hard
to get three guys the amount of reps they need
if it's a legitimate three way battle for a starting job. Well.
The other thing though, that um Mike Tomlin talked about,
(21:23):
and I think it was a little bit of a
problem when Bill Coward had to do it, uh, was
you know, you don't want anybody coming out of this
training camp preseason with a bad arm, sore arm, tired arm,
any of that kind of stuff. Now we're very familiar
with you know, recent handling of the situation because you
(21:48):
know Ben Roethlisberger, UM, you know, as he got into
his thirties, his routine was in training camp, one day
a full practice, one day of a limited work you know,
individuals seven on seven and that stuff. But then he
wouldn't participate in team and then one day off. So
(22:11):
now I'm not saying that, you know, Mitch Drobiski and
or Mason Rudolph need to be treated to that level. Uh.
Certainly not because of their pedigree or their success in
this league, and certainly not because of their age. But
there is gonna be some management of the workload for
those guys because you know, you you just you don't
(22:34):
want to um, you know, beat their arms into the ground.
I mean, it's not like they're out of shape. You
don't want you know, a guided develop tendonitis or any
of those kinds of overuse uh injuries during training camp
and certainly offer preseason games. You want these guys to
be able to play in those UM according to the plan,
(22:57):
because that's really when you're gonna be able to see
how they handle things that are not in a even
though it's a preseason game, it's still not as controlled
an environment as a practice. You know, you're not gonna
get hit. So UM, I think that they, you know,
(23:18):
because of the Bend situation that they the Steelers Mike
Tomlin have been managing now for the previous i would say,
seven eight years. Um, they have something of a track
record or a plan that they've been able to see
in place, and they'll use that. You know, they they'll
(23:39):
tweak at a misogynt a little bit, but I think
that that it will also be some form of that
will be in use here with this cock quarterback competition
and so um. And the other thing you know want
is you don't want the head coach on the first
day going, oh my god, Yeah, I'm really worried about
how we're gonna handle these quarterback because I have no
(24:01):
idea how we're gonna do this and be able to
pick a starting quarterback. You just don't want to put
that out there and I'm lost right now. Yeah, really,
I'm really nervous about this. I don't know about you guys.
Um so um, you know you you you kind of
want the head coach too, as Mike Tomlins says himself,
(24:23):
provide the team with what it needs at any particular time.
And I think that on the first day of camp,
you want to be upbeat and excited, especially when you
don't have any bad injury news and you have a situation.
Whereas you mentioned earlier, everybody showed up prepared for the
run test, passed with flying colors. Okay, now let's go well.
(24:44):
The Steelers current third string quarterback and first round draft
pick and number twenty overall, Kenny Pickett, spoke to the
media in a scrum as he was moving into the
dorms yesterday and as a special treat to you guys,
I have that audio for you and let's listen to
it right now. Pretty And they said it's bad spot.
Step into the flip steps of the legend. Didn't do
that any It's a bad spot. I don't think. I don't. Yeah,
(25:07):
I don't get the bad spot, and I don't. I
think it's a great spot to be m um. I
think I'm on a great team, got great guys around me,
so I'm excited to the year. What's your objective to objective? Um,
you just get better and playing. I mean I gotta, um,
you know, get some more reps than in the new offense,
new system, get more comfortable and just compete. Really, how
much work you get in the last six weeks and
where where would you do a lot? Yeah? I was
(25:28):
back in New Jersey, um with the same guys I
trained with the draft and really just getting ready to
prepare my body mentally physically to to get ready for
for lawsuits in the first rookie year. So I'm excited
and ready to go. Can't you want your comfort level
with the offense confident office? Yeah, it's getting up there.
I mean I spent a lot of time that we
had off studying and preparing and getting ready for this
moment in this camp. So. Um, but it's a little
(25:49):
different obviously when you go play. So I just want
to get the reps under under my belt, and I
think every day, just like in the spring, I'll get
better and better and feel more comfortable. Most looking forward
to hear a camp off off the field, I think
you just spending time with the guys, because I mean
it's differently in college, you know, in the spring. You
kind of hang out a lot of guys in college
and here everyone kind of goes a separate ways and
goes home, but you have no choice but to hang
out with the guys here. So it's it's tight quarters.
(26:11):
And uh, I'm excited getting to know these guys a
little bit better about the fans as well, and just
how they show up here in Yeah, I heard, I
heard they show up in strong numbers, and you know
that's that's awesome every day to have their energy and
their support, and I know that would definitely give everyone
a boost to go out there in practice. And so
hard have you been told about what to expect out of? Um?
(26:33):
I mean just taking the day at the time. Really,
I think it's it's a legendary place that a lot
of legends and grades have come through here, and it's
pretty incredible. So now I walked the same path that
they did, and um, you know, we're all chasing greenness together.
So I'm excited to be here. Your hair, what happens
Probably the I cut a little bit, but yeah, I'm crazy.
Kenny Pat talked about working out with you in New Jersey.
(26:54):
What's up season? Was that? Like? How did that come about.
His girlfriend lives about fifteen minutes from where I'm front,
so when he was in town, I was like, we
definitely get together. We're trained. Um, so that was awesome,
and I think, you know, a couple of summers down
the road and I we'll be able to U turn
it out together. Jersey and trying a little bit with
Chris Oh yeah, well yeah, and then the connects you
(27:15):
with like a bathroom and then yeah, we're we're in
a little bit of a small room. So yeah, Kenny
does legit too great two room a second ago. Any
of the particular resonate with dud think about two or
three particular. I think Jerome bettis for sure. I mean
that was a game. He's a Notre Dame guy. My
dad was a Notre Dame fan, so um, I think
him obviously then Um got all the championships the other
(27:36):
team before before very could come along. So I think.
I mean, there's a ton of guys, but those are
the first things they come up on the head with quarterbacks.
You guys are all friendly. Do you know you're after
the same job? How does that work? And do you
rely on one another? Is there a yeah? I mean
it's just you're you're a pro about it, and we're
all we're all friends and we're all competing. The best
man's gonna play so at the end of the day,
(27:57):
so we're all out there just competing, having fun and
playing together. In many and O T s, did you
feel like the competition is wide open and you feel
like it's continuing now that you're here? Um, I mean
they landed out for you and in the media, coach
later out just the way he laid out to us.
There was a one, two or three, unit four and
that's kind of how it went into camp and in
like mini camp and O T A. So we'll see
how it goes when camp opens. That's on you. We
(28:18):
saw a lot of bed you working, working on your
your game, your worth, working your pass and people tun
the movie game. And now what do you feel like
the best thing that you achieved in that monthly's talking? Um,
I mean it's it's it's four weeks. It's really just
consistency and just and kind of just shopening my skills
getting ready to go here. So um, throwing a lot
of the concepts that you know, we practice. So I
think that's a huge that's a huge plus having having
(28:40):
some knowledge of the offense and be able to go
practice those routes and those schemes and um, the different
kind of footwork that we have. So I think that
was a huge plus for me within younger teammates that
you now have that you've got to get a little
bit closed with during that time. Um, No, everyone kind
of went their separate ways. Everyone goes home or wherever
they're training at. I was able to talk to Pat
and obviously chating with him for a couple of days,
and that was awesome. Anybody got any camps and he
was looking forward to any show. Greta, I'm curious. I
(29:03):
got anything in to work? Um, nothing yet. I can
get back to you on that though. We definitely have
some words today. Are you the old guy? Are you
a group shot? Um? Definitely hope to be a group guy.
I'll talk to the other guys. Let's see what they're feeling. Kenny,
what do you have to do to win this job?
I don't care. UM, I mean, just be to be
consistent and playing my game every day. I'm just focused
on getting better. I honestly, if that's a long ways away, UM,
(29:26):
come from where I was in spraying and just kind
of learning the offense and and things like that. So
I just want to compete and get better every day.
I know some guys have to bring certain stuff they
get signed, especially the young ones, that you have to
bring anything in particular for your group or for the offense.
I did not, not yet, No one, No one let
me know any about anything. So hopefully I'm good. If
you got any indication to do your repstory rotation would
(29:47):
be any different here than it wasn't. No, not, we
haven't had any meetings sense, so no, not yet have
a young offensive line, but a lot of guys who've
been here going through it a little bit. What should
help them? What's your feel for guys? Yeah, I mean
I think they're all right guys. They all work hard
every day, they're all prosh So I'm excited cey all
compete and we'll get better the other every day. That's
Dealers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, speaking to the media as
(30:09):
he moved into his dorms laps. Did you have to
bring anything in particular to pursue to ask you to bring,
like a comfy lazy boy or a TV for you
guys now, I'll listen to pursue. He might have told
you that, but it just went in one ear. If
if anything, I'm I'm I'm the more veteran presence, so
I would tell him what to bring. Um. But what
(30:30):
I did don't bring is earplugs because as my next
door neighbor might pursued his first sports report on the
DV morning show every day we go on the where
at nine. Yeah, and UM, you know, I love Mike.
You know, I have a lot of respect for what
he does, and UM, I like him personally, but he
(30:51):
is way over caffeinated at that time of the day.
So you know, the soundproofing uh in studios that they
have is another thing that's lacking in these uh concrete
block rooms that we're in. So, um, I can pretty
much understand everything he's saying, UM as he's delivering his
(31:13):
report from his room. So yeah, that was the that
was the thing that I brought. It was for me,
though I'm not sharing them because if I give him
my ear plugs and I won't have any. Let me
just say this real quick about that's uh that sound
we just started. Kudos Kudos to Kenny Pickett for how
he handled all of that stuff. Um, it's it's gonna
(31:35):
be a change for him, probably in the sense that,
you know, he's going to do much more media than
he did at PIT. And I'm not disparaging Pit or
how they handled that that part of their program. I'm
just saying that in the NFL, it right. In reality, Um,
the Steelers are number one in Pittsburgh, and so that
(31:58):
the attention uh demands on the quarterback or a number
one pick who's trying to become the starting quarterback is huge.
So I mean, just as I said, good job by
him the first day, but just as he talked about
in terms of his um performance, how he wants to
try to win the job or whatever. It's always you know, tomorrow, tomorrow,
(32:22):
one one in a row. Anybody can do one in
a row. You're can have one good practice, you can
do one good media briefing, but then tomorrow, because you
gotta do it tomorrow, then the day after that, the
day after that. So putting these things together is going
to be critical for his development as a player, uh,
among his his standing among his teammates, and then certainly, uh,
(32:47):
he's gonna have to handle, um, you know, the media
stuff because you don't. You don't want to trip over
your tongue, uh, this early in the process, because then
that's just something that that you have to deal with
in the future, the near future, the immediate future, as
well as your other teammates. And you do not want
(33:07):
to have to have be in a situation where you're
in the locker room with say Cam Hayward and something
that you said was stupid um that he has to
answer questions for now, because that's not what you want.
That's not the kind of relationship you want to develop
with a guy who's that big. No, no, no, I
(33:30):
don't want to do that best for business, just to
avoid any conflict with that man whatsoever. I'm gonna come
back wrap things up here on the Training Camp Report
with our final segments and other offensive stuff that I
want to get to, and we're also going to hear
from Naji Harris. That's all on the way next on
the Training Camp Report right here on SNR hec's No
(33:53):
Training Camper Report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio Labs. In the previous segment, we heard
from Kenny Pickett. We're about to hear from Nagy Harris
here in just a few moments before we get to him, though.
You know, you talked about how great Kenny was with
the media and how he showed his maturity for such
a young man in this league, and great start for
(34:16):
him as far as dealing with that kind of situation.
Naji is a natural with the media though. I mean,
this guy exudes charisma and he has you know, you
need to have more than just on the field performance
to become a superstar in this league, and he's definitely
got the off field personality to make himself a household name,
(34:36):
not just in Pittsburgh but across the country. Um. Yeah,
one of the things that way he's Mike Tomlin described
Nagy Harris, and it really kind of resonated with me,
and the more that I'm around him and seeing him
observing him, Uh, it's um it it really ringed true
to me. Mike Tomlin said. Nagy acts like he has
(34:58):
all the answers to the test, and he does. He does,
and but it's it's not in an obnoxious way. Um.
He's not one of those kind of guys where, um,
you get the feeling that he's talking at you, and
I think that that will really help him as he
you know, matures a little bit more as an NFL player,
(35:19):
And the Steelers are going to be looking for guys,
uh to lead this team to some degree. But you
mentioned all the differences you know at the top of
the show today. UM, And I specifically think that the
offense needs a leader. Um. You know, early on in
the seventies, Um, when Terry Bradshaw was maturing, that was
(35:41):
Franco Harris. And so there is some precedent in Steelers
history for a running back to be the man on
teams that won championships. And I think that Nagy Harris
has a lot of those characteristics and qualities to be
that kind of player on and off the field, no question.
And he talked about that very thing with his media
scrumat move in Day yesterday. So let's take a listen
to that. It's Nadi Harris right here on that SNR.
(36:03):
Why is now the time to stop up your leadership?
Because when I have a leadership on offense, so um,
excuse me, um, so for me to be that type
of guy that that came in last year and kind
of um, you know, Ben kind of told me about
me stepping into that row Um, it was important for
me to do it this year. You get some advice
from Camyard on that along the way through, Yeah, kem, yeah,
(36:26):
Cam always giving me advice. Um. Even when I walked
in there, you know, Um he would he would say
for me to come out here and talk to you
guys too. So you know, I'm slowly stepping into that
row embracing it. It's not you heard about training camp
here for to oh. I heard that. I heard that
we'd be in these dorms. You know, I don't think
(36:47):
they're good too. I don't think they're the nicest ones.
But um, I heard that there's a lot of people
here who shows up, a lot of support from the fans.
Um I heard Dad it's a good environment though for
for football. And you know we're strictly gonna be learning
about football. Um, we're gonna be you know, with each
other for a good amount of time. Um. So there's
a lot of new guys on the team. We're gonna
be binding with them. So I heard good things as
(37:10):
in the dorm rooms, you know, as you saw here
about like Thomas interviewing that podcast that he was on,
he seemed like really motivated about what he said you did.
How much did that? Are? What things that he said?
They really channeled with you and got you juiced up
to you know, come back for a second year and
keep doing what you're doing. He told me, I'm going
to pivot. Yeah. Yeah, Um, thank I forgot to be
honest with you. What he what it was even said
(37:31):
that and just talking about leadership and what he expects
out of his out of his players. Um, and I
think you kind of resonated. You seem to resonate with
his message. Oh yeah, because yeah, so yeah, because him
and Cam you know, they brought me in there a lot,
uh and talked about the leadership bro and they said
they didn't you know later in the season they didn't
want me to They brought me and say what they
didn't want me to to be that type of guy
yet because they just want me to get my feet
(37:52):
wet um and just work slowly, work into it. But
they told me, you know, they're gonna be a time
where you need to to be that guy. So the
rooms here, who are your roommates? How did you pick up?
I don't I don't actually have them. How you get
your own room? You got cut? I know some guys
like Nina. He said, he has four guys. Kenny has
(38:13):
I think room himself. My room got cut. Yeah, they
didn't reassign the new guy to you. No, I try
to get one, but they didn't. They didn't want to.
I guessaid, I got my own room. I don't control that.
I wanted rookie. You have to take him after, like,
you know, help them, um, learn the plays and stuff.
I want to running back and learn the plays. Help
(38:33):
them along the way with to expect and stuff like
that in camp. What they wanted to what they want
to see from you, the coaches with the team, you
want to see you. Um, So I don't have that thought.
Best leaders lead? Are you? Example? Do you have? I
mean there's all type of leaders. You know. There's there's
leaders who lead from the back. Um. There's leaders who
lead in the front, obviously the vocal ones like Cam,
(38:55):
you know, and there's leaders who lead by example. Um.
You know, I think I'm the guy who leads by example.
I try to be that type of person. But you know,
like I said, I gotta be the one who leads
by speaking to um. But you know, there's all types
of leaders. It's really just who's the team feel more
comfortable with? Uh with with setting who can set the
best example of what something? That what the standard is?
(39:15):
I guess so, Um, for me, that's just playing by
the standard. That's that's it for me. You embrace, yes,
I embrace it. Stand the standard. My standard still a standard. Well,
it's still a standard, obviously. It's it's hard nose football.
You know. There's uh, you know, just grit like these
(39:35):
dorm rooms we got um, um, you know, stuff like that.
Just the traditional style of the Stiller's minds is along
those lines too. But you know, more I'm more motivated
in the way, um, I want to achieve more. Um,
you know, minds is more of a hunger and drive
for me. So we've got some things that resemble a
(39:56):
lot of them, knows. You know, there's a lot of
attention being that there's another I could help you out
in terms workload. But because it have to be about
a second back, or could it be about you know,
the little wade receivers getting involved more often, the tight
ends getting involved more often, more quick strike drives. Potentially,
I think it should be a second back, not the
(40:16):
fact that um, it's just being a little smart you
know smart. Uh there's some place where if you watch
my film, I'll get somewhat tired and then you know
that was aren't my best place. Um. But I mean
we have a good understanding of what to to prepare for,
um sorry, well to prepare for this year. So uh,
you know there was a new back um, and we're
just trying to find you know, somebody, somebody else in
(40:37):
the row she went for the last time you lived
in during this style like freshman traditional. I know I
ain't stepped in it yet. I ain't walk in my
room yet. I don't want to, but you know I
have to be with so many new new pieces, with
(40:58):
all the new pieces the last couple of years off
the top, valuable can just set it just to throw
your guys together for a couple of weeks. Series you
tell all the new music like oh yeah, so I
mean yeah, yeah, So we got a lot of new
guys obviously, Um, we got Pickens, we got George Pickins,
Keny Bigger, you know all of them, Austin, you know,
even Camp's brother. We've got a lot of people right now, um,
A lot of guys who needs to step into play roles.
(41:18):
We got people coming up from last year. You know,
um Pat Pat having a good year last year and
you're seeing what he could do. Um, we've got more
experience on the line. Um, you know Deonte and Chase.
You know, we've got guys who who's already shown that
they could play. So what we need to do is
we need to find, like, you know, what, what is
something that we're all good at? And we need to
find a way to to give everybody the ball and
have everybody the playmakers working space. What is some ways
(41:40):
we can like, you know, give the playmakers the ball? Um,
what is something we can distribute the ball where everybody
can eat and wear like defensive you know they're not
gonna know what to prepare for. Um. We need to
have an explosive offense. We need to people who can
take off to take the top off, Um, you know,
to keep the safeties that babe, we need. So this time,
right now is is gonna be really important for us
to find our identity. We get what office look like
(42:00):
and see what role was that these young guys are
gonna play for us. Um, you know I'm gonna do
everything I can to to help these guys out, especially Pickings. Um,
I think he's gonna be a really good guy for US. Um,
you know, just his size and his head athleticism. I
think create a lot of Mitch matches. In fact, Austin
too in a slot. I feel like, you know, he'd
create a lot of Mitch matches to the speed is
is fast. That's Nagy Harris speaking to the media on
(42:23):
moving day yesterday. Laps his answer that he gave about
not having a roommate, but how he wanted a rookie
roommate to help teach him the playbook, teach him what
he needs to do as a running back in this offense.
That answer right there illustrated the kind of leader that
he hopes to be and is already becoming on this team,
even though it's just the second year. Yeah, and you know,
as I said, I really think that, uh, this guy,
(42:46):
you know there was the Steelers took some heat last
year for you know, going against the analytics and spending
the first round. Um, but I think it's more you
know about who than the what. And you know, Nagy
Harris is a is a as a is as a
player and a person a number one pick and one
(43:09):
thing that I was thinking, you know, listening to that
yesterday and then today now again. UM, you know, comparing
statements in college to Alabama, especially for the football players,
it's ridiculous. Um. And you know, people who under here
this should understand that it's not so much, uh necessarily
(43:31):
a criticism of St. PINNs in college, but just an
acknowledgement of the reality when you're the number one football
team in the country. Um, the amenities well, you know,
waterfalls in the locker room and you know all that stuff,
sleeping pods and so uh. You know, I just wanted
to clarify that a little bit. But I definitely think
(43:52):
that you know, Nagy Harris is a guy who is
a corner stone or a building block, let's say, for
the foundation of this uh new Steelers team moving forward.
And I think he's gonna be up to the challenge
again as a guy both on the field, um, and
in the locker room. And let me just say this
one last thing about it real quick. As a rookie
(44:15):
last year in his UM in his off season, you know,
O T A s and and minicamp at that time,
he was told to go home. You know, You're go
home now, You're here too much. You know. So this
is the kind of work ethic and approach that this
guy has, and I think that that's also something that
(44:36):
resonates with his teammates. Some notes of interest for Yen's
out there and Steelers Nation. To wrap things up here
on day one of the training camp report. First practice
in pads is August one. That's on Monday. They will
be practicing today. It is open to the public, but
it's just gonna be in helmets. If you really want
to see some guys knock each other out, go on
August one. That's the first day of pads. The photo
(44:56):
op with Steelers Legends is back for fans at Latrobe.
Any day they practice, former Steeler grads will be there.
You can get your photo taken with them. Chat up.
But chat them up. I'm sure they might sign something
for you as well. Labs you can get your picture
taken with Labs too, Right, you're part of that as
part of the legends. No, I don't. I don't want
to kill the kill the vibe. Let me just you said,
you get some pictures and chat them up. On July
(45:19):
is Chris Hope Day, and he was also gonna be
there playing Madden against John Beast of the Pittsburgh Nights
video team from noon to twelve thirty is part of
his appearance. So if you're a video, a maddened fan
or anything, uh, there's that to look forward to as well.
And the big one this Saturday, class of the Steelers
(45:41):
Hall of Honor is announced. Labs, you're on that committee.
Any sneak peak you can give us or we have
to wait till Saturday. You have to wait. Come on,
all right, when I turned the microphone off, there you'll
tell me the class. Right. Well, what I will tell
you is this. You didn't make the cut. There's always
it was close. He's Bob Labriola. I'm Tom Offerman. Thanks
(46:03):
for giving us a listen. On day one of the
Training Camp report, wolf and Starks up next making their
triumphant return to the SNR airwaves. So we will hand
things off to Craig Wolfley and Max Starks and Bob
Labriola and myself, Tom Offerman. Will be back again tomorrow
at nine am for the Training Camp Report right here
on SNR
Man, we're really excited to be here. It's awesome to
get started. And so now we take off. Hec's the
training camp report what Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio. The Steelers have their first practice at St.
Vincent College for training camp since kicking off, and oh,
(00:27):
I'd say a little under five hours from now, labs,
how great is it to be back up there at St. Vincent.
Everybody seems to have that kind of sentiment that it
is just like that first day at a new high
school where everything is fresh and exciting and new. You
feel the same way. You have to feel the same way. Well,
I've been to be honest with you, when when the
(00:48):
pandemic hid in uh and then you saw how the
NFL reacted to it, especially um with some of the
you know, restrictions that the league in the Union we're
putting on team you know that like to go away,
you know, and a lot of the things that the
same things that make Saint Vincent College so charming and
such a nice place for a training camp setting, you know,
(01:12):
for all of the reasons that we're going to get
into during this hour. Um. Also where some of the
things that I thought that might preclude the Steelers from
ever coming back here. You know, the the dormitories, um,
smaller rooms, uh, sharing bathrooms, the cafeteria it's cozy, kind
(01:33):
of small. Um. The meeting rooms. I mean again, this
is a college campus, so you know, it's not like
being in a major hotel chain. Uh, you know, meeting
rooms situations, which is something like the cowboys have when
they go to Thousand Oaks, California. So a lot of
(01:53):
these things, you know, the intimacy, closeness. You know, you're
you're you're spending a lot of time with people in
close proximity. I thought, well, this that's gonna this pandemic
is gonna end that. But you know it's it's uh,
it didn't. You know. It was a couple of years
(02:13):
having camp in Pittsburgh. Now we're back in Latrobe and
um it's you know driving up here, um, thirties third,
it's still the same. Didn't bring a tear to your
eye when you were driving up thirty? Um, well what
(02:35):
brought tier to what? What brought a tear to my
eye was you know the first time I woke up
in my room the Steelers Nation radio sweep by the
way is it's yes, UM, and you know you you
pick open your one eye and you're staring at a
painted cement block wall. And then that's when I know
(02:57):
this is not uh, this is not UM on a
five star hotel, but it does you know, it's it's
training camp and um. You know Mike Tomlin was saying
in his UH camp opening pressor you know, if you're
if you have been a part of a football team
since you were a kid, which all of these guys
(03:20):
have been, because they're not playing at this level, if
they haven't been playing football most of or if not all,
of their UM lives, this means something to you. This
this is you know, you learned how to um go
away to camp, high school, maybe middle school, depending upon
you know what state they grew up in, and you
(03:41):
know Texas, if you know that they started playing organized
football attle, those seems like right out of the crib.
So UM. You know, Mike Tomlin made the reference yesterday
of UM putting your mouthpiece in boiling water, you know what,
which is what kids too when they get you know,
(04:01):
you know, you kind of put it in the boiling
water to melt it. You mold it to your teeth. Um,
And you know, he was talking about remembering that, and
I'm sure just about everybody you know in in Rooney Hall,
the Player's dorm, they've they've experienced that, and so um,
you know, it's I'm sure that the emotion won't emotion
(04:24):
might be a bad word. The anticipation is much higher,
you know, for those kinds of guys than for old
people like me. Um, but it's still, you know, it's
it's good to be back. Let me say that it
will get old, I'm sure, probably very soon, but it's
good to be back. Well, we're definitely gonna get into
(04:46):
a lot of the things that Tomlin had to say
in his press conference a little later on in this segment.
Later on in the show, we'll hear from Kenny Pickett
and Nagi Harris on their little media scrumbs when they
moved into the dorms at St. Vincent. But you know,
back to something that you just said there and something
that you wrote about in your piece at Steelers dot Com,
which if you haven't ready yet, folks, I mean, what
are you waiting for? Just phenomenal work from Labs as
(05:06):
always uh titled bring Back Being Back at SVC has value.
And you talked about how there's so much difference with
this Pittsburgh Steelers team from last year to this year.
Different quarterback, different look at the offense, different decordinator, different assistance,
different general manager. It's got to feel good for a
guy like Tomlin to have something that he's familiar with
going into this, and on top of that, it's going
(05:28):
to help, you know, with the team building aspect for
all these different pieces, right. And you know, I think
that Mike Tomlin definitely believes that this is the kind
of setting that can help a team in the situation
in which the Steelers find themselves. You know, at this
particular time in the calendar, you know, you have a
(05:50):
lot of those differences. Um, and it's not a veteran
team anymore. It's not a veteran team in terms of
the most important position on the team anymore. And um,
you know there's a lot of opportunity here in downtime,
as he explained, where you can um work on things
(06:12):
or develop things. You know, he refers to his team building. Uh.
And you know Mike Tomlin made the point that you know,
it's not necessarily something that you can quantify, but you uh,
you acknowledge it because it exists. And whether I'm not
going to sit here and claim that, you know, being
(06:34):
up here for three plus weeks or whatever it is,
usually I count the days. But that's too depressing. This
earlier that's cinder block while that you were talking about. No,
that's that's you do that in prison. This is prison.
But um, you know, for right now, it uh, it's
(06:55):
it's exciting, and I'm sure that there's a lot of
energy I imagine even in you know, benedicts were uh,
the staff and a lot of you know, support personnel
from the Steelers stay even in in this in this dormitory,
there's a lot of excitement. And again it gets old,
(07:16):
it gets pouring quickly, living in the in the college
dorm um. But you know, again it's it's part of
the process. And I'm not saying that it's going to
translate into victories, but it's it's a help to build
a foundation, you know, for what's gonna come. Starting September eleven.
One piece of news that I wanted to touch on
(07:37):
right out of the gate here was the news of
uh Trey Edmonds being cut yesterday on moving day and
Jeremy McNichols being signed to the Steelers roster. Tomlin actually
talked about that. He was asking his press conference about
how McNichols will fit into the running back makes He said,
we'll see. He's a guy that has an NFL resume.
We've been in some stadiums with him in the past.
We know what he's capable. He and others will be
(07:59):
given an opportunity to kind of define their roles and
divide the labor up as we get into it. But
we're happy that he's with us. I I don't view
this as just a simple swapping of bodies ahead of camp.
I do think that there's some pedigree in McNichols that
Edmunds just didn't really have at the NFL level. Got
a decent amount of carries with Tennessee the past two
seasons as he was there. I think he had over
two hundred yards two years ago, a little bit over
(08:20):
a hundred last year. So I think it's more than
just let's shuffle some deck chairs around. I think that
they liked something in McNichols. They want to give him
a shot and see if he can work his way
into that division of labor. As Tom and put it. Yeah,
and you know, especially at the running back position. I mean,
Naja Harris is the guy. Whether he gets the five
touches that you know he talked about UM when he
(08:43):
checked in or not, he's the guy. And you know,
the Steelers have had two are somewhat recent examples of
you know, adding a veteran running back to a group
that had UM one young budding star almost called it
(09:06):
almost a STU superstar. But and let's not get ahead
of bump the brakes a bit. You know, the one
that worked out spectacularly was the Angelo Williams okay, and
the one that flamed out spectacularly was La Garrett Blunt. Now,
what those two UM instances I believe taught Mike Tomlin
(09:27):
and the team in graphic in a graphic way, was that,
you know, the ability of the player is part of it,
but his willingness to understand and accept his spot on
the team is critical. So you know, what happened with
La Garrett Blunt. Um, as as as it was explained
(09:51):
to me, was that, you know, levy On Bell was
really in the infancy of his career when the Steelers
added Lagarrett Blunt, and you Blunt had some pedigree certainly
as a UM, a college player and in the NFL
to that point, he also had some problems. But you know,
he had some pedigree, and and it was explained to
(10:13):
me that he accepted the role without really understanding how good,
how and how quickly good levy On Bell was going
to become. And so once the season began, even in
you know, in the in the early stages of it,
(10:34):
you know, Blunt wasn't getting the touch that touches or
the playing time that he thought that he was going
to get. Because when he looked at the situation from
the beginning as the young guy, he's he really isn't
anything in the league. Yet you know I should be
able to, you know, be splitting time with this guy. Well,
then levy On Bell starts developing into the kind of
(10:56):
dual threat that he was um and Blunt's playing time
he wasn't getting what he was he thought he was getting,
and he became disgruntled and it became a problem, and
you know, he quit on the team when that victory
over Tennessee that year in Tennessee. So that didn't work.
De Angelo Williams was the situation worked perfectly because he
(11:21):
was a veteran NFL player, I would say, close to
the twilight of his career, and this landing spot here
gave him an opportunity to kind of continue to be
an NFL player and live the NFL lifestyle without having
to be you know what he was in his first incarnation.
(11:41):
I believe it was with the Carolina Panthers, and it
worked out spectacularly well. I mean, de' angelo Williams has
some very good complimentary seasons here. Was very productive. He
was never a problem. Um, you know, he was he
was acquired taste in terms of from you know, the
(12:01):
kind of guy he was. But he wasn't a bad guy.
That's the biggest key, like you said, to understanding your
role and he did that. Yeah, and you know he
he told um a bunch of us, uh you know,
in Steelers media, the team media, right before camp his
first training camp. He you know, we were down in
(12:22):
that one area of the UPMC where any sports complex
as a studio and all that. Ind' angelo Williams was
just kind of walking through and he stopped in and
he pretty much said, hey, look, I hate training camp.
I'm not going to be pleasant. You know. He was
much more graphic and sulty than that. But you got
(12:42):
the point right away, uh, he said. So it's nothing personal.
You know, I don't want you to think I don't
like you or don't understand your job or anything. But
I hate training camp. I hate everything about it. So, UM,
don't judge me. And I'm paraphrasing, don't judge me how
how how much? Um you know how short I am
(13:07):
or brusque or you know, profane or any of that
kind of stuff when you asked me for things, and UM,
you know then he was he was honest. He was
truthful because you know he wasn't you know, he wasn't
a ray of sunshine every day up here. But you know,
when the Steelers needed him to fill in for Bell,
(13:30):
either because of injury or you know, giving him a
break or whatever, he was very productive and a team
guy and all that kind of stuff. So, UM, I
think that this signing, as you mentioned, to talk about,
a roundabout way to get to the point. Um, this
signing isn't exactly rearranging deck chairs, but I think the
(13:51):
Steelers also understand they have to be careful adding a veteran.
We saw it with Melvin Ingram at outside linebacker and
Alex high Smith. I don't think Ingram um understood, um
that the Spielers were not going to retard Alex Highsmith's
development um by playing, you know, a veteran towards the
(14:12):
end of his career, and Ingram you know, wanted to
play more. So, Um, they're adding this guy. Uh, it's
not just a camp body. He has a little bit
of history and pedigree as you mentioned in the NFL.
But I also don't think he's gonna come in here
based on his NFL career to this point and think
(14:33):
I'm gonna split Carrious with Nagy Harris, because it ain't
gonna happen. It's just not I know, fans like the
idea of a one to punch at running back, but
it's it's never gonna be that. You don't spend what
you spent in draft capital for a guy like Nagy Harris,
(14:54):
who who's turning out to be everything advertised and take
him out for alone. You know that that number whole site, right,
You just don't do that. So, uh, it'll be interesting
and we'll see how this guy fits in and works
out well. Unlike the Angelo Williams. I know the fans
are excited for practice to open up today one fifty
(15:16):
five at St. Vincent College, although we should mention it's
only helmets their first padded practice, which is like Toma
likes to say, when the liabullets start to fly and
you really start to figure things out. That's not until Monday,
August one. But a few guys that Tomlin mentioned won't
be participating at the start of training camp in his
injury report, touching on them quickly before we hit our
first break. Uh make a Fitzpatrick, Tyson Allue Allue, both
(15:40):
guys make a placed on the non football injury list,
fell off his bike apparently on vacation, which Labs that's
just a brutal injury. You don't look good when you
fall off of a bike and you can really hurt yourself.
It's it's an embarrassment and it's also a lot of pain.
So I feel for Maka there. Tyson Allu Allue has
been placed on the pup list. He, as Tomlin described,
has a need that's been swelling on him a little bit,
(16:01):
probably from overtraining. Nothing to worry about for either of
those guys. And then Larry Ogan job there are offseason
addition on the defensive line who had his contract voided
with the Chicago Bears because of his injury. Uh is
still trying to work his way back from that. Tomlin said,
it's it's more of a get to know him and
feel out the process of Larry Ogan job, so we
can judge how to you know, ramp up his workload
(16:24):
as we get closer to the season. So three guys
that are pretty key members of that defense on the
injury report to start this training camp. But I don't
think you should be worried about any three of them. Well,
the and and to me, theog and job news is actually, um,
good news because I didn't know whether you know, he
would be able to start on the active roster. Uh.
(16:45):
And and so he is and so that means to
at least that he passed the physical, which he did
not do with the Bears, and that's why they avoided
the contract. So there has been progress there. And um,
you know again, uh, he doesn't you know, he's he's
a veteran. They know what they're getting. Uh. Mike Tomlin
kind of outlined general idea of what his role is
(17:08):
going to be on the team, and uh, you know,
you you don't want to push him too hard, too fast,
and so instead of being on the pup list, he
will start on the active roster, which means he will
be eligible to practice every day. But as Mike Tomlin explained, um,
they're gonna be cautious with him as they learn, you know,
(17:30):
what he needs, how he works, those kinds of things,
because you don't want to push him too hard and
then he suffers a setback. When we come back, we're
gonna take a look at some more Tomlin now gets
from the press conference, including on the offensive side of
the ball, and talk about the quarterback depth chart that
hasn't changed at all since the spring sessions of workouts.
So we'll also hear from Kenny Pickett as well in
(17:52):
our next segment. That's all on the way on the
Training Camp Report. Right here on SNRDC is the Training
Camp Report with Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on Steelers
Nation Radio, working our way through some of Mike Tomlin's
comments in his presser after the run test at St.
(18:16):
Vincent yesterday. Were you out on the field watching the
run test? By the way, Labs, I meant to ask
you that was it exciting? Did you have a stopwatch. No,
I'll be honest with you. Um, No, I don't do that.
I've watched a little bit on my way down to
the uh the Rogers Center, which is the building where
the it's kind of the media headquarters now where all
(18:38):
the press conferences are and that kind of stuff. Um,
but you know, I try and stay far away from
that because I'm always afraid that they're going to say, Okay, now,
all you guys on the side, we're just watching this
line up on the goal line. Your turn. Yeah, that
ain't happening. The run test, it's kind of, you know,
more tradition than it actually serves a purpose, wouldn't you say, now,
(18:59):
just because back when it was a real thing, guys were,
you know, working on their jobs in the off season,
showing up to camp out of shape, using camp to
get into shape. If you fail that conditioning test in
these day and age, that's a lot of trouble from
the team's perspective as far as how you handled your
off season right. And it's a serious red flag and so, um,
(19:20):
you know, a good run test to me is um,
you know, that's the bare minimum. The Mendowes aligned, so
to speak. Uh, and they do. They do make it
look effortless. Let me say that, and I can imagine
that it is not because, um, you know, just walking
(19:40):
down the hill to the down the road and over
to the Rogers Center, you know, carrying the stuff that
I needed to have with me. Um, you know, you
broke a light sweat. Wasn't even that hot, so um,
you know, yeah, it's it's it's it's for those professional athletes,
and I am not one of those, Tomlin said. Everybody,
(20:01):
of course past their conditioning, So no worries there as
far as the Steelers are concerned. If anybody listens to
our Asked an Answered podcast, which I'm sure everybody out
there does, it's one of the most popular podcasts, not
just on the Steelers network but in the world, uh internationally.
We were, go ahead, where are you putting the Where
are you putting our awards? You have a little room
(20:21):
in your house. I do. They're in my attic right now.
We're getting that wing built. As you know, we're not
supposed to share that, so you shouldn't have said that
right now. But sorry, But you know, we love to
talk about the quarterback competition and I can't believe we
waited this long to really get into it. Tomlin had
some words about it. Um, you know, he talked about
how the depth chart is still the same as it
was in mini camp and O t a s where
(20:43):
Mitch Dubisky is gonna be the one, Mason is going
to be the two, and Kenny Pickett will be the three.
Uh starting today with the first official practice of training camp.
The one thing that I really uh took a lot
away from was how Tomlin discussed the reps between the
three guys and how that can be a challenge and labs.
He did not seem very overly concerned about that. Do
(21:03):
you think that's more just you know, coach speak saying, Oh, yeah,
it's not gonna be a problem. We're gonna be able
to distribute these reps easily amongst these three guys. I
find that hard to believe, though it's gonna be hard
to get three guys the amount of reps they need
if it's a legitimate three way battle for a starting job. Well.
The other thing though, that um Mike Tomlin talked about,
(21:23):
and I think it was a little bit of a
problem when Bill Coward had to do it, uh, was
you know, you don't want anybody coming out of this
training camp preseason with a bad arm, sore arm, tired arm,
any of that kind of stuff. Now we're very familiar
with you know, recent handling of the situation because you
(21:48):
know Ben Roethlisberger, UM, you know, as he got into
his thirties, his routine was in training camp, one day
a full practice, one day of a limited work you know,
individuals seven on seven and that stuff. But then he
wouldn't participate in team and then one day off. So
(22:11):
now I'm not saying that, you know, Mitch Drobiski and
or Mason Rudolph need to be treated to that level. Uh.
Certainly not because of their pedigree or their success in
this league, and certainly not because of their age. But
there is gonna be some management of the workload for
those guys because you know, you you just you don't
(22:34):
want to um, you know, beat their arms into the ground.
I mean, it's not like they're out of shape. You
don't want you know, a guided develop tendonitis or any
of those kinds of overuse uh injuries during training camp
and certainly offer preseason games. You want these guys to
be able to play in those UM according to the plan,
(22:57):
because that's really when you're gonna be able to see
how they handle things that are not in a even
though it's a preseason game, it's still not as controlled
an environment as a practice. You know, you're not gonna
get hit. So UM, I think that they, you know,
(23:18):
because of the Bend situation that they the Steelers Mike
Tomlin have been managing now for the previous i would say,
seven eight years. Um, they have something of a track
record or a plan that they've been able to see
in place, and they'll use that. You know, they they'll
(23:39):
tweak at a misogynt a little bit, but I think
that that it will also be some form of that
will be in use here with this cock quarterback competition
and so um. And the other thing you know want
is you don't want the head coach on the first
day going, oh my god, Yeah, I'm really worried about
how we're gonna handle these quarterback because I have no
(24:01):
idea how we're gonna do this and be able to
pick a starting quarterback. You just don't want to put
that out there and I'm lost right now. Yeah, really,
I'm really nervous about this. I don't know about you guys.
Um so um, you know you you you kind of
want the head coach too, as Mike Tomlins says himself,
(24:23):
provide the team with what it needs at any particular time.
And I think that on the first day of camp,
you want to be upbeat and excited, especially when you
don't have any bad injury news and you have a situation.
Whereas you mentioned earlier, everybody showed up prepared for the
run test, passed with flying colors. Okay, now let's go well.
(24:44):
The Steelers current third string quarterback and first round draft
pick and number twenty overall, Kenny Pickett, spoke to the
media in a scrum as he was moving into the
dorms yesterday and as a special treat to you guys,
I have that audio for you and let's listen to
it right now. Pretty And they said it's bad spot.
Step into the flip steps of the legend. Didn't do
that any It's a bad spot. I don't think. I don't. Yeah,
(25:07):
I don't get the bad spot, and I don't. I
think it's a great spot to be m um. I
think I'm on a great team, got great guys around me,
so I'm excited to the year. What's your objective to objective? Um,
you just get better and playing. I mean I gotta, um,
you know, get some more reps than in the new offense,
new system, get more comfortable and just compete. Really, how
much work you get in the last six weeks and
where where would you do a lot? Yeah? I was
(25:28):
back in New Jersey, um with the same guys I
trained with the draft and really just getting ready to
prepare my body mentally physically to to get ready for
for lawsuits in the first rookie year. So I'm excited
and ready to go. Can't you want your comfort level
with the offense confident office? Yeah, it's getting up there.
I mean I spent a lot of time that we
had off studying and preparing and getting ready for this
moment in this camp. So. Um, but it's a little
(25:49):
different obviously when you go play. So I just want
to get the reps under under my belt, and I
think every day, just like in the spring, I'll get
better and better and feel more comfortable. Most looking forward
to hear a camp off off the field, I think
you just spending time with the guys, because I mean
it's differently in college, you know, in the spring. You
kind of hang out a lot of guys in college
and here everyone kind of goes a separate ways and
goes home, but you have no choice but to hang
out with the guys here. So it's it's tight quarters.
(26:11):
And uh, I'm excited getting to know these guys a
little bit better about the fans as well, and just
how they show up here in Yeah, I heard, I
heard they show up in strong numbers, and you know
that's that's awesome every day to have their energy and
their support, and I know that would definitely give everyone
a boost to go out there in practice. And so
hard have you been told about what to expect out of? Um?
(26:33):
I mean just taking the day at the time. Really,
I think it's it's a legendary place that a lot
of legends and grades have come through here, and it's
pretty incredible. So now I walked the same path that
they did, and um, you know, we're all chasing greenness together.
So I'm excited to be here. Your hair, what happens
Probably the I cut a little bit, but yeah, I'm crazy.
Kenny Pat talked about working out with you in New Jersey.
(26:54):
What's up season? Was that? Like? How did that come about.
His girlfriend lives about fifteen minutes from where I'm front,
so when he was in town, I was like, we
definitely get together. We're trained. Um, so that was awesome,
and I think, you know, a couple of summers down
the road and I we'll be able to U turn
it out together. Jersey and trying a little bit with
Chris Oh yeah, well yeah, and then the connects you
(27:15):
with like a bathroom and then yeah, we're we're in
a little bit of a small room. So yeah, Kenny
does legit too great two room a second ago. Any
of the particular resonate with dud think about two or
three particular. I think Jerome bettis for sure. I mean
that was a game. He's a Notre Dame guy. My
dad was a Notre Dame fan, so um, I think
him obviously then Um got all the championships the other
(27:36):
team before before very could come along. So I think.
I mean, there's a ton of guys, but those are
the first things they come up on the head with quarterbacks.
You guys are all friendly. Do you know you're after
the same job? How does that work? And do you
rely on one another? Is there a yeah? I mean
it's just you're you're a pro about it, and we're
all we're all friends and we're all competing. The best
man's gonna play so at the end of the day,
(27:57):
so we're all out there just competing, having fun and
playing together. In many and O T s, did you
feel like the competition is wide open and you feel
like it's continuing now that you're here? Um, I mean
they landed out for you and in the media, coach
later out just the way he laid out to us.
There was a one, two or three, unit four and
that's kind of how it went into camp and in
like mini camp and O T A. So we'll see
how it goes when camp opens. That's on you. We
(28:18):
saw a lot of bed you working, working on your
your game, your worth, working your pass and people tun
the movie game. And now what do you feel like
the best thing that you achieved in that monthly's talking? Um,
I mean it's it's it's four weeks. It's really just
consistency and just and kind of just shopening my skills
getting ready to go here. So um, throwing a lot
of the concepts that you know, we practice. So I
think that's a huge that's a huge plus having having
(28:40):
some knowledge of the offense and be able to go
practice those routes and those schemes and um, the different
kind of footwork that we have. So I think that
was a huge plus for me within younger teammates that
you now have that you've got to get a little
bit closed with during that time. Um, No, everyone kind
of went their separate ways. Everyone goes home or wherever
they're training at. I was able to talk to Pat
and obviously chating with him for a couple of days,
and that was awesome. Anybody got any camps and he
was looking forward to any show. Greta, I'm curious. I
(29:03):
got anything in to work? Um, nothing yet. I can
get back to you on that though. We definitely have
some words today. Are you the old guy? Are you
a group shot? Um? Definitely hope to be a group guy.
I'll talk to the other guys. Let's see what they're feeling. Kenny,
what do you have to do to win this job?
I don't care. UM, I mean, just be to be
consistent and playing my game every day. I'm just focused
on getting better. I honestly, if that's a long ways away, UM,
(29:26):
come from where I was in spraying and just kind
of learning the offense and and things like that. So
I just want to compete and get better every day.
I know some guys have to bring certain stuff they
get signed, especially the young ones, that you have to
bring anything in particular for your group or for the offense.
I did not, not yet, No one, No one let
me know any about anything. So hopefully I'm good. If
you got any indication to do your repstory rotation would
(29:47):
be any different here than it wasn't. No, not, we
haven't had any meetings sense, so no, not yet have
a young offensive line, but a lot of guys who've
been here going through it a little bit. What should
help them? What's your feel for guys? Yeah, I mean
I think they're all right guys. They all work hard
every day, they're all prosh So I'm excited cey all
compete and we'll get better the other every day. That's
Dealers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, speaking to the media as
(30:09):
he moved into his dorms laps. Did you have to
bring anything in particular to pursue to ask you to bring,
like a comfy lazy boy or a TV for you
guys now, I'll listen to pursue. He might have told
you that, but it just went in one ear. If
if anything, I'm I'm I'm the more veteran presence, so
I would tell him what to bring. Um. But what
(30:30):
I did don't bring is earplugs because as my next
door neighbor might pursued his first sports report on the
DV morning show every day we go on the where
at nine. Yeah, and UM, you know, I love Mike.
You know, I have a lot of respect for what
he does, and UM, I like him personally, but he
(30:51):
is way over caffeinated at that time of the day.
So you know, the soundproofing uh in studios that they
have is another thing that's lacking in these uh concrete
block rooms that we're in. So, um, I can pretty
much understand everything he's saying, UM as he's delivering his
(31:13):
report from his room. So yeah, that was the that
was the thing that I brought. It was for me,
though I'm not sharing them because if I give him
my ear plugs and I won't have any. Let me
just say this real quick about that's uh that sound
we just started. Kudos Kudos to Kenny Pickett for how
he handled all of that stuff. Um, it's it's gonna
(31:35):
be a change for him, probably in the sense that,
you know, he's going to do much more media than
he did at PIT. And I'm not disparaging Pit or
how they handled that that part of their program. I'm
just saying that in the NFL, it right. In reality, Um,
the Steelers are number one in Pittsburgh, and so that
(31:58):
the attention uh demands on the quarterback or a number
one pick who's trying to become the starting quarterback is huge.
So I mean, just as I said, good job by
him the first day, but just as he talked about
in terms of his um performance, how he wants to
try to win the job or whatever. It's always you know, tomorrow, tomorrow,
(32:22):
one one in a row. Anybody can do one in
a row. You're can have one good practice, you can
do one good media briefing, but then tomorrow, because you
gotta do it tomorrow, then the day after that, the
day after that. So putting these things together is going
to be critical for his development as a player, uh,
among his his standing among his teammates, and then certainly, uh,
(32:47):
he's gonna have to handle, um, you know, the media
stuff because you don't. You don't want to trip over
your tongue, uh, this early in the process, because then
that's just something that that you have to deal with
in the future, the near future, the immediate future, as
well as your other teammates. And you do not want
(33:07):
to have to have be in a situation where you're
in the locker room with say Cam Hayward and something
that you said was stupid um that he has to
answer questions for now, because that's not what you want.
That's not the kind of relationship you want to develop
with a guy who's that big. No, no, no, I
(33:30):
don't want to do that best for business, just to
avoid any conflict with that man whatsoever. I'm gonna come
back wrap things up here on the Training Camp Report
with our final segments and other offensive stuff that I
want to get to, and we're also going to hear
from Naji Harris. That's all on the way next on
the Training Camp Report right here on SNR hec's No
(33:53):
Training Camper Report. What Tom Opperman and Bob Labriola on
Steelers Nation Radio Labs. In the previous segment, we heard
from Kenny Pickett. We're about to hear from Nagy Harris
here in just a few moments before we get to him, though.
You know, you talked about how great Kenny was with
the media and how he showed his maturity for such
a young man in this league, and great start for
(34:16):
him as far as dealing with that kind of situation.
Naji is a natural with the media though. I mean,
this guy exudes charisma and he has you know, you
need to have more than just on the field performance
to become a superstar in this league, and he's definitely
got the off field personality to make himself a household name,
(34:36):
not just in Pittsburgh but across the country. Um. Yeah,
one of the things that way he's Mike Tomlin described
Nagy Harris, and it really kind of resonated with me,
and the more that I'm around him and seeing him
observing him, Uh, it's um it it really ringed true
to me. Mike Tomlin said. Nagy acts like he has
(34:58):
all the answers to the test, and he does. He does,
and but it's it's not in an obnoxious way. Um.
He's not one of those kind of guys where, um,
you get the feeling that he's talking at you, and
I think that that will really help him as he
you know, matures a little bit more as an NFL player,
(35:19):
And the Steelers are going to be looking for guys,
uh to lead this team to some degree. But you
mentioned all the differences you know at the top of
the show today. UM, And I specifically think that the
offense needs a leader. Um. You know, early on in
the seventies, Um, when Terry Bradshaw was maturing, that was
(35:41):
Franco Harris. And so there is some precedent in Steelers
history for a running back to be the man on
teams that won championships. And I think that Nagy Harris
has a lot of those characteristics and qualities to be
that kind of player on and off the field, no question.
And he talked about that very thing with his media
scrumat move in Day yesterday. So let's take a listen
to that. It's Nadi Harris right here on that SNR.
(36:03):
Why is now the time to stop up your leadership?
Because when I have a leadership on offense, so um,
excuse me, um, so for me to be that type
of guy that that came in last year and kind
of um, you know, Ben kind of told me about
me stepping into that row Um, it was important for
me to do it this year. You get some advice
from Camyard on that along the way through, Yeah, kem, yeah,
(36:26):
Cam always giving me advice. Um. Even when I walked
in there, you know, Um he would he would say
for me to come out here and talk to you
guys too. So you know, I'm slowly stepping into that
row embracing it. It's not you heard about training camp
here for to oh. I heard that. I heard that
we'd be in these dorms. You know, I don't think
(36:47):
they're good too. I don't think they're the nicest ones.
But um, I heard that there's a lot of people
here who shows up, a lot of support from the fans.
Um I heard Dad it's a good environment though for
for football. And you know we're strictly gonna be learning
about football. Um, we're gonna be you know, with each
other for a good amount of time. Um. So there's
a lot of new guys on the team. We're gonna
be binding with them. So I heard good things as
(37:10):
in the dorm rooms, you know, as you saw here
about like Thomas interviewing that podcast that he was on,
he seemed like really motivated about what he said you did.
How much did that? Are? What things that he said?
They really channeled with you and got you juiced up
to you know, come back for a second year and
keep doing what you're doing. He told me, I'm going
to pivot. Yeah. Yeah, Um, thank I forgot to be
honest with you. What he what it was even said
(37:31):
that and just talking about leadership and what he expects
out of his out of his players. Um, and I
think you kind of resonated. You seem to resonate with
his message. Oh yeah, because yeah, so yeah, because him
and Cam you know, they brought me in there a lot,
uh and talked about the leadership bro and they said
they didn't you know later in the season they didn't
want me to They brought me and say what they
didn't want me to to be that type of guy
yet because they just want me to get my feet
(37:52):
wet um and just work slowly, work into it. But
they told me, you know, they're gonna be a time
where you need to to be that guy. So the
rooms here, who are your roommates? How did you pick up?
I don't I don't actually have them. How you get
your own room? You got cut? I know some guys
like Nina. He said, he has four guys. Kenny has
(38:13):
I think room himself. My room got cut. Yeah, they
didn't reassign the new guy to you. No, I try
to get one, but they didn't. They didn't want to.
I guessaid, I got my own room. I don't control that.
I wanted rookie. You have to take him after, like,
you know, help them, um, learn the plays and stuff.
I want to running back and learn the plays. Help
(38:33):
them along the way with to expect and stuff like
that in camp. What they wanted to what they want
to see from you, the coaches with the team, you
want to see you. Um, So I don't have that thought.
Best leaders lead? Are you? Example? Do you have? I
mean there's all type of leaders. You know. There's there's
leaders who lead from the back. Um. There's leaders who
lead in the front, obviously the vocal ones like Cam,
(38:55):
you know, and there's leaders who lead by example. Um.
You know, I think I'm the guy who leads by example.
I try to be that type of person. But you know,
like I said, I gotta be the one who leads
by speaking to um. But you know, there's all types
of leaders. It's really just who's the team feel more
comfortable with? Uh with with setting who can set the
best example of what something? That what the standard is?
(39:15):
I guess so, Um, for me, that's just playing by
the standard. That's that's it for me. You embrace, yes,
I embrace it. Stand the standard. My standard still a standard. Well,
it's still a standard, obviously. It's it's hard nose football.
You know. There's uh, you know, just grit like these
(39:35):
dorm rooms we got um, um, you know, stuff like that.
Just the traditional style of the Stiller's minds is along
those lines too. But you know, more I'm more motivated
in the way, um, I want to achieve more. Um,
you know, minds is more of a hunger and drive
for me. So we've got some things that resemble a
(39:56):
lot of them, knows. You know, there's a lot of
attention being that there's another I could help you out
in terms workload. But because it have to be about
a second back, or could it be about you know,
the little wade receivers getting involved more often, the tight
ends getting involved more often, more quick strike drives. Potentially,
I think it should be a second back, not the
(40:16):
fact that um, it's just being a little smart you
know smart. Uh there's some place where if you watch
my film, I'll get somewhat tired and then you know
that was aren't my best place. Um. But I mean
we have a good understanding of what to to prepare for,
um sorry, well to prepare for this year. So uh,
you know there was a new back um, and we're
just trying to find you know, somebody, somebody else in
(40:37):
the row she went for the last time you lived
in during this style like freshman traditional. I know I
ain't stepped in it yet. I ain't walk in my
room yet. I don't want to, but you know I
have to be with so many new new pieces, with
(40:58):
all the new pieces the last couple of years off
the top, valuable can just set it just to throw
your guys together for a couple of weeks. Series you
tell all the new music like oh yeah, so I
mean yeah, yeah, So we got a lot of new
guys obviously, Um, we got Pickens, we got George Pickins,
Keny Bigger, you know all of them, Austin, you know,
even Camp's brother. We've got a lot of people right now, um,
A lot of guys who needs to step into play roles.
(41:18):
We got people coming up from last year. You know,
um Pat Pat having a good year last year and
you're seeing what he could do. Um, we've got more
experience on the line. Um, you know Deonte and Chase.
You know, we've got guys who who's already shown that
they could play. So what we need to do is
we need to find, like, you know, what, what is
something that we're all good at? And we need to
find a way to to give everybody the ball and
have everybody the playmakers working space. What is some ways
(41:40):
we can like, you know, give the playmakers the ball? Um,
what is something we can distribute the ball where everybody
can eat and wear like defensive you know they're not
gonna know what to prepare for. Um. We need to
have an explosive offense. We need to people who can
take off to take the top off, Um, you know,
to keep the safeties that babe, we need. So this time,
right now is is gonna be really important for us
to find our identity. We get what office look like
(42:00):
and see what role was that these young guys are
gonna play for us. Um, you know I'm gonna do
everything I can to to help these guys out, especially Pickings. Um,
I think he's gonna be a really good guy for US. Um,
you know, just his size and his head athleticism. I
think create a lot of Mitch matches. In fact, Austin
too in a slot. I feel like, you know, he'd
create a lot of Mitch matches to the speed is
is fast. That's Nagy Harris speaking to the media on
(42:23):
moving day yesterday. Laps his answer that he gave about
not having a roommate, but how he wanted a rookie
roommate to help teach him the playbook, teach him what
he needs to do as a running back in this offense.
That answer right there illustrated the kind of leader that
he hopes to be and is already becoming on this team,
even though it's just the second year. Yeah, and you know,
as I said, I really think that, uh, this guy,
(42:46):
you know there was the Steelers took some heat last
year for you know, going against the analytics and spending
the first round. Um, but I think it's more you
know about who than the what. And you know, Nagy
Harris is a is a as a is as a
player and a person a number one pick and one
(43:09):
thing that I was thinking, you know, listening to that
yesterday and then today now again. UM, you know, comparing
statements in college to Alabama, especially for the football players,
it's ridiculous. Um. And you know, people who under here
this should understand that it's not so much, uh necessarily
(43:31):
a criticism of St. PINNs in college, but just an
acknowledgement of the reality when you're the number one football
team in the country. Um, the amenities well, you know,
waterfalls in the locker room and you know all that stuff,
sleeping pods and so uh. You know, I just wanted
to clarify that a little bit. But I definitely think
(43:52):
that you know, Nagy Harris is a guy who is
a corner stone or a building block, let's say, for
the foundation of this uh new Steelers team moving forward.
And I think he's gonna be up to the challenge
again as a guy both on the field, um, and
in the locker room. And let me just say this
one last thing about it real quick. As a rookie
(44:15):
last year in his UM in his off season, you know,
O T A s and and minicamp at that time,
he was told to go home. You know, You're go
home now, You're here too much. You know. So this
is the kind of work ethic and approach that this
guy has, and I think that that's also something that
(44:36):
resonates with his teammates. Some notes of interest for Yen's
out there and Steelers Nation. To wrap things up here
on day one of the training camp report. First practice
in pads is August one. That's on Monday. They will
be practicing today. It is open to the public, but
it's just gonna be in helmets. If you really want
to see some guys knock each other out, go on
August one. That's the first day of pads. The photo
(44:56):
op with Steelers Legends is back for fans at Latrobe.
Any day they practice, former Steeler grads will be there.
You can get your photo taken with them. Chat up.
But chat them up. I'm sure they might sign something
for you as well. Labs you can get your picture
taken with Labs too, Right, you're part of that as
part of the legends. No, I don't. I don't want
to kill the kill the vibe. Let me just you said,
you get some pictures and chat them up. On July
(45:19):
is Chris Hope Day, and he was also gonna be
there playing Madden against John Beast of the Pittsburgh Nights
video team from noon to twelve thirty is part of
his appearance. So if you're a video, a maddened fan
or anything, uh, there's that to look forward to as well.
And the big one this Saturday, class of the Steelers
(45:41):
Hall of Honor is announced. Labs, you're on that committee.
Any sneak peak you can give us or we have
to wait till Saturday. You have to wait. Come on,
all right, when I turned the microphone off, there you'll
tell me the class. Right. Well, what I will tell
you is this. You didn't make the cut. There's always
it was close. He's Bob Labriola. I'm Tom Offerman. Thanks
(46:03):
for giving us a listen. On day one of the
Training Camp report, wolf and Starks up next making their
triumphant return to the SNR airwaves. So we will hand
things off to Craig Wolfley and Max Starks and Bob
Labriola and myself, Tom Offerman. Will be back again tomorrow
at nine am for the Training Camp Report right here
on SNR
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