For the first time since before most of the parents of most of the current players were born, the Pittsburgh Steelers will not be headed to Saint Vincent College next month for training camp.
By directive of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell out of concerns relating to the coronavirus pandemic, all teams are to hold training camps at their on-site facilities. While roughly two-thirds of the league does that anyway, this will mark a significant change in preseason routine for the Steelers. They have been training at Saint Vincent since 1966.
Veteran cornerback Steven Nelson, though, isn’t concerned that will impact the Steelers’ preparations for the season.
“I don’t think it’s going to have a great big effect on us,” Nelson said Thursday in a video conference call with media. “Coach (Mike) Tomlin runs a pretty tight ship, and it’s all about getting prepared and ready for battle. We’re are all professionals, so we can handle it.”
Tomlin is enamored with running his camp out of the Saint Vincent campus in Unity Township. He annually gushes about its benefits in terms of team-building and avoiding distractions.
Local Steelers fans expressed a range of emotions Wednesday after learning that the #Steelers won’t be holding their training camp at @MySaintVincent this summer because of new NFL guidelines prompted by the covid-19 pandemic.https://t.co/XXW9MQzjGe
— TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) June 4, 2020
Functionally, though, the Steelers have three outdoor and one indoor field, in addition to medical, training and weightlifting equipment available at their UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The meeting rooms used throughout the season are more expansive than what is available at a small private college, too.
In this unique offseason, navigating the modifications made in light of the unprecedented circumstances of a worldwide pandemic figure to be more difficult to overcome than the change in venue.
Organized team activities typically held at the facility instead have been conducted over video call.
“We are taking things pretty well not being able to get to OTAs like we normally do, so we’ll just that this (camp moving) as another bump in the road, if you will say,” Nelson said. “Whatever we have to do in terms of adjustments, we will take care of it and we will be successful either way.”
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