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In his weekly press conference on Thursday morning, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talked about the teams progress through the 2020 training camp “ramp up” period. With the team progressing to wearing helmets for this past Wednesday’s practice, Coach Tomlin is looking forward to the Steelers getting into full pads come Monday.
So how will training camp in 2020 look once the players are in full gear and ready to go? According to Coach Tomlin, he hopes it would look much the same as it would in years past. Although he is hopeful, Tomlin did admit his staff may have to adjust their plans on Monday depending on if players conditioning and overall readiness are not where they need to be according to Steelers reporter Missi Matthews.
Coach Tomlin says his staff's intent to go through normal #SteelersCamp drills when the pads go on Monday, but they might need to alter their plans depending on conditioning/level of learning.
— Missi Matthews (@missi_matthews) August 13, 2020
Exactly what drills are being referenced by Coach Tomlin? Hopefully will get our first news of the Steelers doing their “Seven shots” drill to begin practice along with various matchups from “backs on backers” to name a few.
To say training camp this season has been different would be quite the understatement. With the Steelers not traveling to St Vincent college in Latrobe for the first time in over 50 years, holding camp at Heinz Field is obviously a change of scenery. Also, instead of coming off the Hall of Fame Game in preparation for what was to be a matchup at Heinz Field Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Steelers are preparing to be in full gear for the first time next week.
Even without any preseason games, Coach Tomlin recognizes there is a lot of work to be done in camp in order to be ready come Week 1 when the Steelers travel to face the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. According to Teresa Varley of Steelers.com, Tomlin realizes there are still a lot of steps which need to take place in order for the Steelers to be ready to go “in stadium.”
Coach Tomlin said there are boxes that need to be checked between now and when they step into a stadium on Sept. 14 against the New York Giants.
— Teresa Varley (@Teresa_Varley) August 13, 2020
As the Steelers continue with the preparation for the 2020 season, they did released the news Thursday morning that running back Jaylen Samuels has been removed from the Reserve/COVID-19 List as he was the last player from the Steelers to activated. With no reports of any other injury situations, the Steelers look to be headed into Monday’s first padded practice with all players available.
Although it’s been a long process, fans are ready for news of the Steelers holding “real” practices for the first time in 2020. And by all indications, Coach Tomlin and his coaching staff feel the same way.