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Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs Day 9 recap: When Ryan Shazier beats three wide receivers in a sprint

There might not have been a ton of breaking news coming out of the Steelers 9th OTA session, but there was a race with a surprising winner.

By Jeff.Hartman
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers were back to work Wednesday with their 9th voluntary OTAs workout. There was not a ton of news coming from the Rooney UPMC Practice Facility, but that doesn't mean nothing happened. Take a look at the run down of the latest workout.

Race Day

If you follow Vince Williams on social media, you never know what you are going to get. Some controversy, some hilarity, but what you always get is the genuine truth. After the Steelers broke their 9th workout of OTAs, Williams took to Twitter to announce a race. This isn't your middle school "I'll race you to the end of the gym" race. This was a race between world class athletes.

The heat was as follows: Ryan Shazier, Markus Wheaton, Antonio Brown and Sammie Coates.

One linebacker vs. three wide receivers. Take a look at how this unfolded.

It should be noted that Shazier ran a sub 4.4 40-yard dash before the 2014 NFL Draft, but it speaks volumes when Shazier beat players with track backgrounds (Wheaton) in a straight sprint. Linebackers aren't supposed to be that fast, but Shazier is proving he isn't your average linebacker as he enters his third year in the NFL.

Don't piss off Pouncey

The Steelers know what they have in center Maurkice Pouncey. A world class athlete which All-Pro talent. It shouldn't come as a shock to Steelers fans when offensive line coach Mike Munchak said he and Mike Tomlin will be mapping out Pouncey's workload this offseason.

This isn't a knock on backup center Cody Wallace. Wallace did a fine job in 2015 filling in for Pouncey, but he also is not half the athlete of Pouncey. When Pouncey showed up for the first day of OTAs, he talked about how pissed off he was by how much time he missed last season.

"I'm 26 years old. I'm doing everything," Pouncey told Jason Mackey of DKPittsburghSports.com. "I don't need time off. I'm pissed off that I missed a lot. I'm ready to go."

Despite Pouncey's public displeasure for getting days off, Munchak was singing a different tune when he spoke to media recently.

"We'll definitely have a plan for him, especially at training camp which is so much longer than these (OTAs)," Munchak said. "This stuff is important to him now, just to gain confidence when you miss a season like he did. He's been through it, unfortunately.

"With him, you don't see any hesitation at all. You'd never think he was injured. It was almost the same way when I came in. My first year here he was coming off an injury. Yet his tempo at practice, you never would have thought he missed a season. He's that type of player. It means a lot to him. He's very prideful. He doesn't want to miss anything because he wants to always get better.

"We have to be smart. You can't play scared and nervous about things happening, but you still have to be smart how much he does or what he does."

Guess Pouncey is going to be pissed off at training camp.

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