Training Camp 7/30

[Iron City Inc.]

Rain pushed back practice today an hour but at least the Steelers got it in. No pads again today and the real deal will begin tomorrow.
With football in shorts things are limited but here were my observations:
First team safeties were Mitchell n Golden.
Golson was the starting nickle corner with Gay n Cockrell running with the 1's and Burns with the 2's.
Hargrave was running with the 2's.
Bell is in camp and practiced today and looked like he was moving very well. He was explosive today and as usual caught the ball well.
Gradkowski back taking reps today and tossed the ball okay. Ben had an excellent practice and was extremely accurate with all his tosses including some long completions.
Star of the day goes to Sammy Coates who just caught everything and had 2 long TD's diving into the end zone. Crowd was giving him kudos and one fan yelled out "Martavis Who". Coates hands today were just outstanding. AB had a good day but had a goal line drop but overall looked sharp and was in excellent shape.
Rookie TE Grimble looked the part as a receiver. Smooth with good hands. Can he block? That to be determined but he got open even against 1st team D and has the size to play the "Y". I did not see JJ drop a pass today. He ran a few seams and looked quicker then a year ago.
Shazier was playing extremely fast today. Ran a few blitz packages where he walked outside and fired off the edge. Speed speed and more speed.
Artie Burns had DHB covered on a go about 30 yds down field but didn't get his head around and Tomlin let him know it. Burns was okay today.
Special teams had Boswell drilling FG after FG. Kid is just money. On punt returns it appears the two early leaders are the favorites in Rogers and Ayers. Tomlin praised Rogers a few times for getting "squared up" to the los in taking the punts, They both did well in the wet conditions.
F/A running back Johnson from Penn State got a few reps and looked okay. Size speed prospect who had a decent day.
Jarvis looked like he tweaked his right arm or wrist but no hitting at least allowed for a injury free day for the most part.
Sundays practice will a better review of our talent.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Awesome, brother. Thanks for the in person update. Hope your shoes dry out before tomorrow's practice.

[Djfan]

I really appreciate these. Thanks

[fordfixer]

Dittio X2...

[Rara]

Keep that coming! I enjoy and appreciate these kind of reports! Thanks!

[RuthlessBurgher]

Practice Report: Coates the 'Special Cat'
Posted Jul 30, 2016

By Mike Prisuta

Sammie Coates makes plays amid the rain drops.

LATROBE, Pa. - A breakdown of Practice No. 2 at Saint Vincent College:

SPECIAL CAT: WR Sammie Coates didn’t let a little rain prevent him from repeatedly making big plays.

Coates showed up in a drill called “Special Cat,” which is short for special category, which in this instance meant trying to convert/defend a series of third-down scenarios.

Coates went across the middle and extended to make an impressive, two-handed grab on a high, hard ball delivered by QB Landry Jones in front of CB Ross Cockrell.

Coates then hauled in a deep pass from QB Bruce Gradkowski with an over-the-shoulder catch made while navigating the sideline and the pylon for a long touchdown.

Another big play got away in 7-on-7 work when Coates was unable to fight off the coverage of CB Montell Garner and come down with a deep ball from QB Ben Roethlisberger down the right sideline. But on the next snap Coates got free down the left sideline and made a full-extension, diving catch that delighted the fans on campus.

GETTING HIS KICKS: K Chris Boswell completed a place-kicking drill with a 43-yard field goal. Boswell made six of eight attempts from varying distances overall, beginning with a PAT and ending with the 43-yard effort.

YOUR TURN: Ryan Harris replaced Alejandro Villanueva at LT with the first-team offense one day after Villanueva had been running with the No. 1s. WR Eli Rogers rotated into the slot, which meant fewer reps for WR Markus Wheaton as the first-team slot receiver.

“Like all rotations, I wouldn’t read too much into who’s running with what group at this juncture,” head coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’re just trying to get looks at people.”

More rotational work included DE L.T. Walton, NT Javon Hargrave and DE Ricardo Matthews working with the first-team defense at the outset of the 11-on-11 “Team” period. NT Daniel McCullers and Walton worked as the linemen with the first-team “nickel” package.

SEVEN SHOTS: The standard two-point drill was run from the 12-yard line instead of the 2 this time, with the 10-yard line representing the goal line and the goal line the back of the end zone because of the wet conditions. The offense prevailed, 4-3.

After missing WR Antonio Brown from an empty set, Roethlisberger hit RB Le’Veon Bell, Brown and Brown again in the “end zone.”

Jones took over at QB and found WR Levi Norwood for the offense’s fourth conversion in five attempts.

Jones missed Norwood and WR Issac Blakeney on the final two snaps.

MEDICAL FILE: S Shamarko Thomas (sick) did not practice. TE Xavier Grimble, who left Friday’s practice early (cramps), returned.

AUDIBLES: “Actually enjoyed the circumstances today. It’s good to have to adjust and have to be able to take a group through it. We dealt with weather circumstances today. It affected our morning in terms of the walk-through. It affected our practice out here. I thought the guys did a nice job of not letting those outside things affect the play. They had high energy and it was good work.” _ Tomlin on dealing with less-than-favorable conditions at Saint Vincent.

[URL]http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Practice-Report-Coates-the-Special-Cat/a934be6d-eba5-4442-80ec-74d3bc74f723[/URL]