2012 Training Camp Thread (HERE WE GO!)

Mark Kaboly‏@MarkKaboly_Trib

My camp phenom through three padded practices is Steve McLendon. The guy is virtually unblockable right now.


Mark Kaboly‏@MarkKaboly_Trib

Hampton: "Everybody thinks McLendon is a small dude. He is a big, strong guy. He can be dominant."

Most of the reports on Beachum I've seen have been very positive. Add in the fact that they've been giving reps to Foster at the tackle position, and I begin to wonder weather that could make Trai Essex expendable when all is said and done. But then again we're not even a week into training camp without even a preseason game played yet, so I might as well just shut up for now...

Well, preseason game number one is next Thursday. Keep that in mind.

Team development process continues at camp
Teresa Varley
Steelers.com
After a few days where players got into scuffles during practice, the hitting on Wednesday was contained to what went on in drills, which Coach Mike Tomlin has been mixing up every day.

Practices over the last few days have included backs-on-backers and offensive line against defensive line. Other drills took center stage on a hot, but dry, day at St. Vincent College.

“We’re just continuing on with the team development process,” said Tomlin. “We put them in some situations, including linebackers versus tight ends and running backs in coverage. In addition, we did a few other things such as wide receivers versus defensive backs, releases.

“But overall it was good work. We’ll evaluate it this evening and push forward as we continue our week.”

Tomlin has been successful so far with the Steelers because he knows how to deal with his players. He knows the right buttons to push and when to push them.

Read more: http://www.steelers.com/news/article...5-2ddb7e4be943

Thursday, August 02, 2012
By Margaret Smykla
Post-Gazette


At age 3, Luke Serych already has learned an important lesson about life, loss, and football -- not even the replica jersey of your favorite Steelers player lasts forever.

"He grew out of his No. 7," said Melissa Serych of her son's Ben Roethlisberger shirt. Instead, Luke proudly wore a larger size No. 53 Maurkice Pouncey jersey during his Sunday afternoon visit to training camp.

It was the Serychs' first visit to Steelers camp in the setting of lush greenery and rolling hills at Saint Vincent College in Unity (although nearly everyone calls it Latrobe).

They quickly discovered that the trip from their Beaver County home to Westmoreland County was more than a walk in the park.

"This is our stay-cation, as we couldn't go anywhere because of the baby," said Mrs. Serych, 35, also the mother of 7-week-old Liliana.

The Beaver County family of four from Center was among thousands of fans last weekend who descended on the grounds surrounding Chuck Noll Field -- named for the Hall of Fame Steelers coach -- to watch their football heroes and perhaps snag an autograph or two at the 47th annual camp on the college campus off of Route 30.



Read more: http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12215...#ixzz22NjU7mG4

Sports talk: Live from camp is live.

http://sportstalk.triblive.com/

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Ed Bouchette ‏@EdBouchette
Roethlisberger talking often with holdout #Steelers WR Mike Wallace. Thinks he will rejoin team "soon.'' http://tinyurl.com/cwoae9c

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Alan Robinson ‏@arobinson_Trib
Ike Taylor told me he expects the Mike Wallace situation to work itself out soon. Multiple players: Not upset he's out of camp.

How did we miss these? They're from 2 days ago.

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Mark Kaboly ‏@MarkKaboly_Trib
Quietly have a solid and dominating camp is Cam Heyward. If I had to rank DE play so far: Heyward, Bryant, Woods, Keisel, Hood, Blanc

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Alan Robinson ‏@arobinson_Trib
Ben Roethlisberger, off kickoff team, finds Antonio Brown in between 3 defenders near sideline. Clearly headed to disabled list.

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Gerry Dulac ‏@gerrydulac
Tomlin to scab officials during kick drill: "put your damn whistles away, we're working."

Great quotes!

Hood really needs to step up this year. If Corbin Bryant and Al Woods are looking better than him after all the work he put in this offseason, then that's a major disappointment. I'm going to be watching him intently during the preseason.

From the sounds of it, Will Johnson seems to have a legitimate shot to knock David Johnson off the roster as the fullback. Even Ed Bouchette was talking about him. His longshot prediction of 2011 made it--Weslye Saunders---could he go back to back?

Dodens Grav wrote:

Hood really needs to step up this year. If Corbin Bryant and Al Woods are looking better than him after all the work he put in this offseason, then that's a major disappointment. I'm going to be watching him intently during the preseason.

Yeah, that sucks. Hood came out of the gate in his rookie season and showed promise, but seems to have regressed since then. A major disappointment if he doesn't step it up this year.

The good news is that we have Heyward as insurance and he's reportedly looking really good. That'll ease the pain.

Cool read on yesterdays camp practice:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...-camp-practice

Things are about ready to get started!



Look at that crowd!

pic.twitter.com/Ii6MufCx

A familiar face:

Buddha Bus wrote:

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Mark Kaboly ‏@MarkKaboly_Trib
Quietly have a solid and dominating camp is Cam Heyward. If I had to rank DE play so far: Heyward, Bryant, Woods, Keisel, Hood, Blanc

FWP and Deebo.

i wish i lived there

i'm in the south and all i hear about is the fucking cowgirls

Whyant5 wrote:

Buddha Bus wrote:

Quote :

Mark Kaboly ‏@MarkKaboly_Trib
Quietly have a solid and dominating camp is Cam Heyward. If I had to rank DE play so far: Heyward, Bryant, Woods, Keisel, Hood, Blanc

Don't read too much into it. Kaboly posted this shortly afterwards.....

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Mark Kaboly ‏@MarkKaboly_Trib
@calmkiller -- nope. Saying that Heyward and Bryant are looking the best. First teamers dont get many reps to be able to stand out

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Ed Bouchette ‏@EdBouchette
Willie Colon just punched Cam Heyward in the helmet. Hard. You can break your hand that way. Havent seen 1 of those in awhile.

I'm LOVING this new nasty streak in Colon! He seems like he has a chip on his shoulder and is ready to kill people. Imagine what he's going to do to opposing defensive linemen on other teams?

I just hope he doesn't get a terminal case of Kemoeatuitis and cost us 15 yards every game with stupid penalties. I like the aggression, but it has to be controlled aggression.

Steelers notebook: Baron Batch showing off physicality
By Mark Kaboly
Published: Friday, August 3, 2012, 9:16 p.m.

• At 5-foot-10, 210 pounds, Baron Batch isn’t the biggest running back on the Steelers’ roster. But the second-year player out of Texas Tech stood tall during the backs-on-backers drill Friday night. Batch won or was even all six times he ran the drill and was physical every time. Batch beat Mortty Ivy, Ryan Baker and smacked the helmet off Adrian Robinson. Also looking good on offense were David Johnson and Jonathan Dwyer. Lawrence Timmons and Chris Carter stood out for the defense.

• Last year’s first-round pick Cam Heyward didn’t have the luxury of going through any offseason programs as a rookie last year because of the lockout. A full offseason worth of OTAs has really benefited the defensive end this year. “It was tough because you really don’t have the time to practice and get to know what’s going on. You get thrown into the fire, but those are the cards you are dealt.” Heyward is rotating between left and right defensive end and will be the main backup to at both positions behind Brett Keisel and Ziggy Hood.

• At times, rookie nose tackle Alameda Ta’amu’s aggressiveness has been questioned. That was evident during a recent practice when a teammate yelled at him after getting stonewalled during a drill by a much smaller lineman. Veteran Casey Hampton said Ta’amu’s aggressiveness will come. “You’re a dog, but you bite as a pup. He has to be consistent,” Hampton said. “There is more than getting in shape. It is something that you have to get accustomed of doing and play hard all the time.” Ta’amu is behind Steve McLendon and Kade Weston on the depth chart.


(Read More:) http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/2332421-85/steelers-batch-offseason-victorian-drill-practice-rookie-roster-agent-amu?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tribunereviewsteelers+%28Steelers+Stories%29

Honestly, I just hope he doesn't pull something. He's been pretty absent for a while now.