Pittsburgh Steelers Training Camp Recap: Friday, August 7th

On Saturday, Jerome Bettis will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Sunday the Steelers will play in their first pre-season game. What went down at practice Friday? Let's find out:

CB Brandon Boykin looking good

Boykin ended up with an interception in the slot on a seven-on-seven drill, a feat that earned a handshake from coach Mike Tomlin, according to Steelers.com. Boykin also got some reps outside, playing on the right side during 11-on-11 drills. Checking him out in both positions could be a relief for Boykin who was tired of being relegated to the slot with the Eagles.

Other plays and people worth mentioning

• TE Matt Spaeth is primarily known for his blocking abilities, rarely targeted by Big Ben. Today, however, he had two receptions.
• Mixed bag for Kevin Fogg, who had a strong play against Matt Spaeth, but struggled to cover Antonio Brown. Thankfully, Antonio Brown is a teammate, and if Fogg makes the squad he won't need to worry about covering the best receiver in the entire NFL.
• Stephon Tuitt, on the other hand, apparently had a successful play against AB, knocking him out of bounds.
• Landry Jones struggled a bit today after some buzz that he was looking better than usual during training camp. Jones will have a big role on Sunday.
• Tomlin also commented on some of his goals for Sunday's game: "We want to play clean, and by clean I mean no pre-snap or post-play penalties.... I want us to understand situational football: The unwritten rules of the game and how the game changes."

Lots of guys got the day off

There was a long list of guys who had the day off. First, James Harrison and Ben Roethlisberger went up to Canton, OH early with linebackers coach Joey Porter.  Sitting out or very limited in practice were: Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, Robert Golden, Mike Mitchell, Shamarko Thomas, Cortez Allen, Ross Ventrone, Isaiah Lewis, Daniel McCullers, Ramon Foster, Health Miller, and Vince WIlliams.

Injuries have become a tiresome theme at this year's training camp, but hopefully most of these injuries are minor and will be resolved by the time the regular season rolls around. One of the new additions to the injury list is Vince Williams, who reportedly injured his hamstring on Thursday, leaving the field on a cart.

Clifton Geathers was placed on IR today. The Steelers replaced him with DE Joe Okafor.