Watch Practices That Are the Most Spirited of the Year

Simply watching practice is enough for many fans and not just because it is their first glimpse of the Steelers in six months. The pads pop when the players are in full uniform and hitting in some form is a necessity as camp is where whittling a 90-man roster down to 53 and the competition for starting jobs really starts.

The practices are spirited and feature 11-on-11 drills as well as one-on-one competition between different position groups such as receivers vs. defensive backs in passing drills and linebackers vs. running backs in blocking drills.

The best drill at camp is the goal-line competition in which the ball is placed at the 1-yard line and the offense has to score a running touchdown against the defense.

The Steelers do goal-line once or maybe twice during camp and it is never announced beforehand. It could be at the annual Friday practice at Memorial Stadium in nearby Latrobe (more on that night later) or it could be on a Sunday afternoon a week or two into camp with Tomlin wanting to add a charge to practice.

The goal-line drill is no-holds-barred hitting and tackling and competition at its crackling best, and it turned Isaac Redman into something of a folk hero in 2009. Redman arrived at camp that year as an undrafted free agent out of Bowie State, a Division II school in Maryland.

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, center, shares a laugh with the officials taking part in practice sessions at the team’s training camp at St. Vincent College, Friday, August 6, 2004, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Mark Genito)

He distinguished himself as more than just a body at camp by excelling in the two goal-line drills the Steelers held that year, scoring on seven of nine carries.

I’ll never forget Redman bulling his way into the end zone repeatedly during his first goal-line drill and then what happened after practice. Reporters flocked to Redman and as he answered questions, Tomlin walked past him on the way to his daily post-practice briefing.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Isaac,” the coach said coolly.

Translation: You ain’t done squat yet, rookie, so wrap this interview up.

Redman led the Steelers that preseason with 145 rushing yards. After spending a year on the practice squad he played for the Steelers from 2009 to 2013 and rushed for 1,148 yards and five touchdowns during that span.

He scored the decisive touchdown in the final minutes of the Steelers’ 13–10 win at Baltimore in 2010, willing his way into the end zone on the nine-yard pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Without that win, the Steelers wouldn’t have gone to the Super Bowl that season, making Redman’s rise from obscurity another reason to watch practice.

Nothing stirs the imagination more than seeing a young, unheralded player emerge at camp—and later make a defining play of a season.