After practice concluded Wednesday in Latrobe at Saint Vincent College, C Mason Cole took some time to speak with Craig Wolfley about his thoughts this far about training camp in Latrobe as well as the competition he and the rest of the offensive line have with each other going on throughout training camp.
When asked by Wolfley about the continuity of the offensive line and if the group is coming together as training camp goes on, Cole acknowledged the development of chemistry with his fellow offensive linemen as the group starts to gel prior to Pittsburgh’s first preseason game.
“There’s obviously still a lot of things we still need to clean up and work on, but I think every day as a group we’re getting a little better,” Cole responded to Wolfley on video via Steelers Live. “Just keep kind of chopping away get better each day. It’s been fun man, working with these guys and I think as time goes on, we’re going to be a really good group.”
Cole’s comments match up with the reports coming out of training camp that the offensive line looks notably better than the unit that took the field last season, already stringing together several good days of work according to Steelers Depot’s own Alex Kozora who has been covering every practice.
Given the infusion of talent with Cole and James Daniels inside at C and RG along with Dan Moore Jr., Chukwuma Okorafor, Kevin Dotson, and Kendrick Green coming off a full offseason of development, one could reasonably expect Pittsburgh’s OL to be a better unit than the one that took a lot of backlash last season due to their poor performance in the run game as well as consistently keeping Ben Roethlisberger upright in the pocket.
While chemistry and familiarity for an OL will take live reps to develop, it appears that the unit is starting to gel with one another prior to preseason action. If the offensive line can rise from being one of the worst units in football in 2021 to just middle of the pack in 2022, Pittsburgh’s offense could be set up to surprise many this season.
