Intensity and overkill were the themes at training camp yesterday for the Steelers. Coach Mike Tomlin said his squad took the penultimate day at St. Vincent College to practice third down situations, possession-down football and cleaning up snaps. All of which were problems Friday night against Houston.
Tomlin said they wanted to take advantage of their final days in camp.
There were plenty surprises out of camp yesterday, the biggest being the Steelers’ decision to name first-round pick Troy Fautanu as the team’s starting right tackle, according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fautanu was presumably out of the competition for a starting spot after it was revealed he would be out two weeks with a knee injury, an ailment the team didn’t even know about until he asked for a knee brace at halftime on Friday.
With Fautanu holding down the right tackle position, veteran Dan Moore Jr. and last year’s first-round pick Broderick Jones will battle for the starting left tackle spot. Jones is the favorite to win as he started at left tackle while at Georgia, and Moore is in set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
Another surprise was seeing second-round pick Zach Fraizer getting reps with the first-team offense. He and veteran Nate Herbig will compete for the starting center position over the next few weeks.
Tomlin said he was impressed by both Fraizer and Herbig yesterday, but he’ll be looking at their fundamentals over the next few weeks.
Camp wraps up tomorrow morning at St. Vincent College.
Comments