I'm in the 'Burgh with my fiancée visiting my parents for a few days - so, of course, I ditched all of them for a few hours and drove to Latrobe to catch my first ever Steelers training camp. It was interesting, and a lot of fun. I took a lot of pictures, so I apologize to those of you with slow connections. I'll start with my notes, and put pictures below...

Notes: this is going to be pretty stream of consciousness, just in the order I took them. Filling in as best as I can remember - I'm giving no guarantees as to the accuracy of this material! There's much more on the offense than the defense, as they were on the far field most of the time.

Passing Drills:

  Gerran Walker looked really good - he was worked quite a bit today, ran hard, and I didn't see him drop it once. I'm sure he's quite the long shot to make the team, but he was practicing hard and looking good. As for no drops... Willie Reid not so much. He looked really good some of the time, and not so great other times. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't see him making the final cut. He just seems too variable to me.

11 on 11s (I think):

  Jeremy Bloom looked pretty decent. They were working Mewelde Moore in the passing game a fair bit. Woodley did a nice job getting to Ben really quickly in one of the drills.

Kick Returns:

  Kickers always look small on TV next to the other players, but I have to say that Jeff Reed has some pretty big arms. Mendenhall took a couple of KR's, and looked decent at it. Moore also looked pretty good. Bloom took a return, practiced a spin move. 

I'm pretty sure I saw Big Snack walking slowly waaaay off in the distance. 

  Hines Ward and Heath Miller both had some nice catches in traffic. Mendenhall looked good running - he moved fast and had some nice looking moves.

  Moore had kind of an awkward catch on a PR, but fielded it and got going quickly.

7 on 7s + full team:

  FWP did a lot of practice receiving today - I don't know if we'll see it in the regular season, but it was nice to see today. All in all, I would say that they practiced the short passing game more than anything else. (Maybe Arians has been listening to us gripe)

  Nate Washington went deep and looked good almost catching a pass that was about half a foot off the ground. (As good as you can without actually pulling it off, anyway)

  Stapleton got some reps in with Big Ben. Holmes had a really nice high grab - got some cheers for that. (Picture down below) I really think Moore looks good carrying the ball - He's big in the upper body, and runs really low. It sure would be nice to see someone getting some tough yards this year.

  Dallas Baker had a pretty decent grab. Sweed doesn't back down from contact - he had a catch and then did his darndest to run straight through a defensive back. They had a lot of short throws to Moore. Another nice grab by Baker - from Dennis Dixon this time. Ward got decked pretty hard - collective gasp from the crowd, but he got up smiling like usual. Heath Miller is looking really good out there in the passing game. Matt Spaeth went long and pulled in a pass for 25 or 30 yards (easy) near the goal line - that got the biggest cheers of the day.

  Yet another pass to Moore - I'm really liking how he runs. Sweed got a slant thrown to him - didn't make much of it though... Dixon took a run - he really is pretty speedy.

Now for some pictures:

Silverback chatting before practice.

Nate shows off his new haircut.

"OK Bruce, I'm gonna need you to upgrade your play calling, m'kay?"

"Too far! Too far!!!"

Jonathan Dekker pulls one in - Dezmond Sherrod also got quite a few reps, but looked kind of rough IMO.

Gerran Walker grabbing one - I really thought he looked good out there.

Jeremy Bloom running hard.

Santonio goes up.

Mahan at center. (sigh)

Special delivery for a Mr. Ward...

Ben throwing on the run.

Hartwig in now - not sure if that's the 2cd team lineup.

One for Dallas Baker - I think that's Keyaron Fox just to his left.

Sorry, guys - Steely McBeam is back.

Ward looking awesome as usual.

Mendenhall shows off his stiff-arm.

I swear Santonio is like 3 feet off the ground here - he definitely got some cheers for that grab.

Mewelde Moore running.

Big Ben chats with his star receivers.

True Blue Fan, seen on the way home.

  I hope I was able to share a little bit of the training camp experience with those of you who can't make it this year. It was a lot of fun, and a cool opportunity to see some of what's going on with the team... Go Steelers!