Training Camp Live (July 29) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Training Camp Live (July 29) | Pittsburgh Steelers

Can you sense your players anticipating getting the pads on and getting ready for that next step? There’s no doubt, man. They’re like raceh horses. Um that’s just the next step in this thing. Um and they’re ready. Do you have a most anticipated matchup whether it’s in those backs on backers or O line D line one-on- ones? You know, I like I like Kenny G uh versus Payton Wilson in in routes. Um, you know, Kenny G has shown a really good aptitude from a route running standpoint out of the back field. Pton Wilson in his second year is a guy that that’s working to be dominant in the area. Uh, it’s just one of those matchups that has my attention. Hi everybody. Welcome to St. Vincent College. It is the day the pads go on here for your Pittsburgh Steelers. Welcome to Training Camp Live presented by FedEx. I’m Missy Matthews alongside somebody you may recognize. Uh Max Starks, ladies and gentlemen, if Mike Tomlin is pumped for today, Max is right behind him. You brought your aame. I’m so excited for today. It’s just a great No, let me let me quit playing. I need to take this uh out. No, this is the day we look for. This is the mile marker. This is the moment we could separate those pretenders and real contenders for a position on this team. They’re not a team yet. They’re a collection of souls hoping to become one. And today is that first day where they take the step to show that, hey, we I I’m here. I want to be counted. Think about the camp phenoms, the sleepers, and everybody else. Jaylen Warren made a name for himself on this very day. And I think I look at that Joey Porter Jr. and George Pickkins going at it this very day. Troy Fatano, the first time he got out there going against Cam Hayward, made his name this very day. So, this is a very big day for all of us here and we get to be witness to the acclamation period is over. Now, the pads are on. We’re excited. I’m so jacked up right now. I know I don’t have a face mask on, but I would put my face in the fan, but I’m old, so I can’t do that. But it’s it’s a lot of fun today. And you even taped your fingers up, so you are like extra. I’m ready. No jam fingers today, guys. Behind the desk. I promise. take us inside. The the players already went through their walkth through. Fans are on campus. They know what this day means. What’s it in like in the locker room as they’re getting ready to take the field? Some of them might know what’s happening. Some of the rookies, they might have no clue what’s about to happen. Well, I think the biggest thing is you eat a little bit lighter at lunchtime. And I walked around the lunch table. You definitely saw the single portion versus the normal double portion that you would normally get at lunch. Little extra pasta, a little less protein because you want to be able to use that energy. appropriately, but guys are getting ready. There’s a nervous silence that goes in the locker room right before the first padded practice because guys are now focusing a little bit more. Maybe a rookie is going on his iPad and trying to figure out, hey, what’s this play? Okay, if he calls this, what do I do? I don’t know. Some guys usually go in the gym and get a little extra pump because they want to show off the shoulders and the pads. Um, but it’s a very focalized type of experience. is you go inside yourself because you know you’re going to have to paint your heart a little bit dark today to get the job done and also to to make a coach you know look twice at you in a in a positive way. I was going to say in terms of coaches especially some of the position guys are they talking their guys up especially for the drills like backs on backers to get them ready so hey their guy win some of those fights. Oh yeah. Now now the coaches are going to say it right before the drill. They’re going to get in their guys there like we don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to get embarrassed. Don’t you embarrass me. Eddie Faulner’s like, “Listen, I know you have your name, you know, that you’re representing and the Steelers, but blah blah.” No, you’re representing me. You’re represent, you’re the Fighting Falconers right now. And the same thing with Pat Meyer with the offensive line going against these young defensive linemen. You think of YA Black. Derek Harmon, highly touted, looking to get lthered up. But Troy Fatanu has a lot to show. Mason McCormack has a lot to show. Zack Frasier has a lot to show. Spencer Anderson in for Isaac Camalu has a lot to show. And of course, Brick Jones, everybody’s going to be looking at him and how he makes that ascension to the left side. So, a lot of eyes are going to be on these individual drills. I just hate that they’re going to be concurrent and you’re going to be just whipping your neck back and forth trying to figure out which drill I’m going to watch at what time. I call it the three- ring circus because you have backs on backers, wide receiver, DB, stalking drill, as well as Oline, Dline, 101, pass rush happening at the same time. So, I’m going to be running back and forth. So, glad I have the pads on just in case I get hit by accident. Uh we’re actually going to make you take them off before you go down there just for yourself. Sure. I mean because I can wear they feel very comfortable. Feels very familiar here with these on. There you see uh Aaron Rogers walking down the hill. Jaylen Ramsay behind him. Ben Scoran getting the crowd pump. Not that they probably needed to tell the crowd uh to get pumped up, especially some of the youth football teams that you know get a chance to be up close and personal with the players. But also excited to see those two guys. It feels officially official now. We’ve seen them in Steelers practice jerseys, but now the pads are under them. Now the pads are on. Now ball feels a little more real. Seven shots is going to be a little more intense. The the henry factor is going to be raised up just a tick. And I’m sure the dinner option tonight for the winners be just a little bit better than it was before. You know, I was talking about earlier there had crab cakes and uh and bone and ribe eyes. I think tonight you might see crab legs and filt. You know, it might up the Annie on who wins seven shots. defense has taken two of the, you know, two of the last three days. So, offense is going to have something to say about, I’m sure Aeron’s going to have something to say about it. And now with it physical now, the O line and Dline can affect that even more so than they did before. So, it’s going to be the temp the temperature is going to rise very quickly after individual period and then we progress through all the team periods. Now, we heard from coach Tomlin at the top of the show. He’s excited to see Kenny Gainwell against Pton Wilson. Normally, he doesn’t give us that much information. and we know he loves backs on backers in any variety that you serve it up to him. Who are you most looking forward to seeing today in pads? All right. So, I’ll give you one Perth ring of the circus, right? Love it. Yes. So, backs on backers, Caleb Johnson, Patrick Queen. Oo, that’s going to be my little my little soup dour of uh of calamity that I want to see on that side. And then I’m looking at the stalk drill. I mean, everybody wants to see DK versus Jaylen. And I don’t know how much you’re going, but I want to see what Roman Wilson does against, let’s say, a Chuck Clark, a Darius Slay, or a Beanie Bishop. That’s what I want to see because Roman Wilson didn’t do this drill a year ago, and he’s the guy all eyes are on him. He’s the unproven guy. They’re expected to come in and be that number three guy between him and Robert Woods. So, I want to see what Roman Wilson has to bring to the table in that drill. Then, of course, at O line and Dline, I want to see Derek Harmon or YA Black versus Zack Frasier. And whoever’s the leftover gets Mason McCormick. That’s what I want to see that scrum in the middle of big on big, nasty on nasty, extra effort on extra effort in a one-on-one pass rush drill situation. So, those are my guys that I’m going to be looking for specifically during those drills. I feel like fans at home watching us and, you know, fans here are probably salvating thinking about those options that you just laid out for us. And that’s top three. There’s still many others uh as well, which I think, you know, with the Caleb Johnson thing, I think everybody wants to see him in pads. You saw what he did in college when you watch his tape. We saw what he’s able to do here during the acclamation period. I love though how he said that he did his homework before his pro day when he talked to coach Tomlin and said, “You should draft me. You should see what I can do.” He knew about backs on backers. Uh he saw the clips of Jaylen Warren, as you mentioned a little bit earlier, proving himself. Uh so I think, you know, pretty cool for a rookie to have a very good idea what he’s walking into today. Not that Jaylen Warren hasn’t been this great res source for him, helping him get ready for a number of things, but pass protection something he said he really really wants to get better at here in Latro. Well, and if you want to be a three down back, you have to be able to do that. That’s one of the three cornerstones, right? You have to be able to run, catch, block, those three things. If you want to be a three down back, so this is the opportunity to prove that third element, the block element on getting ready to play, getting ready to say, “Hey, you know what, coach? I can go in. and I could be a receiving option. Well, go show me you can block the blitz pickup and then if the blitz doesn’t come, you can leak out and give me a check down or a flare route on the side. But you got to be able to block. If Patrick Queen, Pton Wilson, TJ Watt, Alex Heismith, anybody comes free, I need you to stand in there and be a ballard buster as our as our good friend Craig Wolfley would say and and what he affectionately nicknamed Jaylen Warren was you have to go show that out here. and and coach Tom is going to curate that list to make sure that he gets the different myriad of different options that can be deployed at him and can he hold his own. It’s not about winning everyone, but it’s also about going and affecting it and impacting every play. That’s what he wants to see in day one. Then we’ll worry about how it looks on a consistency basis with cumulative days. But right now, he I guarantee Mike Tomlin has a list of guys that he wants 20 to go against and he’s going to be checking that off very meticulously. I think he’s also light on his feet to steal a Tomlinism from coach Tomlin, but you know there are sometimes he’ll run it back. Uh and I think those are some of the ones that are the best because you don’t nec necessarily anticipate them, but sometimes you got to run it back to see it again. And then sometimes now that he knows what you know and you know what he knows, then it’s then it’s just monoemano, right? There’s no surprises or anything. you’re now going at it and both of these guys, whoever lost that previous rep is going to be very pissed off and more motivated the next rep to show you something. So, it’s going to be really fun to kind of watch that energy transpire. And we know that’s the one that Mike Tomlin looks for in day one. Like, he is over there. He’s not worried about what’s going on in pass rush. He’s not worried about the stock. I got film for that. But this one’s the one where he’s like, I’m going to watch every single rep. Landon Roberts is not here uh this summer. Mark Rob is. He’s another guy that he kind of would unleash on people. Uh, without a Landon Roberts, who do you think that go-to guy will be potentially? I I think I think we know that it’s going to have to be like a Malik Harrison, like somebody like him. And I’ve watched him blitz the last couple of days. He comes in with tenacity. He doesn’t necessarily have the lead in the pencil, so to speak, but he has the tenacity. So, you wonder if he could come in and be a guy that kind of blows things up for them. Jack Sawyer. I’m g be really interested to see how he does on his his first edge assignment uh against tight ends and linebackers because we also remember tight ends are involved in the backs on backers. So, what does JJ Greath have to offer? John Smith, you know, yet they’re not going to be asked to block as much, but you’re going to still have to do it. Um because we know what Darnell Washington, I mean, he is he is a very fast offensive lineman, so he doesn’t have any issue in this drill. He’s a guy that’s going to slam somebody uh very quickly. But the rest of those guys, see how they work in these drills as well. Uh, I love that coach Tomlin said the big man game is played in pads. He was not quick to anoint everybody, anybody on the offensive line for what they were doing, if they were filling in. Um, what do you make of what you’ve seen so far of the offensive line and defensive line as we head into this next phase? Well, I think the biggest thing is seeing how a guy like YA Black has kind of affected the interior game as well as Dererick Harmon. They they can knife get skinny relatively speaking for large human beings. They can get skinny in the hole and they’ve caused some disruption for Aaron and for Mason Rudolph and for Will Howard getting and infecting their passing lane especially in seven shots. They’re able to get pressure and I think you know you it’s like well now what does it look like with pads? Does that is that pressure real or is it a faux pressure? So they’re going to be looking for okay do they take the next leap like with pads it looks the same as without pads and what doesn’t look the same. So it it’s about how you mature in this process because once again, you know, we talk about milestones and I I I don’t like to use I say mile markers, right? The journey all leads to September 7th at Metife against the New York Jets. We are now at another mile marker where we’ve gone from acclamation from and now we’re into the padded phases. We came from OTAAS leading into the start of training camp. This is another mile marker and then we’ll get one really quickly this Friday with Friday Night Lights. you’ll get another mile marker as we progress that journey um into the season and also to building what is going to be the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers. I I do want to give you some props, Max. Uh it was actually 10 years ago, which makes me feel very old. Uh Bob Labriel and I on the first day of pads decided to head to the locker room and get ourselves some pads to, you know, take part in the festivities. And I was able to tweet find the photo first of all, which took me forever, uh to tweet it out. But I want to say that you brought your agame and Labs even warned me. He said, “Hey, I don’t want to say too much, but Max has a little bit of a surprise for you.” I was not expecting what you brought, but there’s me and Labs. Oh, there we go. Very long ago. Looking good. Look at Pop Warner Labs there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, he he played into it. He felt it. But you just you blew me away today with what you came with. You were well prepared. I didn’t have to remind you about anything. I mean, this is A+ for you today. No, I appreciate it. And you know, you’ve always taken care of me on the sidelines. You know, you are our team mom and the broadcast team. But today, I knew what the assignment was and I had my outfit laid out the night before, like the first day of school. So, I couldn’t wait to get the helmet on. I made sure they got the 78 on there just to make sure it was authentic. And then, of course, yes, I know I’m wearing ya black and also uh Garrett uh Garrett Williams. I think the uh the rookie for the offensive line has it. I borrowed it right now cuz I mean, listen, it was my number first. You know what I’m saying? So I I feel like I could wear it at least for a day, you know, and I you know, it’s it’s definitely bringing back memories. I mean, the mouthpiece now, this is new technology. We used to have that old school where you just dip it in, you have to boil it, wait five minutes, bite it. Oh, it didn’t work. Okay, go for another five minutes. You’re burning your gums in the process. Now it just instant fit has a little has a little like breathe tube. So I I can do this and still talk. I can still understand you. Maybe the people at home can’t, but maybe they can’t understand as much, but you know, and I didn’t want to go with the face mask cuz I have to, you know, make sure you can hear me. So, I’m wearing this like I mean, it feels like not Marvin the Martian, but it feels like Magneto from the X-Men. I feel like I got Magnetos helmet like nobody can steal my thoughts right now. You’re a broadcast professional. That’s what you are. You know what? I I I and I’m all about character. I’m a method broadcaster. Is that Is that Is that something? Is that Can we call it that? Can we point at that? There we go. I love it. All right. I do want to have a chance to hear from Pton Wilson because as we said, Coach Tomlin lined up him and Kenny Gainwell is one of the matchups he’s going to be looking forward to today. And Payton Wilson had a chance to talk to the media prior to putting on the pads this afternoon. So, let’s take a listen. Malik Harrison called you one of the best cover linebackers in the league the other day. He said you’re going to skyrocket this season. Agreed, disagree. I mean, 100% agree with him. I mean, you know, I mean, these guys that are in our room, we have so much talent in our room between me, PQ, Malik, Cole, Mark, Rob, all those guys. I mean, it’s just it’s just awesome to go out there with those guys every day. The whole the whole room is going to have a heck of a year and I’m just excited to get out there with each and every one of them. What’s the biggest difference for you personally in your game? Uh, just confidence. Um, just, you know, being able to, you know, give guys like Cam Hayward and TJ Watt a call without kind of hesitating be like, “Oh, if I give him the wrong call, this and that.” you know, knowing the defense like the back of my hand and, you know, getting back to, you know, just playing the game rather than thinking the whole time, worrying about making a mistake. Now, it’s just about making the plays and making the big plays rather than worried about being wrong. Did you get there last year or do you notice that this year? Yeah, I mean towards the end of the year when I started playing a lot towards the end of the year, you know, those last few games, obviously, I was rotating the whole year, but, you know, the confidence just comes with reps and then this year being beside PQ the whole time and just, you know, learning from him, learning from those guys in there has really helped me a lot. So, can you guys both be on the field every down? Is that something I You strive to be every down back? He was He literally played every snap last season. Yeah, that’s that’s my goal. You know, I want to be out there with him every single snap. You know, last year, you know, PU played literally every snap like you said. And, you know, it’s kind of it was kind of cool to see after the games how like dog tired he was and how much he put on the line for the team. You know, I just want to be able to do the same thing. You know, when I walk up that field, I want to you know, I want to be able to say that I gave it everything that I completely had. and the coach has trusted me fully and I played the whole game. They’ve had a lot of DBs over this summer or this off season, but is that is that in other words, you can be a coverage guy rather than not, you know, your teammates, your teammates, but you can you can handle those duties to be like a dime kind of guy. Yeah, there’s no um how do you say it? You don’t have to really like game plan to to help people out anymore. You know, we have guys you can put on an island at any position, whether that’s linebacker, our nickel spot or DB spot, safety spot. you can put them on an island and they’re going to get the job done and you can trust him that. What’s been different about Scott McCurley this year so far? Um I mean he’s great. He’s awesome. The energy that he brings, um the detail that he brings each and every day. Um he’s very critical. Not in a bad way, but in a really good way. You know, he wants us to in a sense be perfect, which is what you want from a coach. You know, you don’t want someone that’s like, “Nah, you did this. That’s okay cuz we can do this. No, you want it exactly right.” As a linebacker that’s looking to be as good as I want to be. Um that’s been really helpful. Are there any other matchups you’re excited for today? All of them. I’m just ready to get out there and play some gum ball. Hit Jaylen Warren a little bit. Get around there, fly around, hit some O lineman a little bit. It’s just this is what you look forward to when you come up to the Why Jen? Because he’ll be out there first. He’ll be out there first. He’s a hard runner. KJ, KG, all those guys, they’re all great running backs and they all bring a little something different to the table. So, just going to be great work all around. Things got a little chippy out there on Sunday. You last day without pads. there been any like guidelines laid down like, “Hey guys, let’s let’s be intense but not too intense.” Yeah. My favorite quote is, “Uh, we like toughness, but we’re not orchestrating the MMA squad.” That comes from coach. So, I mean, it happens. You know, you got you got a lot of alpha guys out here running around helping each other. It’s going to happen, but at the end of the day, we know we’re getting each other better for what’s to come. All right. We had the option to take the pads off, but here we are. We’re It’s pads day. Yeah, it’s pads day. We’re sticking through it. Yeah, we’re keeping the pads on. Even though I probably wouldn’t wear a polo underneath my pads in a normal situation, but I I mean, I feel good. I feel good here. This is comfortable because, you know, when in doubt, you could always just do this and everybody just kind of hangs out. I mean, that’s what I used to do as a player. So, when in doubt, I don’t know what to do with my hands. Just put them here and your mic’s up here so you’re not messing with it. I do remember speaking of a polo under uh a jersey. Sometimes the defense circa like Will Gay, Troy Palamalo, they used to do the polos on Friday, the business days or work days, whatever they called. Yeah. Workday, business day. Yeah. Yeah. West Coast Fridays. So, they would have that and they would also do the spat where it looked like Chucks. So, like a all black spat and then they like line it with the white and and put it in because they were trying to mimic Chuck Taylor. So, we had a lot of quirky rituals back when we played that um I’m sure today’s athlete would be like, “What are these old guys doing?” You know, type of deal. You know, we made our own fun. Okay, kids. We made our own fun back in the day. We didn’t have all these fancy fandangled things, hyperbaric chambers and everything else. We made our own fun. We just we just dunked our head under the cold tub. That was that was our sleep. That was our deprivation chamber. Like you said, they don’t even know how to boil water to uh form their mouthpiece. No, they’re they come preformed. Come on. That’s that’s not football. Yeah, Max, take me through what is one of your most vivid memories of the first day of pads as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a player and then I’d also like one as a broadcaster that you had a chance to witness and say, “Haha, that wasn’t me.” So, the first one as a player, you know, back when I back in my day, God, I’m now in that category. It’s okay. So, padded practices start right started right out the gates and it was the first I’ll never forget, we’re morning practice, had full pads on. We go through stretch, we go through warm-up, and then we go right into nine on seven. Like, there’s no like warming up. Hey, we’re going to go hit a dummy and oh, we’ll get warmed up and acclimated. We’ll do one-on-one pass. No, no, no. We’re going full 11 on 11 to the ground tackling. And I just remember getting up there. I was with the twos. I was running with the twos at that time. And I just remember we called a play to the right and I had I had Brett Kasel as a backup that I was going up against. and Diesel was, you know, he was all the the shiftiness. And then Alonzo Jackson was on the outside. So, we had a fan. So, I hit Kasel, he swats me and goes on the inside to Jim Jones who was my right guard at the time. And I go and and I go and I see Alonzo Jackson. Now, mind you, I played against Alonzo in college. Okay? He went to FSU. I went to Florida. A lot of heated rivalry games back then. And I was like, I’m just going to put my face straight through his chest. And I went I hit him and I drove him and I felt good about myself. We get back up. Next play, I’m like, “All right, I got this. I got this.” It was an inside move and I had to get Hulk on a cross. Chris Hokei on a cross. And Chris Hul embarrassed me. I I flew over the top and I missed him and he made the play in the back field. And everybody’s like, “There’s Hoke, bro.” And you kind of knew what to expect with Chris Hul from that point forward. Absolutely. But it was a lot of mixed bag. And then I got to my first play uh I got to my first play in 101 pass rush and I went against Kimo Vonhoff and Kimmo grizzled veteran. He had this patented bull hunt move. He was head up on me. I set I stone him in the chest. I feel good. Next thing I know, I’m looking at the back kneecap of Chucky, our center, because he took his big arm and just clubbed me to the inside and I just went flying. So that was my first padded welcome to the NFL rookie type of moment. But then out here like my first year when I came up and joined the broadcast team as a sideline reporter with you. Um I was on the field and I was just watching and I’m just looking at the drills. I was just like oo oo I watched Cam Hayward you know put that long arm stab and just drive. I can’t even remember who it was. He wasn’t he didn’t make the team but he drove the guy all the way back like four yards. I’m like yeah I don’t miss that. I was like my chest feels very good at this point in my life. I’ve kind of healed all the bruises around my sternum, but I just remember seeing that and like, yeah, this game has passed me by. Anytime I get a little inkling of, hey, maybe I could or I couldn’t. Just go stand on the field and watch the O line and Dline like tussle about, and you’re like, no, my ligaments are normal now. I don’t want any more injured ligaments in my life, especially at this age. Just wearing the get up, I feel like, is enough for you. Wearing this helmet, I forgot how much you sweat and like the beads of sweat keep hitting your eye and you’re like, you know, you’re on camera, you’re like, I can’t blink. I can’t blink, but it’s like running right down the front of your eye. And so, yes, I I don’t miss putting this on, this on. I do I do have fun with a finger tape, but that’s a whole different story. I don’t miss it in in the least as far as playing, but I do miss that camaraderie you get like the shared stories of being down here. Right now, it’s cloud covered. You know, I was hoping for a really sunny, hot day, but wearing this equipment, I’m actually like the players right now. I’m thankful for a little bit of a cool breeze. Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, you know, coach Tomlin, as he said, they went to the earlier practices last year, tried it. He said it wasn’t hot enough. They moved it back to the 155 and he has gotten his wish uh from mother nature. Unfortunately, other than, you know, the few pop-up storms that have ruined things, and hopefully that’s not the case here because when I look out that way, it’s sunny and beautiful. It’s beautiful that way. Just don’t look straight up. If you look straight up, you’re going to you’re going to be disappointed. But that’s how it usually works here in Lro. So hopefully it passes and they’re able to get everything they want to get done. And I think just because of the hype of what this day brings and what it means to everybody and a chance to, you know, put yourself out there. Yeah. I mean, this is a this is a chance to make a real first impression. I mean, you get the first impressions during OTAAS and the acclamation period, but this is the real first impression. This is where you separate the boys from the men. And you want to make sure you have as many man moments as possible out here. And it’s apex predator on apex predator. If you get here, you already realize you’re in a very select 1 and a half% of the human population, but you’re trying to climb into that quarter and 10th percentile. Uh, and you, it starts today. There we’re taking a live look at the defensive line. I want to block that guy. No. Can you see that? And then that other behemoth. I mean, you know, it it’s the old bull and the young bull. I don’t want to see either bulls. Like, you you get the horns. I’m not I’m not trying to do that. I’m going to go high five them after the drill regardless of what happens, you know? Yeah. Like I remember that and I remember 97 as a young pup wanting to fight everybody every drill. So now he only fights like half the people he wants to because he he’s a mature adult now and he’s a father. Yes. And he saves it for when you’re going against a different team, not people you know lined up in black and gold that are that are also your teammates. Cordell Bolson definitely doesn’t want to see this just yet. No. He’s still scared from the first time his rookie year. He’s got he’s got PTSD in in terms of um today there were some roster moves that were made by the Steelers. So, we can take a look at those and I think some of the names on here uh disappointing because of some of the things they were able to do. But unfortunately, this is the point of the season where if you get hurt early and they need a body, it’s really what it comes down to when you’re going through such a grueling training camp that the Steelers run. That’s what has to happen. and Cordary Patterson uh kind of broke his own news yesterday uh unfortunately that he was released by the Steelers. But I think some of the the names, especially Jeremiah Moon, somebody who stuck around last year and then when you look at Montana, um those are guys that you were hoping would be able to continue to prove themselves. Yeah. Give them an opportunity to go out there and fight and show, hey, I deserve to be counted amongst the group. Jeremiah Moon was on this roster, played games for us. Um, now in Lemonius Craig’s uh situation, he’s a rookie. He was trying to make a name for himself and get an opportunity to really prove himself because it was this is more of an open wide receiver room than in years past. So, you could have made something about yourself whether it was special teams or being just a dependable guy for Aaron Rogers. That doesn’t happen. We we secure it with some different guys at a different position. Dominic Davis comes back, waved earlier for Chuck Clark, and now he’s back in the mix at the DTackle position. So, you know, hope springs eternal when you get another opportunity. You hate another man’s misfortune is another man’s fortune potentially. So you hate to see it, but this is the time of the year where you need a high turnover at this point to make sure that you’re always staying with a consistent 95. Yeah. And it it’s part of the process. As we said, it’s not great, but unfortunately that’s how it works. And as you said, uh you could be somebody they need to call upon in a day or two, a week or two. You just never know how things are going to work. um as we see TJ Watt down there, Nick Herbig, um just exciting to see this part of the the phase of training camp and I think especially coming off a player’s day off, uh makes the most sense. But as you were alluding to earlier, then you start going through the week and getting to um Friday night lights, which is also a a big thing for the Pittsburgh Steelers when it comes to what they do in that stadium. It’s not just taking the yellow school buses over. It’s uh bringing some physicality and also putting on a good performance for that crowd as well. And you also get your first look at team drives. That’s always the big hallmark is we’re actually going to play this as a game situation and we’re going to march up and down the field or you get stopped and we got started over do some special teams. So you get to get that kind of scripted type of managed game type situation for for the squad. All right. Well, unfortunately, Max, our uh wish did not come true that the beautiful sun that we can see over by the mountain didn’t make it over here. So, they’re clearing the fields right now due to a pop-up storm in the area. Uh let’s take a listen to Troy Fatanu, somebody who missed a majority of his rookie season last year, having a chance to prove he is that number one pick that they took and what he can bring this year. Um, and being able to trust it every single day. Every rep that I take, obviously, it gets more comfortable and more comfortable. Um, obviously there’s a lot that I still need to get back into doing, but yeah, I feel that’s probably like the last checkpoint uh until we go out there and play for him. So, Troy, defense seems to be throwing a lot more alignments at you guys, especially early in camp. What has that been? What has that challenge been like for you guys as a unit to understand, you know, when they’re going challenging this gap versus that gap and needing to communicate? Yeah. Um, so the big thing right now is that like obviously we’re trying to prepare for a season, but we’re playing the Steelers every single day. Like we’re playing against our defense, so we’re making up rules that are just specific to camp. And obviously going into the season, it’ll help us knowing that we’ve seen these fronts before. So, um, when the bullets are flying, like we’ll be we’ll be very prepared. So, going back to, um, starting with, I mean, it’s not like you guys are small college or anything, but you use the word undersized. Um, you don’t have the 68 skyscraper necessarily or that 340 lb wide body. Is that something you guys talked about that um, when the up group of guys, you know, we can still um, show the toughness and physicality despite that? Yeah, I mean, that’s something we talk about every day. I joke around and say I’m like 6’5 and everyone always laughs at me, but I mean put it on the roster. It won’t change. Yeah, that’s what I tell them just to look it up. But um yeah, that’s an inside joke we all talk about every single day, how short I am or you specifically Zach is make fun of Zack a lot. Uh but yeah, I mean it’s it’s nothing we can do about that. Um, so obviously we have to be able to All right, it’s a hurry up and wait, Max. Unfortunately, as we are taking a live look at Chucknol Fields, the team has cleared. They are heading up to the locker room. Fans are being asked to take a safe spot here on campus as well. They’re going to not be able to hopefully come out uh hopefully they will be able to come back out at 2:30, have that 30 minute window due to the lightning strikes in the area. We are going to uh find some safe cover as well. So, we appreciate everybody joining us. Sorry we couldn’t bring you more of the first padded practice, but make sure you stay plugged to steelers.com and the Steelers official mobile app for all the coverage of today’s practice. We’ll have everything for you there. Uh thank you, Max again for bringing your agame. We really appreciate it. Hey, listen. I this this is what I’m here for. I am here for all of the shenanigans and all of the excitement. Hopefully people got excited by this visual for that visual that’s going to happen down there. I can’t go down there with this outfit, especially not right now. I’m going to take my helmet off so I don’t get struck by lightning. But um this is a fun day. This is a great day for all of us to be able to see the next phase, the next step in this team and what they can do. All right. Well, that’s safety first. Thanks again for joining us for Training Camp Live presented by FedEx. We’ll see everybody tomorrow.

Max Starks and Missi Matthews talk about the first day in pads and more on Training Camp Live

#HereWeGo #Steelers #NFL

Like our content? Want more? Be sure to subscribe to the Pittsburgh Steelers YT Channel: https://goo.gl/nAd4J2

Want more Steelers content? Head over to http://www.steelers.com/ or if you want your #Steelers content to-go, download the official Pittsburgh Steelers mobile app: https://www.steelers.com/fans/official-steelers-mobile-app/
To get the latest Steelers content, news and analysis be sure to follow us on social media!
Follow us on X: https://x.com/steelers/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steelers/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steelers/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@steelers
Download Steelers podcasts: https://www.steelers.com/audio/podcast/