FANS RETURN TO STEELERS PRACTICE
Rookie RB Harris supplies excitement in his blocking drills
The Steelers put the pads on Wednesday for the first time since their embarrassing playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns and did something they did little in that game — hit and tackle.
That officially signaled the beginning of training camp, even though the Steelers had five other “ramp-up” practices, because now coaches can begin evaluating their rookies and new players in a real-football environment and not just shorts and Tshirts.
And, on the very first live play from scrimmage, coach Mike Tomlin and the several thousand fans who attended practice got to see what they hoped they would see — rookie Najee Harris break off a 12-yard run before being tackled by four players.
On top of that, Tomlin was more than impressed with how well Harris, the 24th overall pick in the draft, performed in the backs-on-backers drill that pits running backs against blitzing linebackers.
“I think we all saw Najee likes competition,” Tomlin said after practice. “He doesn’t run away from it, he runs to it.”
After getting bull-rushed by safety/linebacker Marcus Allen and
holding him on the very first play of the drill, Harris did not back down. He won the next three matchups with him, including wrestling Allen to the ground and then jawing with him face-to-face after the play.
Later, he lined up twice against inside linebacker Robert Spillane, stuffing him on the second attempt that drew a celebratory bodybump from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was watching the drill.
“His demeanor was telling,” Tomlin said. “It was exciting that he had an appetite for that action.”
The backs-on-backers drill is not the most telling from a physical or technique standpoint for Tomlin — that will come Thursday when the tight ends line against the outside linebackers in runblocking drills — but it is revealing about a player’s demeanor. That’s what he saw with Harris.
“Backs-on-backers is important because it’s more of an attitude drill, the opportunity to get to know these people,” he said. “And that was something about the drill that was exciting from my perspective.
“I think the most significant drill is the one we will run next time — tight ends vs outside linebackers, that ability to control the end of the line, of setting the edge of the defense. It is more revealing than any other compartmental drill we do.”
But there was little question what excited everyone the most: Harris taking a handoff from Roethlisberger (who was under center) and going 12 yards off the right side on the very first play of team drills.
The next couple carries weren’t so productive, including the final two when he was stopped for losses of 3 and 2 yards by outside linebacker Alex Highsmith. But Tomlin didn’t read too much into that because rookie Dan Moore Jr. was playing left tackle for Chuks Okorafor, who was held out of drills.
The first period of team drills was the only time defenders were allowed to tackle. The only other time it happened after that is when quarterback Dwayne Haskins and running back Kalen Ballage collided in the backfield and linebacker Calvin Bundage threw Ballage to the ground, irking Ballage.
“It was a good sample size, but a very small sample size,” Tomlin said of the running game in general and Harris in particular. “I’m not rushing to judge or seek comfort. We’re all in that mindset — we drafted a guy in the first round — and you can trick yourself into believing everything. ‘Boy, he’s ready to go.’ It was just one practice. It was a good practice. We’ll see what the subsequent practices have for us.”
The other significant element of the first padded practice was how Roethlisberger lined up in the offense. He took every snap in the first period under center when he handed off to Harris all four times. In the second period he lined in the shotgun and threw all four times. For the third period, he lined under center and ran play-action passes.
It’s all part of what new coordinator Matt Canada wants to do with his quarterback.
“We did some different things that were more football-related,” Tomlin said. “I thought the energy was good. There was some good, there was some bad, things you would expect on a day like today. It’s going to be fun to watch them progress in a lot of areas.”