Training camp can’t get here fast enough.

1 – I’ve made a vow not to talk OL till the pads go on and I’m struggling to bite my tongue.
2 – I hope we see some Slash with Dixon but the coaching staff has downplayed it so far. Secret weapon, maybe?
3 – I can’t wait to see Gay, Anthony Smith and McFadden. Gay looked great in preseason as rookie, Smith needs to take major steps to ensure this isn’t his final season in Pitt and McFadden is playing for $$$ (always great motivation).
4 – I’ve also made a vow to tout Kevin Marion every time we talk kickoff return, so GO Marion.
5 – Early money is on Baker and that’s ok with me, although Truth’s take on Rucker has me interested.

Like cgolden said, training camp can’t get here fast enough. I want to comment on all of these questions, but we’re so much at the point where you just have to wait and see them in game situations. Well, here it goes, I’ll just see what comes to me:

1) I really believe that Hartwig is going solidify the center of line, if he doesn’t get beat out by Stapleton. I think that we have enough young, somewhat experienced G prospects, that we should be in good shape as long as the center isn’t on his back half the time.

2) Dennis Dixon – I don’t see great value in using him like the Seahawks have used Seneca Wallace. The brilliance of the trick plays with Ward, El, and even Wilson were that they were all part of the standard offense. When they came on the field, it wasn’t an automatic warning to everyone that something is up. Every time Seneca Wallace is on the field, the TV crew comments on it, wondering what to expect, and he hasn’t made a trick play yet. Now, Holmgren may be setting up to use that sometime down the road, but it’s been 2-3 years now, and he’s never done anything that I can remember.

3) I think the DBs are in good shape. The key will be keeping Troy healthy, but even when he was out, until the NE game last year, we didn’t have a huge dropoff. William Gay should work his way into some playing time. Mundy may replace Carter and become Clark’s backup.

4) I’m really hoping that Fox can improve our coverage units. From everything that we read about him, he was a solid backup LB, but an excellent ST player. I’d love to see him become a ST ace, like some of the guys from my college days: Steve Tasker, Bill Bates, etc.

5) I have little expectation that Bloom will do anything. I would love to see Marion turn into our Devin Hester or Josh Cribbs. Also, he’s small enough that it may keep other teams from raiding him from us as a WR, and he can be our star KR for the next decade.

If Hills and/or Clement can surprise and step up in a big way, that will go a long way to settting us up for next offseason. Hills would soften the blow of losing Marvel, Max, or both (hopefully not both). Clement would also add some much needed youth to our depth and possibly put himself in line to replace Aaron Smith once he starts to fall off.

Ok, so I guess I could find some things to say. :)

I’m pumped. I’m actually going to get to go to training camp this year. A friend is getting married somewhere around there on August 2nd, so we’ll stick around and go to practice that Sunday.

I’ll agree with Cols that the real battle is between Reid and Baker. I read somewhere that Ben said both of them have had good off-seasons (Lolley maybe?). Both have legit shots at that spot, even though its starting to look like Reid won’t make it as a returner. As the Legursky cut has shown us, we have to be careful judging UDFA’s on numbers. I’m sure all the other teams looked at Rucker’s numbers before not drafting him, so it’s not like we have some insider knowledge that they didn’t. I haven’t heard much out of him from OTA’s, so I’d be happy but surprised if he made the team.

I have heard Marion’s name mentioned several times, though, so I’d give him some chance of making the team as a KR.

Who knows what’s going to happen on the OL, but most people closer to the team seem to think it will be a rather uncreative solution. The center battle may be the most competitive.

I also read that article about ST, and I don’t think it’s going to make things worse. Remember last year’s training camp when they brought out all these toys and stuff? That obviously didn’t help. I’d rather just have regular practices, with occasional intense coverage drills. I think we just need to get some personnel who are pumped about playing ST’s and we’ll at least be decent at kick coverage.

Finally, I hope ‘tonio doesn’t get a real look at a PR/KR. He was awful as a rookie, and he’s too valuable (and fragile) as a WR to waste him back there. If he makes it through a whole season without getting injured, then I’d start thinking about finding more snaps for him.

I typically check in with the Steeler blogs, because Dixon gave a lot of Oregon Duck fans a mancrush this last year because we went into last season not having any clue how it would shape out. Maybe we would squeak out a 7-5 season. We didn’t even know who would be the starting QB. He was, without a doubt the most improved player in the country. With that being said, I thought I’d give an overview of Dixon for you guys.

‘05 Sophomore: Early in the season, Dixon would go out and play towards the end of the game to finish out a win. After Oregon’s starter, Kellen Clemens went down with an injury, he started, but split time 50/50 with another QB. Dixon was decent, and was good at making a play after the pocket collapsed, but he would have a cold run every game with a few back-to-back three-and-out, and often forced to make something happen out of nothing. Often times that would result in a minimal loss sack. He also didn’t take time to read the defense. He was very much a young player. As you’ll see in the stats, he had quite a few runs compared to the number of attempts.

Stats (As Starter; Final 4 Games)
Passing
Att: 84 Comp: 54 Pct: 64.7 Yds: 647 TD: 5 Int: 1 Rating: 151.3

Rushing
Att: 32 Yds: 77 Avg: 2.7 TD: 0

‘06 Junior Year: Dixon was named to be the full time starter going into ‘06. Oregon started the year 4-0, and he led a comeback win against Oklahoma, albeit controversial (Not on Dixon’s part, but officiating). The remainder of the season, Oregon was very hit-and-miss, and largely because of Dixon. He would come out one game, throw 3 TDs, and the next he would toss 3 INTs. Dixon’s inconsistency become less inconsistent, and more consistently bad. He made poor reads, and poor throws.,
He eventually lost the starting job, and either split time, or he didn’t play at all.

Stats
Passing
Att: 322 Comp: 197 Pct: 61.2 Yds: 2143 TD: 12 Int: 14 Rating: 120.7

Rushing
Att: 94 Yds: 442 Avg: 4.7 TD: 2

‘07 Off Season: Dixon finished his sociology degree with a 3.27 GPA, and he got drafted by the Atlanta Braves. (Hit .176 in 74 rookie league games). Meanwhile, Oregon got a new offensive coordinator and also changed their offense from a spread offense to a spread option offense. The coaching staff was unhappy with Dixon’s choice to forgo summer camp, and to play baseball, but Dixon learned a lot of humility and other skills playing baseball. (.174 AVG will do that). He came back, and dedicated to work very closely with the new offensive coordinator. But still, the fans were unsure of what the QB situation would look like. We saw that he had talent, but all his talent was overshadowed by his mistakes.

‘07 Senior Year: Many people saying Oregon would be lucky to even make a bowl game. Oregon came out to prove something in ‘07. Rather quickly, Dixon eased the minds of fans everywhere when he went 5 games, and 147 attempts before his first toss was picked off. It never mattered on the opponent, 95% of the time Dixon made the right read, and made the right choice. He has massive hands, which helped him pull off some amazing play-actions, or to pull back the ball flawlessly on the option read. Many people referred to him as a magician, because somehow he would convince the entire defense that someone else had the ball. Instead of forcing plays, he capitalized on the defense’s mistakes. This was not the same player from ‘05 or ‘06. As the season progressed, Oregon suffered major injuries. The backup (Split-time) RB, 2 backup QBs and 3 WRs, yet despite these injuries, Dixon still lead the Ducks to wins. Their only loss prior Dixon’s injury was against Cal, and it was in a very dramatic fashion. Dixon was even able to get the ball to the WR, for a chance, but he fumbled it out of bounds, in the end zone. Despite the loss, Oregon moved up in the polls – nearly unprecedented in college football. When Dixon went down with his injury, it was apparent that he was all that kept this injured team winning. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He remained traveling with the team, trying to teach and coach the young 4th and 5th string QBs, help keeping the team motivated. Despite his injury, he gave 110% from the sidelines, he even practiced with the team. Day 1 of the NFL Draft, he was at Oregon’s spring game, on the sidelines helping the team.

Stats
Passing
Att: 254 Comp: 172 Pct: 66.41 Yds: 2136 TD: 20 Int: 4 Rating: 159.5

Rushing
Att: 105 Yds: 583 Avg: 6.19 TD: 9

I don’t think you want Dixon as a slash QB. I don’t know if you even want him to be in a game the first season. He can make the trick plays work. (‘07 Oregon ran a couple variations of the Statue of Liberty; and Flee-Flickers in addition to the already tricky Spread Option Offense, but nothing out of the WR position.)

The Steelers did draft a quality person, and a talented player. He became one of those players that are hard to let go. I don’t know if he’ll have a good NFL career or not, but he has the capability. He is a very diligent and dedicated person. Possibly great trade bait in a year or two.