Coming into training camp as an NFL rookie can be very eye-opening for a lot of reasons. From the physicality to the pace to the necessary conditioning needed, it can be a real wake-up call for young players who might think they’re in football shape but not truly in training camp shape.
Fortunately for Pittsburgh Steelers rookie linebacker Payton Wilson, he is prepared.
So much so, in fact, that head coach Mike Tomlin praised Wilson Sunday following Day 4 of training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
“He’s highly conditioned. I think it starts there, and it’s showing itself in the form of hustle and finish and sometimes hustle and finish puts you in position to do some of the things that you mentioned,” Tomlin said of Wilson to reporters, according to video via Steelers.com. “And so, we don’t ask a lot of the new guys, but we do ask him to come ready for the work.
“He is highly conditioned and appears to be in position in that regard, certainly.”
Conditioning and playmaking from Wilson have been impressive so far in training camp.
Each day ahead of practice, Wilson has been the first one down the steps to start his pre-practice routine, usually getting onto the field 25 minutes before practice is set to begin.
Then, once practice is underway, Wilson is doing quite bit for the Steelers defensively, getting some run with the first team in a number of situations and turning heads with some of the plays that he’s making thanks to his speed, athleticism and football IQ.
It helps that Wilson brings a great deal of maturity to the table at 24 years old and coming off six seasons at North Carolina State. Teammates have taken notice of Wilson so far in training camp with his maturity and playmaking abilities. Tomlin is too, crediting his conditioning.
You have to be on the field to make an impact, and Wilson’s preparation from a conditioning standpoint is giving him those opportunities to make an impact and force his way onto the field as a rookie. That is something he appears to be doing so far in training camp.
During his 18 years as head coach of the Steelers, Tomlin has often talked about his message to rookies before their first training camp, imploring them to be in the “best shape of their life” because they don’t know what that first lap around the track is going to be like.
Seems like Wilson got the message and is thriving.
