With rookie minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex wrapping up this weekend, it offered the Steelers a chance to get their eyes not only on their 2025 draft class, but a number of other players, as well, who are hoping to make an impression.
But the three-day camp goes well beyond that. It's also an opportunity for the coaching staff to begin building the foundation of what's expected from the group moving forward.
In that regard, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin deemed the camp a success.
"We got some on-field work and development of skill relative to the positions that they play," Tomlin said Saturday. "But it's also just an introduction to the organization. We had a rookie dinner last night. We gave them a tour of the Steelers (Hall of Honor) Museum at the stadium, for example. So there's an education going on on a lot of fronts, and it's fun to get to know the guys and how they learn their talents, how their body works, how they take in information, how to communicate.
"Obviously we're at ground zero, but it's a great opportunity to get better on days like today, and they've been really engaged. And so the process has been fun."
One of the players for which that process is even more demanding is rookie quarterback Will Howard, a sixth-round draft pick out of Ohio State. Howard and fellow rookie Seth Morgan, a player here on a tryout basis from New Hampshire, are the only two quarterbacks in attendance at this session.
While the other offensive and defensive players only have to hear play calls once, quarterbacks not only have to hear the play call coming in, they then have to repeat it to the group – correctly.