CB Cory Trice Jr. made it past an important milestone at training camp this year. He was turning heads during the 2023 offseason as a rookie but injured his knee on the first day of padded practice at last year’s training camp. He returned as a full participant at the start of training camp and has remained healthy through the first two padded practices. The only issue is, he hasn’t been receiving a ton of work to compete for the top depth corner job behind Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Jackson.
Through the first two days, Trice received barely any mentions in Alex Kozora’s daily training camp diaries other than some third-team work as an outside corner. On Day 3, Kozora noted that he appeared to be losing or splitting reps with Thomas Graham Jr. There really hasn’t been much to note on him. Many thought he would be in competition with Darius Rush for the top depth spot at outside corner.
Teryl Austin was asked about Trice after Wednesday’s practice and discussed where he is and what the plan might be for him moving forward in training camp.
“I think he’s in the right spot. He’s taking reps in terms of getting himself back in football shape,” Austin said in a transcript provided by the team.
It is worth noting that during spring practices, Trice told the media he had not been fully cleared for contact. He didn’t have a normal offseason of training and preparing his body for football in the same way that other players did. His focus was primarily on rehabbing his knee and strengthening that area of his body. Up until the start of camp, he had been wearing a knee brace during practice.
“Cory is a great young man, a really sharp football player, and has done some good things,” Austin said. “He just hasn’t had a ton of reps as of now, but as camp goes on, you’ll see his reps ramp up a bit more to give him an opportunity to compete and get back in the mix for some play time.”
The start of camp hasn’t been promising for Trice, but that probably should have been expected given the timetable of being recently cleared. The Steelers still like some of his traits as a football player, and he has the ideal body type for what they have been looking for at the position lately. Now he is just biding his time until the opportunity arises. Then we should be hearing a lot more about Trice’s progress and have a much better idea if he has a chance to become the top outside corner depth.
Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo noted that the team is intrigued by Trice but is not counting on him in an interview with 93.7 The Fan earlier in the offseason. By no means are they relying on Trice, a former seventh-round pick, to develop. But it sure would be nice.
