Jaylen Warren, Keeanu Benton, Juan Thornhill Media Availability (Aug. 12) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Jaylen Warren, Keeanu Benton, Juan Thornhill Media Availability (Aug. 12) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Jaylen, assuming you get an opportunity to go Saturday, what are you looking to do? How anxious are you to kind of get out with this new look offense here? Oh, I’m just excited to be out there with the boys, you know, excited to play by them. Uh, being out of this last game, uh, you know, I understood I understood why, but also, you know, every chance I could play football, I would love to play football. What did you learn, if anything, by watching last Saturday? Uh, learn it’s just like I had expectations for the team and they, you know, exceeded it. you know, the way they’re balling, you know, uh I just, you know, I’m assuming our I just know we’re going to stay on that trajectory and I’m excited about that. Why we why has that trajectory increased here over the last few days? You said why? Yeah. What what’s been better? Why has there been more rhythm with the offense recently? I think just knowing, you know, gaining that chemistry with each other, the camaraderie, uh everybody understanding where each other’s going to be, uh, you know, the brotherhood we’ve created thus far. So, I think that plays a part in it. How much does that camaraderie come from the dorms, eating lunch together, just being away at camp? Tomlin does a good job at um you know directing events to kind of get the team together um so we’re not all just you know this is another reason why we’re at this uh destination camp uh just so we can build that brotherhood and it’s I’d say it’s do justice. One of the biggest focuses this camp was kind of on the offensive line coming together. From your perspective, how have you seen them grow and them take steps forward throughout these three weeks? Uh, communication is up there. You know, there’s uh, you know, we’re continually working that communication and just, you know, we’re getting to a point where we know where certain people are going to be and how they’re going to handle situations and I think that’s a good thing. I feel like a lot in your career, you’ve said said the right things like, “Oh, I just want to play my role and whatever carries I get.” Yeah. But is there a part of you that’s relishing the opportunity to be the big dog and be the lead back kind of take that role? Yeah, 100%. I think you know my competitive side of me just like whatever I uh whenever I get my opportunity I’m still going to try you know seize the moment and uh especially having a bigger role uh that that’s more opportunities I can help the team. So do you feel like do you feel like you’re the type of back that’s built to carry the load? Yes. Jaylen, you guys had talked about pushing each other. Have you guys you feel good about how you guys have pushed each other as a running back group during this game? Yes. Yes, sir. What What is kind of keyed that or what what makes it competitive with you guys? There’s no there’s nobody there’s no uh selfishness in the room. Everybody’s uh you know on the same page. We’re willing to help each other create that unity because that helps us individually. What are you most looking forward to about joint practice with the Bucks on Thursday? Just the competition. Yeah. I’m excited though. Dogs come. What do you remember from last year? I feel like you guys did a pretty good job, but there weren’t really any scraps with the with Bills. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it was what it was. And Mike didn’t exactly back away from that statement. Do you think it’s got that potential? Uh, definitely. You know, when you come out here and you work with these guys and you get to know them more and more, um, you realize how much potential we got. And at the end of the day, it’s all potential until we go out there and make it real. How do you make it real? What’s the step that has to be taken next to make it real? I mean, it’s just being good over a long period of time and being consistent. Really? The long period of time thing is where I was going to go next cuz you guys certainly showed flashes of what we’re talking about through the first eight to nine weeks last year. Um, how do you maintain it through the last five to six? I mean, I think that’s just staying together. Uh, keeping the main thing the main thing and not worrying. Does increased depth and rotation of players throughout the long season help in that regard as well? Oh, for sure. I think that helps. And could you be a part of that too? Is this on to you a little bit too to take one more step forward? Yeah. Yeah. How have you felt campus helped you in that context? Well, just speaking up a lot more, you know, um we got a lot of new guys, so getting to know new faces and stuff like that, but just making sure I’m that guy. Yeah, it was it didn’t disappoint at all. Like the fans showed up each and every day. Uh had a great turnout every day. Practice was great. Um, today was probably one of the worst ones for me cuz it was hot. But, uh, we definitely got a lot of good work in. So, like obviously like there’s always talk about like certain teams do training camp different. Steelers have live tackling. What was it like to be part of this physical type of a of a camp? Uh, I think it was great for us. You know, like if you just take a look at us playing Jacksonville uh last week, I felt like it showed, you know, like it looked like it wasn’t our first time out there tackling. And if you really watch their film, it doesn’t seem like they tackle as much as if I’m being honest. And I think it just prepared us for that preseason game and it’s just going to give us an extra step um an advantage when it comes to our opponents. As far as the install process from the time you guys got here till now, has how have you felt things have gone along? Not just what you guys are learning in the classroom, but also the way you guys are able to take it out here. Uh I think it’s going great. You know, like the first few days might have been a little bit slower because a lot of guys might have been thinking a little bit more, but uh we got a lot of smart guys. So, I think everybody’s picking up on the playbook pretty well, and now I think we’re just out there playing fast and having fun. All right, thanks for No problem. Coach Tomlin picked up on your comments at the start of camp about how good this defense could be. You said it could be the best of all time and Mike Swift followed it up on the radio today and said it could be historic. They do historic things. Um, has there been even more uh cementing in your opinion of that throughout camp? Oh, I mean, yeah, definitely. I mean, we right now it’s still early in the process. You know, we still got a lot of time. We we’re just practicing right now. We got to get all the like the little wrinkles out and get everything together. And once everybody start playing well together, I think that’s where we really can take off, but, you know, we still got a while until we until we get there until week one. You’ve played against these Steeler teams over the last five, six years. They’ve had starts to seasons where it looked like that defense might be on a path like that and it’s tapered a bit in the second half of the year. Do you guys feel like you have enough depth to offset that and maybe this year it could be something different because the different people you can keep other guys fresh throughout a year? Definitely. You know, like we we’ve had days where you know some of the ones didn’t practice and other guys stepped up and made a lot of plays. So when you got other guys that’s like you know that can step up and then make a lot of plays too. like even if you’re a two or three and you can step in and know and not drop off any that’s when you have the the you know ability to be a really good defense. You also mentioned schematics. I feel like the schematics are more varied this year for this team from what you’ve learned coming prior coming in. I mean yeah I think like with us we got guys that can play a little bit of everything, you know. Uh like with Jaylen, let’s just use him for example. He can play nickel corner safety. Um with me I can play in the slot as I ain’t going to say I’m going out there to corner anything, but if they really needed me to, I would. I think guys that, you know, when you’re very interchangeable, it allow you to do a lot of different things. Think Juan, in your experience, did these joint practices get pretty feisty other teams? I I think at first it was definitely like that. You know, you get tired of seeing each other a little bit, but I think it kind of died down a little bit. Like guys started to like really learn how to practice and not take things personal because like we’re just trying to compete at a high level and get each other better. now Thursday at Acerure. Um, have you been a part of those scrimmages with other teams before? Uh, I think I’ve I’ve had one two joint practices in my career. I mean, I guess the big thing is they don’t want guys fighting, right? Wasting time with this bunch. I mean, is that something that are you kind of intrigued to see how things go with Tampa? I I think that it’s I think we have more of a chance to fight here than we would, you know, fight against the opposing team because I don’t think we’ll have any live periods, you know, where we’re really hitting against the opponents. But, you know, here we’re hitting each other. So, when you get hit or do something like that, that’s what caused the fights. But, you know, you never know. You don’t know who they got on the other side. They could start talking trash and then get us all going. So, um it’s going to be fun. And I can’t wait for it.

Jaylen Warren, Keeanu Benton, and Juan Thornhill spoke to the media on Tuesday, August 12 following the last practice of training camp

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