In addition to poor play over the course of the last two seasons, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Cortez Allen has also battled injuries. This year, however, the former fourth-round draft pick is looking to stay healthy and on the field thanks to him changing up his offseason training program that included him working alongside one of his veteran defensive teammates.
Upon arriving to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe on Saturday for training camp, Allen revealed that he’s spent the last several weeks training with linebacker James Harrison and his people, presumably in Arizona.
“I got the chance to work with some of Harrison’s people, work on correcting some things,” said Allen, according to Teresa Varley of steelers.com. “They are good at what they do. The type of person James is, he is a real professional when it comes to taking care of his body. I knew that so I wanted to work around those guys and who they work with. I knew the type of wisdom he had about taking care of his bodies.
“You can learn so much from James. You don’t have to talk. You can just look at him. The same as all of the veteran guys I have been fortunate to play with. You can just watch them work, you don’t have to hear them talk, the way they carry themselves as men and players speaks for them.”
After signing a new long-term deal just prior to the start of the 2014 season, Allen proceeded to play poorly in the first seven games. That led to him being benched by head coach Mike Tomlin and from that point forward he only contributed on special teams until a thumb injury in Week 11 ultimately ended his season for good.
With the 2014 season now hopefully out of his mind, Allen will look to rebound in 2015 and start showing that he deserves to be a starting cornerback in the league. He is scheduled to enter training camp this as a starter once again and it’s good to see that he spent extra time with Harrison and his people working hard to ensure his injury problems get left behind along with his poor play.
“Last year was frustrating. Any time things don’t go your way you get a little bit of frustration,” Allen told Varley. “Through those trials it makes you stronger. That is what it did. You learn more about yourself and I learn more every day.”
