Training Camp 7/29

**Iron City Inc.** · 07-29-2015, 10:08 PM

Hot out there today 93 or so and a few guys didn't put pads on. Heath,Harrison, Ventrone were not in uniform today. Finney I believe got sick n didn't practice much at all.
Stingily first guy out on the field for those who are into that.
Some early special team work came on punt returns where Wheaton n Archer looked solid.
Palmer was in uniform wearing 69 and looked up n down at ot.
TE drills were interesting where Clear had a few drops along with 2 double catches. He is a bit slow getting into his patterns. TE order as far as reps were Spaeth,Blanchflower, James, Egnew and Clear.
Goal line drill from the 2 was live and we went with 1 back and three wide the entire time.
Spaeth pulled in a TD from Ben on a quick slant. Bryant took a fade for a TD over Blake even though Blake had good coverage. Ben put it in the perfect spot and Bryant made the diving grab.
Jarvis got stoned by Beachum on a few of the goal line plays. Beachum was on his game today.
Boyd completed a goal line pass to Blanchflower who was pounded on the 1 and didn't get in.
J.James scored a TD on a slant at the back of the end zone. Size is a talent.
DHB scored on a fade over Kevin Fogg.

In some 1 on 1:
Gilbert was able to hold out Dupree.
Blanchflower beats Fogg.
McCullers blow up Dismukes.
Van Dyk held out Chickillo then Chickillo came back and beat Van Dyk.
Villanueva over Shayon Green.
Timmons blasted Clear.
In 11 on 11 with live tackling:
Williams carried the rock well and bounced a few plays to the outside for solid gains. He lost some weight and today showed a burst.
Dupree was working at 2nd team olb behind Moats and shows some quicks. Was to quick and off sides once but he has a burst. Hubbard in for Pouncey makes a big block and Williams goes for about 20 yds.
James showed some good in line blocking handling Dupree.
Chickillo turns the corner with a burst and rb goes down hard for 5 yd loss. Chickillo get off is low and quick. Uses his hands well and holds leverage throughout the play. Moves well going forward.
Harrison working with lb's turning corner on pass rush tight as possible and flipping your hips. Leading even with sweats on. Good to see James taking on added role.
Cortez Allen covered Wheaton on a well thrown 9 by Ben. Allen was sharp today.
Gay broke up a pass intended for Bryant on a come back route.He broke on the ball well.
DHB grabs a pass on a dig route but leaves his feet for no reason. Not the way to get good yac. All that speed but tech is not there.
Landry Jones misses wr on a slant then comes back and passes to a covered Coates. Jones was not sharp.
Ben hits Wheaton on a drag in stride. Wheaton using his hands not letting ball get to his pads. Good fundamentals there.
Rookie Grant had good coverage on Wheaton. Ben put ball on target but coverage was solid.
Chickillo constantly in backfield turns the corner well and good motor.
AV solid pass blocking against Conrath.
Goodwin makes excellent sideline grab on a deep out. Pass from Murphy who can spin it.
D line of Tuitt and McCullers getting into the backfield against our 2nd string OL.
Howard Jones lines up wide covering slot wr and Spence adjusts him back to a normal olb set and Jones gets a sack off the edge. Nice to see Spence leading on the field.
Bryant busts a slant for a 50 yd td. Shows a real good burst.
Dupree blows past Blanchflower but was half step off sides.
AB has pass broken up by C Allen. Allen having a day.
Tuitt working against the 1st team OL and doing well being disruptive.
Dismukes had a tough day with more then a few shotgun snaps that were not on target.
Bryant grabs another pass on a come back route over Webb even though Webb in good position. Bryant is sharp.
Josh Harris busted a 60 yd run showing good quicks.
Murphy hits Blanchflower on a 20 yd dig. Kid spins it well.

Back on backers:
Shazier so quick he could not be blocked today.
Vince Williams blows up D Williams.
I'll try to keep a closer eye on this tomorrow. A lot going on at the same time today.

Archer appears to be #1 on both kick off and punt returns at this point. AB caught some punts but it appears they want DA to be the guy.
No kick offs, field goals or punts today.

Post practice. Watched Timmons and Shazier working on catching off jugs machine. Tuitt n Heyward running sprints. J James staying late working on jugs machine n getting extra sprints in. AB getting extra reps. Coates excellent with his time after practice signing and giving away towel and wrist bans to the crowd.
Quick summary; Bryant looks to be better then he was a year ago and he was good then. Allen sharp at corner today but I have to see more. Tuitt is a load. He could be Heyward 2.0. McCullers against 2nd team lineman was disruptive.
Landry Jones is going to have to do better then he did today to stick. Chickillo looks like he can ball. Nose for the ball and motor was good today.
Grant had a solid day.
I'll watch the backers closer tomorrow.

**Oviedo** · 07-29-2015, 11:17 PM

This is great. Thank you. Please keep them coming.

Love to hear Archer may be getting better and can get AB off the field for punts. See anything from Zumwalt? Holliman?

**Iron City Inc.** · 07-30-2015, 07:54 AM

Zumwalt was working with the 3rd unit at ILB. Reps were limited and he didn't jump out. Holliman also was limited in reps I'll try to watch them closer today.

**BradshawsHairdresser** · 07-30-2015, 08:35 AM

Sure appreciate these reports from TC!

**Notleadpoisoned** · 07-30-2015, 09:31 AM

Sounds like Chickillo might make the Shawn Lemon cut an after thought.

**steelsnis** · 07-30-2015, 10:50 AM

Good report IC! Here's some more on the first day in pads from Dale Lolley: [URL]http://www.observer-reporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORTS0602[/URL]

Steelers complete first day in pads

The pads were popping at Steelers' practice on Wednesday as the team was in pads for the first time this year.

Highlighting that was a backs-on-backers session that was lively as usual.

As the players and staff came down the field, head coach Mike Tomlin had some words for linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

"Law Dog, you know I ain't going to feed you nothing but 26," Tomlin said, referring to running back Le'Veon Bell.

Tomlin lied a bit, as Timmons did get some reps with other players. But those two kicked things off with Timmons winning the one-on-one battle, setting the tone for the drill.

Jarvis Jones was up next and beat Will Johnson to the QB. Then, Vince Williams absolutely destroyed DeAngelo Williams on back-to-back attempts, putting him flat on his back the second time.

Tomlin began letting all the offensive players know who was coming after that, not that it mattered in most cases. Two defenders line up at the line of scrimmage and a coach typically points to the one rushing - unbeknownst to the offensive player.

That was out the window today.

The defensive stars were Williams, who absolutely brings it on every play, Jarvis Jones, who showed off some good power and agility and, of course, Timmons.

Offensively, young running backs Cameron Stingily and Roosevelt Nix were consistent, while Ross Sheurerman drew praise from Tomlin later on.

Stingily did well in a pair of reps against Ryan Shazier, prompting Tomlin to say after the first one, "Yes sir, I like that. Let's make sure it was no fluke."

After struggling early, Shuererman completely stoned Jordan Zumwalt the next time. In their rubber match, he not only beat Zumwalt, he drove him to the ground and showed plenty of fight.

"You're starting to figure it out and it didn't take all day," Tomlin said.

Williams, meanwhile, had a tough go of it, though he did stand Sean Spence up at one point. When Spence asked for a rematch, Williams declined, saying he had gotten his rep.

@ The only bad thing about the drill this time was that young outside linebackers Bud Dupree and Anthony Chickillo stayed on the other end working on their pass rush against the offensive linemen.

We'll get to see them in the drill later on in camp.

@ The defense carried its strong day into the team 11-on-11 drill after that, as Arthur Moats droppd Williams for a loss after getting off a block from Jesse James.

William Gay followed that up by taking down Josh Harris in the backfield.

DeAngelo Williams ripped off a long run around right end on his third carry, but Vince Williams set things right for the defense again by blowing up the center on the next play at the snap and forcing a fumble by Tajh Boyd.

Boyd was having some trouble handling snaps today but he is throwing the ball reasonably well.

Anthony Chickillo then made a nice play on Scheurerman to finish things off in the backfield.

@ The No. 2 offensive line unit today was, from left to right, Alejandro Villanueva, Chris Hubbard, Reese Dismukes, Miles Dieffenbach and Mitchell Van Dyk.

Rookie B.J. Finney left early with heat-related issues, though tight end Cam Clear was back.

@ Defensive coordinator Keith Butler confirmed today on Steelers Nation Radio what I had reported earlier in the week. The Steelers will be playing a lot more Cover-2 in their secondary this season.

**Shawn** · 07-30-2015, 12:53 PM

Hmm....Vince Williams in beast mode. Not bad for a slow guy who has no athletic ability.

**RuthlessBurgher** · 07-30-2015, 01:52 PM

After hearing about DeAngelo Williams' early struggles with blitz pickup, I'm extra glad that Le'Veon Bell's suspension was reduced from 3 games to 2 games, because Ben can trust Bell to be solid in blitz pickup, and that week 3 matchup is with the Rams, who may have the best front 7 in football (they added Nick Fairley this offseason to a DL that already featured Robert Quinn, Chris Long, Aaron Donald, and Michael Brockers and added Akeem Ayers this offseason to a LB corps that already featured Alec Ogletree, James Laurinaitis, and Jo-Lonn Dunbar).