LATROBE, Pa. — There's no air conditioning in the dorm rooms, the mattresses are stuffed with horsehair, two padded practices a day, seven days a week, and live batting practice.
For former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Craig Wolfley, 66, training camp at St. Vincent College was a completely different environment than when he trained under legendary coach Chuck Noll in the 1980s. The Steelers put on pads and practiced twice each day, first in the morning, working on the running game and then in the afternoon, focusing on the passing game.
“I didn't even dry my pants or jersey between practices,” Wolfley recalled. “I was soaked with sweat, I'd just hand it over to the ball boy and he'd throw it in the dryer for a few minutes before practice.”
Wolfrey, now a Steelers radio commentator, jokes that he may have earned a degree from St. Vincent College thanks to the grueling six-week camps he attended as a player, but even he has heard veterans like Andy Russell talk about the marathon nine-week camps that strained players' bodies and tested their willpower in the 1960s and '70s.
“The blood, sweat and tears that went into training camp really brought us together as a team,” Wolfrey said. “Chuck Noll's training camp was never about making the team. It was always about living in the moment.”
#FBF To Franco & Lynn #SteelersCamp1983. pic.twitter.com/Qir6iBLMl9
— Steelers History (@SteelersHistory) August 2, 2024
For generations of football players, from peewee to high school to college to the pros, long, physical days of hitting were the norm. The more hits you took, the stronger you got. At least, that's what was thought.
But times have changed, and so has the way teams prepare for the season.
Athletes now train year-round, reducing the need to get in shape before the season. At the same time, two-a-day practices were eliminated under the 2011 CBA rules. The physical demands have also been greatly reduced. Today, at many NFL training camps, if you see a ball carrier or receiver get tackled to the ground, it's usually an accident.
“I don't know how many NFL teams have full tackles,” Steelers quarterback Justin Fields said, “if they do, it's probably less than three.”
Fields' observation got us thinking: How many teams actually play tackle during camp? AthleticTwenty-four of 32 reporters (75% of the league) said the teams they cover rarely or never tackle players to the ground. Four teams occasionally tackle in practice, but do so briefly, usually with second- or third-team players on the edge of the roster. Three teams — Andy Reid's Chiefs, Mike McDaniel's Dolphins and Dan Campbell's Lions — tackle frequently.
Mike Tomlin's Steelers are outliers in many ways. When veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts arrived in Latrobe for a three-week destination camp last season, he, like Fields, was initially surprised.
“I thought the tackle was really effective in camp,” said Roberts, who spent four years with the Patriots and three with the Dolphins before joining the Steelers. “It was good, but it was unexpected.”
On a typical day with pads on, you can often see the Steelers working on full live tackling. Each practice starts with a drill called “Seven Shots” (seven chances from the two-yard line), which is often done at full force with starters like Najee Harris and key rotation players like Jalen Warren getting tackled and taken to the ground. Even in many other 11-on-11 situations, the Steelers still see the value of live tackling, including short-yardage and goal-line drills. Additionally, twice this training camp, the Steelers have staged energized backs in “backer's drills,” where high-speed collisions simulate live pass-protection situations.
#Steelers Friday night light practice with Bucks vs. Bucks drills is exciting! 👀🍿
Elandon Roberts vs Jalen Warren 😱
Patrick Queen vs Najee Harris 💪🎥: @sltphoto/Instagram pic.twitter.com/CskOe8px1Q
— Steelers Update (@SteelersUpdate1) August 3, 2024
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When the Steelers pack up and move out of their St. Vincent dorm rooms on Wednesday, they will have come away from arguably the most physical training camp in the league.
“You can't box without sparring,” Tomlin said. “We play intense, competitive matches, and we're not doing our guys justice if we don't create an environment that reflects what awaits us.”
In 2007, at age 34, Tomlin became the youngest head coach in NFL history, inheriting a veteran-studded team that featured many of the same players who had hoisted the Lombardi Trophy with Bill Cowher in 2005.
During Latrobe's first training camp, Tomlin set the tone and, in a sense, proclaimed that there was a new sheriff in town: This was no longer Cowher's team.
“He came in and wanted to set an example and establish his toughness,” said former Steelers lineman Max Starks, who played three seasons under Cowher and six under Tomlin. “He wasn't going to let anybody take comfort in that. We were hitting every day we could until Week 13 of the regular season, which was unheard of.”
But in a long season, more isn't always better. The hits took a toll on a veteran-laden team. The Steelers started 9-3 but then lost steam late, dropping three of their final four regular-season games before being eliminated from the playoffs by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round.
“He did the right thing,” Starks said, “and we got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs because he needed to understand how veteran this team is and that he can play lightly during the week and then go all out on the weekend.”
Mike Tomlin (right) and Ben Roethlisberger attended Coach Tomlin's first training camp with the Steelers in 2007. (Joseph Sargent/Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
During his time under Coach Tomlin, Starks watched as the coach learned from experience and fine-tuned his approach. The Steelers continued to take hits frequently in camp, but Tomlin learned to limit them and take care of his veteran players with rest periods. As expected, the Steelers got a late surge in Year 2 under Coach Tomlin, winning six of their final seven games to finish the season with a 12-4 record. The team rode that momentum to win their sixth Lombardi Trophy.
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“He doesn't take a lot of pride in stepping back and saying, 'Hey, we can do this better,'” Starks said. “That's why you see the sustained model of success he's created: It was too hard at first. OK, now we just back off.”
Tomlin is now in his 17th season, at age 52, and has gone from being the league's youngest head coach to being the NFL's longest-tenured head coach. That first training camp at Latrobe feels like a lifetime ago.
“Oh, those were different times,” Tomlin said. “It was the Middle Ages.”
Even the oldest players on the Steelers' current roster, Russell Wilson and Cameron Heyward (both 35), have never participated in two-a-day practices at the NFL level – a practice that was banned under the new CBA in 2011, Hayward's first year in the league and a year before Wilson was drafted. (The NCAA eventually followed suit, ending two-a-day contact practices in 2017.)
There's no doubt that Tomlin's philosophy has evolved to some extent. Padded practices have been significantly scaled back during the season per the CBA. When Tomlin forces the Steelers to wear pads during the season, it's often to show they're not going to be as physical on Sundays. Even early in camp, Tomlin has held veterans like TJ Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Hayward back to protect them from themselves.
Tomlin also purposely scheduled training camp practices during the hottest parts of the day to create adversity, before changing his approach with a new strength and conditioning staff to practice in the cooler early hours.
At the same time, the coach remains keenly aware of the value of creating game-like situations at Latrobe, and so do the players.
“The way we do Seven Shots, I don't think anyone else in the country does it,” Fields said. “The way we practice, the level of focus that everybody has, it's so competitive here. I wouldn't want it any other way.”
Iron sharpens iron⚔️
📸: https://t.co/tg8VtjVLDf | Acrisure pic.twitter.com/EeHTbUWz7v
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) August 12, 2024
In addition to preparing starters for the season, the physical workouts in camp are a key evaluation tool. Two seasons ago, Warren joined the team as an unheralded, undrafted rookie running back with a junior college background. His demeanor off the pads caught the attention of coaches during early back-on-back drills and ultimately earned him a spot on the roster. Now, he's one of the best pass-protecting backs in the league.
“I love it,” Warren said when asked about the environment Tomlin creates. “It's hard every day, but I love what it brings and what it creates.”
“Physical” has been a word on many players' lips this camp in particular. When the Steelers hired Arthur Smith, known for his run-heavy, tight-end-friendly offense, the new offensive coordinator stressed that he wanted to have the most physical offense in the league. That buzzword has carried over to the practice field.
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“Whether it's getting in the run game or getting yards after the catch, he wants all 11 guys to be physical,” wide receiver Van Jefferson said. “He wants a physical offense. He's been instilling that in us since Day 1.”
What does all this mean when the season finally gets underway? Coaches often say that coaching a football team doesn't come with a manual, and while there's no perfect answer as to how much hitting is appropriate (and how much is too much), the Steelers believe that through their physical approach, they've begun to establish an identity that will carry them through the season.
“Other teams know what to expect when they play the Steelers,” Warren said. “They can see what we've built here.”
(Top photo: Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
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