Friday Night Lights Training Camp Live (August 1) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Friday Night Lights Training Camp Live (August 1) | Pittsburgh Steelers

You are looking live at St. Vincent College in Latroe, Pennsylvania and Steelers Training Camp 2025. It’s day 10 on campus, day seven on the practice field, and day two in pads. It’s also Friday, August the 1st, which means it’s time for Friday Night Lights. Good evening everyone and welcome to Training Camp Live brought to you by FedEx. I’m Mike Pursuda. We will be uh throwing it over to Missy Matthews and Max Starks at Memorial Stadium in Latroe for all the Friday nightlights festivities momentarily. But before we go there, I wanted to talk a little bit about what’s been happening here at St. Vincent. The Steelers checked in a week ago Wednesday. And in the event you haven’t been following along with us daily on all the Steelers social media platforms, I’m here to catch you up. In the event you have been following along, consider this a review and also understand there will be no exam tomorrow. But uh just to kind of kick back and and further review some of the main narratives of training camp thus far. Number one has to be the weather. It has been scorchingly hot every day. But today, today it is just beautiful. We have a great night if not for football, for football practice or football like activities. The weather’s in the 70s. It’s been pushing triple figures way more often than not since the Steelers got here. Another narrative that has dominated the conversation so far here at St. Vincent College, how quickly and convincingly quarterback Aaron Rogers is winning over his teammates. Roman Wilson, uh, wide receiver, secondyear pro, and a kid who’s 24 years old, was the latest to sing Rogers praises yesterday. He said, quote, “He’s the coolest guy I ever met.” This is a 41year-old, and a 24 year old thinks he’s the coolest guy he ever met. Everybody, it seems, is impressed with how engaged Aaron Rogers has been. And Rogers keeps telling anyone who will listen that he loves this destination training camp. He loves going to different guys’ rooms to hang out. He loves engaging everybody on the field. Aaron Rogers really getting a kick out of being here at St. Vincent College. Another uh front and center narrative, how omnipresent Jaylen Ramsay has been. Call him a safety, call him a slot corner, call him whatever you want, but you can’t miss him out there on the practice field. He has been everywhere. You hear him as well as see him. He has been competitive. He’s been combustible. Uh he’s been combative. He has been everything the Steelers could have hoped for and more. Jaylen Ramsey might be having the best camp out of anybody out here. Uh also, uh it’s pretty clear that the defense is giving the offense a test each and every day. Uh the defense thinks it has a chance to be a really sound unit thanks to all the new additions. The offense is appreciating uh how it’s getting tested by the defense on a daily basis. There’s been good competitive give and take. Seven shots. Uh they’ve done that in five of the first six practices. 35 reps all told. The defense has won 18 and the offense has won 17. It doesn’t get get much more give and takey than that. So, uh it’s good to see both sides having their moments and both platoons learning from the other. And last but not least, there is an obvious chemistry developing between Aaron Rogers and DK Medaf. uh those guys uh it almost every period if not every period Roger starts by looking for Medaf and throwing to Medaf twice in seven shots the practice opening drill yesterday. Uh one was completed for score, one was not. But uh these guys are really starting to dial in. And uh if you’re going to practice today or if you’re coming out here at any point, you’re going to see a lot of number eight throwing to number four. That’s going to do it from here at St. Vincent. Now, let’s go to Memorial Stadium in Latroe and uh let Missy Matthews and Max Starks take it from here, guys. Take it away, Mike. Everybody here at LRO Memorial Stadium is screaming for you, but it actually was TJ Watt. It was It was trying to get to the locker room. But of course, we are here at Friday Night Lights. We know that because there are thousands of fans packed in here along the railing in the stands. Also, officials are here and the pads are on. It it it is Friday night lights when you’re trying to create that high school football atmosphere. You come in on the cheese wagons and then you enter the field, fans are packed on the home side of the stadium as well as the away side of the stadium. Everybody’s cheering. It is a frenzied environment. And this is one of those things where it takes nostalgia and puts it right here in present day for all of these players. It’s very quiet where you are at St. Vincent College. Even just before we left to come here, it felt a little eerie that there wasn’t, you know, fans and people screaming, but a change of pace for the for the Steelers with this night practice. And it’s always a show. They get work done, but there is always an entertainment value that Mike Tomlin makes sure to give these fans that have been standing outside for hours before they were let in at 5:00. Yeah, you saw fans. I mean, when we drove up circling the stadium, it was zigzagging back and forth. I mean, you’re talking about I say a good easy what 9,000 people to 10,000 people. Sold out crowd. The tickets sold out days ago. So, you have standing room only. And of course, when it brings Friday Night Lights, it brings out the best in competition. You’ll see scrimmages, we’ll see drives tonight. Of course, we’ll see our favorite periods, backs on backers, 101 pass rush, and the fans will be treated to that up close and personal, a little bit closer than they would normally at Chuck Nol Field. Yeah, absolutely. And I think too uh just with the atmosphere with all of these fans and the players getting a chance to do something a little different today. But also I you know it’s just interesting when you look around and some of the guys are kind of in awe uh that this is what happens if you’re new to the Steelers and you haven’t been through this. It’s almost like the first backs on backers. Jaylen Warren could tell Caleb Johnson, hey, here’s what’s going to happen. But until you experience it, you don’t really know. And I think it’s the same thing here. There’s some family. Uh some of the players are here as well. And it’s always always a good night. Not to mention perfect weather. Uh this is not one where Max will be dripping sweat and using a towel. Yeah. No, this is the perfect weather. You’re talking about fall up in the Northeast. You’re starting to feel that weather tight to change. I mean, this is the second day in a row we haven’t had rain today. So, knock on wood. I Knock on wood. It was It was been a great day today. Of course, players had their play morning get rights getting ready for this. But like you said, you can’t anticipate it until you’ve gone through it. And I think for a lot of guys that have been other places, right? Think of a Jaylen Ramsey, LA, Jacksonville. He’s never experienced this. A Brandon Eckles has never experienced this. DK Metaf has never experienced this. And now you come here and then you realize like, no, Steelers Nation is a real thing. It’s not hyperbole. It’s not some phrase or a hashtag. Like people come from all around for this night alone. And of course, go back in the high school days. Go back to when you started playing football when it was pure. You ride the cheese wagon. You’re carrying your pads on the bus. There’s no air conditioning. Trying to figure out how to work the little window to get it down to get some extra air. That’s what you’re getting all this. And the players, you can see genuinely are excited about this moment because it’s a special thing. It’s a tradition that’s been going on since well before Mike Tomlin and Bell Cower. You know, this was this was how this started. The field looks a lot better than when I played on it. Um, and so it’s just fun that fans will be treated for the next two hours to seeing football and seeing their favorite players. And they’ve already had one autograph session. They’ll be treated to one at the end of practice as well. I mean, the players are literally handed Sharpies as they get off the bus, as you said, carrying their pads uh to go around and they make sure that they do a good job not just going to one spot, they go on the visiting sideline as well. Do you have a favorite memory, Max, of being here for Friday Night Lights as a player? Well, I think one of my favorite memories, and it’s one of those that’s a very fun memory. It was I’ll never forget my rookie year. Ben and I are on the second team running the goal line stuff. And what happens was they actually had a play called I was a jumbo tight end on the left and I’m running a shallow drag and Ike Taylor is in coverage on me cuz I was that type of receiver. Hey, Ike’s here tonight. We can recreate it. Yeah, we can recreate it. But no, I had a cast on my hand and I remember I was trying to stretch my hand out to get free of of uh Ike, but Ben hit it directly on the cast and it just donked off my head and Ben just goes, “That was your one shot. I don’t know what to tell you.” Now, mind you, we had many years after that, but several good years after that, but it was pretty funny that he was like, “Yep, that was your one and done, Max.” And so, I always remember that from here, right in that end zone to our right here, Missy, it was it was a fun it was a fun night. Does coach Tomlin, do they give messages before this or is it kind of business as usual, practice as usual, it’s just at a different time? Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that were that that you notice is that take the intensity up in these environments, but more importantly, like understand what tonight is, right? This is to give back to the community. This is an opportunity for fans to get engaged and get inundated and find maybe their new favorite player tonight. So you have a responsibility not only as a player but more so a represent of the organization tonight. So yes, it might feel uncomfortable for a little bit. Yes, it might be a little bit outside of the norm, but at the end of the day, it’s about these fans and it’s about the entertainment value that that the Pittsburgh Steelers bring when they come to LRO, Pennsylvania. And there’s some uh new faces who got to experience it for the first time, right? Yeah, there’s some new faces that we’ve seen and one of those I believe you got to talk to a guy by the name of Robert Woods, uh, new receiver here for the Steelers and you you caught up with him. So, let’s let’s play that right now and let’s see what Robert Woods had to say about his first experience here in LRO Memorial Stadium. All right, I’m rolling. All right, we are at Friday night lights. I’m Missy Matthews. This is the camp combo presented by UPMC Health Plan. Wide receiver Robert Woods here. And what was it like getting on those yellow buses? When’s the last time you did that? I was thinking back. It was like middle school grad night. It’s been years, but uh not an experience like this with uh coming in seeing all these fans lined up is a once in a lifetime experience. What’s it like having a change of pace with a night practice and going to a different place other than St. Vincent? Yeah, I think it’s good. I feel like you feel the energy as soon as you come out here uh from the fans, just the lights being on, just a good atmosphere for football and uh feel like it takes us back to the beginning when we all kind of got this thing going. Were you surprised how many people were able to pack into the stadium? Yeah, I was anticipating a full house uh but not as much as like the the sideline and the standing room. Um it’s amazing to see all the black and yellow in here and um we’re going to put on a good night. Some of the people along the fences uh were lined up ear as early as 3:00, couldn’t get in until 5. Uh what do you think of that dedication? I mean, that just shows the Steelers fan base. I mean, they’re dedicated team. They’re loyal and uh um been putting this on for for many years. And I think it’s a great atmosphere for the guys to come back and just be able to give this experience to so many people in the community, but like the youth to be able to come out here and just meet players, see see players. Um it’s a great experience. Awesome. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thank you. You’re good. And you, he was cheesing the whole time. Very excited uh about this atmosphere. What are some of the drills that we’re going to see here tonight, Max? So, tonight I think one of the biggest drills is going to be the individual opportunities to actually go and do backs on backers, one-on-one pass rush. You’re going to see some combo drills between two multiple defensive and offensive linemen. You’ll see the wide receiver DB stalk drill as well as the one-on-one wide receiver DB pass drill which yesterday got a little bit heated with John Smith and Juan Thornhill. We’ll see that again tonight. And of course, the feature will be the team drives. So, each unit will get opportunity to drive the field with the referees. You’ll have the markers or you’ll work down the field to try and score a touchdown. So, that’ll be the big end of practice seeing that. And of course, I think we’ll be previewed or privy to a couple of kicks, you know, from the punting squad and going through a couple of their situational football um alignments as well. But that’s really been the main thing that you’re going to want to see one-on- ones and then of course the team drives. So, what player um from the first day in pads are you looking most forward to seeing today? Whether it’s staying consistent or doing better? Well, I think one of the biggest things, you know, Connor Haywood had a really good day in the in the backs on backers yesterday. So seeing if he could follow that up today with another padded opportunity to do that. Another guy, Janu Smith, you know, I know he’s very feisty. So that wide receiver DB drill when they bring in the tight ends and and it works releases and one-on- ones. I want to see that. But you know, Troy Fatano had a great day in one-on-one pass rush against TJ Watt. He looked really good, looked confident coming off of that knee. You always wonder that first padded opportunity. How is a player going to respond to post knee surgery? I thought he did really good. So, I’m want to see how he does in day two. Trusting it. Going against TJ in this environment is different than going against him at at St. Vincent. All right, Max. Thanks so much. That’s going to do it for this training camp live presented by FedEx. That is the very latest from here at Latro Memorial Stadium. For Max Starks, I’m Missy Matthews. Stay tuned to steelers.com, the Steelers official mobile app for all of the coverage of Friday Night Lights.

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