The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up their final day of their first OTA session of the 2012 season and below is a recap of news and information that surfaced on Twitter and the web today.
Brett Keisel returned to make the final practice after attending a family function. Jonathan Dwyer was excused to attend a family graduation. Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, Ike Taylor and Jerricho Cotchery all were reportedly given the day off. Remaining sidelined were Rashard Mendenhall (knee), Casey Hampton (knee) and Jason Worilds (hand/wrist?). Of course David DeCastro (school), Mike Adams (school), Alameda Ta\’amu (school) and Mike Wallace (holdout) remain absent. It is unknown if Ramon Foster (hamstring) was able to practice any of the three days this week.
Mark Kaboly reports that Marcus Gilbert says not to count him out at left tackle this season quite yet and that Gilbert called it his dream position. Kaboly quoted Gilbert as saying, “I\’m not counting it out 100% that they aren’t going to move me over to left. That’s my dream. My passion.”
Kaboly also said that he thought that wide receiver Juamorris Stewart looked good on Thursday and was the star of the day. Mike Prisuta reported that a lot of guys flashed during first three days of OTAs, but Baron Batch consistently caught his eye and he said that he is looking strong, quick and determined.
After the Thursday OTA session was over, Antonio Brown and Leonard Pope were still out catching balls from the JUGS machine according to Steelers Digest.
Ed Bouchette passed along word that Keenan Lewis said that he thinks that he will make the Pro Bowl this year.
steelers.com has a video recap of the first OTA session of the season up as well as a short interview with Keisel, who is sporting a fine beginnings of yet another beard.
The best news of all coming out of the first three days of off-season practice is that there appears to have been no serious injuries. The nature and the seriousness of the Worilds injury that had him sidelined all week is still unknown and that perhaps is the only real negative news to come out this week.
The Steelers will be back on the field next week for their second OTA session of the off-season.
