For many, training camp can be a drag throughout the summer due to the heat, practicing against the same guys over and over again, and really going through the same process day after day.
For Pittsburgh Steelers’ All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the return to Saint Vincent College for Steelers’ training camp is one he’s been excited for all offseason. Arriving Tuesday in Latrobe, Watt spoke to assembled media members and talked about how excited he was to be back.
Not only are the Steelers back at Saint Vincent College for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic that kept training camp at then-Heinz Field, they’re back in an intimate training camp setting overall, living in dorm rooms with teammates, rather than in their own homes or hotel rooms. That time together will only help the Steelers, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year award winner stated Tuesday, according to video via the Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski.
“I’m excited to be back, excited to see a lot of the guys, and I feel really good about the offseason,” Watt said to reporters Tuesday, according to video via Adamski. “Spending time together; there’s no escape here. We’re all going to be around each other, whether that’s on the field or in the training room. Everything is so compact here, where it’s easy to take a young guy under your wing and show him how things go. A lot of stories, past stories, future stories, a lot of building camaraderie that’s necessary to make a run in the playoffs.”
Being back at Saint Vincent College will certainly help build that camaraderie aspect for the Steelers. As Watt said, things are much more compact in Latrobe with the players living amongst each other for a few weeks in dorm rooms like they’re back in college, forcing them to interact with each other on and off the field.
Could it be that’s what was missing the last few years for the Steelers, especially down the stretch? Maybe, though that wasn’t the only thing missing from the team in back-to-back late-season struggles and woeful losses in the playoffs. Make no mistake though: the time spent in Latrobe the next few weeks and the grind that the Steelers will go through with 23 practices in 29 days on Chuck Noll Field at Saint Vincent College will humble the Steelers from top to bottom, tearing them all down before building them back up before the start of the regular season.
Steelers’ football in Latrobe in the summer: just as it always was meant to be.
