Brought in to be that key leadership voice in a young secondary, Patrick Peterson took to the role like a fish to water for the Pittsburgh Steelers at the cornerback position.
Early on, Peterson gravitated towards the rookies in Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr. Peterson quickly saw the potential and the skillsets that the two brought to the table at the position. Things were going really well in training camp for the two young cornerbacks in Latrobe, too.
Until they weren’t.
Like fans everywhere, Peterson was really bummed out when Trice, a seventh-round pick out of Purdue, went down with a significant knee injury last week in training camp on the first day of padded practices, costing him his entire rookie season.
“He was just starting to show so much promise throughout camp, so much growth throughout camp,” Peterson said of Trice on a recent episode of the All Things Covered podcast. “Showing a real understanding of the game, and that’s always promising when you see young fellas, young guys being able to adapt at this stage.
“He was definitely trending, like we like to say in the football world. He was definitely trending in the right direction. It sucks to see him suffer that injury in practice, watching it on film, seeing it happen to a rookie that had so much promise coming into the season.”
On a day that was being celebrated across Steeler Nation as the pads came on for the first time in training camp at Saint Vincent College, Trice’s non-contact injury that caused him to be carted off and now has him in a full-leg knee brace and on Injured Reserve for the season took the wind out of the sails like a lead ballon rather quickly last week.
Trice, who was largely a Day 2 prospect leading up to the NFL Draft, fell to the seventh round due to medical concerns, which made for tremendous value for the Steelers when they drafted him. He is that long, physical cornerback that the Steelers are seemingly searching for and was believed to pair nicely with Porter at the position, maybe even potentially developing into a role as a rookie.
That won’t be the case now, and it stinks for a young cornerback like Trice who has already been through so much on and off the field in his young life.
But, for a veteran like Peterson who has been around the block and knows what to say in tough situations, he had some positive words of encouragement for Trice.
“I just told him that he’s been through it become. He understands the work and the grind and the dedication it’s going to take to get him back in this same situation he’s in now,” Peterson said, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “I know the player and the person that Trice is, so I don’t question that he’s going to do everything in his will to get back into position to be successful.”
It is incredibly unfortunate that it happened to Trice — again. He’s dealt with significant injuries in college that have wrecked entire seasons and ultimately cratered his draft stock, including a torn ACL. While it remains unknown what the true extent and nature of the injury is with Trice, this is something he’s gone through before.
Having that support from Peterson and his teammates is going to be key for the young cornerback in his road to recovery.
