When Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin announced during his Friday afternoon press conference that tight end Heath Miller would start training camp off on the PUP list it wasn\’t a surprise. Also not surprising was Miller\’s avoidance of the media when he arrived at Latrobe. On Saturday, however, the veteran tight end finally addressed questions concerning the ongoing rehab of his surgically repaired knee that he injured late last year against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I\’m not sure,” said Miller when asked if he thinks he\’ll know when he\’s ready to return. “I\’m sure it will be a collective decision made by a lot of people. So, like I said, I try not think about the big picture too much and just approach everyday and try and get better.”
Miller was next asked if he is able to do more than he was doing back at mini camp.
“I\’m pretty much doing the same, just trying to get better at what I was doing,” said Miller. “You know, mini camp was just a few weeks ago, so it wasn\’t that long ago. So just get better and better and get more comfortable with what I\’m doing.”
While Miller admits it will be tough watching his teammates practice with him still on the sideline rehabbing, he knows he just has to deal with it and do whatever the training staff wants him to do on a daily basis.
“I\’m just going to do what coach and John (Steelers head trainer John Norwig) tells me to do,” said Miller. “I know what time I\’m showing up this afternoon, so I\’ll see what they have in store for me.”
With both Miller and David Johnson on PUP, Matt Spaeth and David Paulson will see plenty of reps during training camp and that\’s not necessarily a bad thing. Speaking of Spaeth, he talked on Friday about the possibility of Miller being ready for the season opener.
“He’s so professional in everything that he does,” said Spaeth. “I don’t know his timeline or what’s going to happen. I don’t want to make predictions but I’d say this, he’s so professional, he does everything exactly by the book and he works hard and he’s working really hard at getting back. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was back (for the start of the regular season).”
