Steelers News: Camp, Shazier, Boykin

The Steelers draft picks have been made and the offseason workout program is in full swing.

Steelers season never truly ends for Steeler Nation so while the team starts to put in the work to prepare for the 2016 NFL season we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Thursday, June 9^th.

Training Camp Schedule

We’re all dying a slow and painful death without Steelers football but the best parts of summer is almost here. The Steelers will report to the dorms at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe at the end of July and on Wednesday the team released the full training camp schedule. 

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The schedule includes the 14 total practices that are open to the public as well as the annual night practice held at Latrobe Memorial Stadium. The Steelers will have their first practice open to the public on Friday, July 29^th and their last open practice will be Tuesday, Aug. 16^th.

Plenty of time to get out and enjoy the sights and sounds of Steelers training camp. Truly a one-of-a-kind experience that every Steelers fan needs to partake in at least once. The Steelers will have a joint practice with the Detroit Lions on Tuesday, Aug. 9^th and Wednesday, Aug. 10^th.

Holy crap that’s fast

The Steelers made a significant move to get faster on defense when they drafted linebacker Ryan Shazier out of Ohio State in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Now we get to see just how fast they can be.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler explains that through Steelers linebacker Vince Williams’ Twitter updates you can see there was a friendly race between Shazier and the team’s top receivers including Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton and Sammie Coates. They all ran the 40-yard dash and Shazier smoked them.

"Shazier lack of body hair makes him more aerodynamic. This allows him to tap into the Speed force"

I’d foresee a breakout season for Shazier, topping last season where he collected 87 tackles and 2 forced fumbles.

Hip injury

Rarely do you find an instance where a former Steelers player would have anything less than positive or encouraging to say about the team and franchise. Free agent cornerback Brandon Boykin isn’t exactly speaking ill of the Steelers now but he’s apparently blaming defensive backs coach Carnell Lake for starting a rumor.

According to PFT’s Mike Florio it seems that Boykin is having trouble finding NFL employment since being released by the Carolina Panthers earlier this offseason. On Tuesday the PPG’s Ed Bouchette said in a Q&A that he heard Boykin had a potentially career-ending hip injury and that was keeping him from being employed.

Next: Steelers Bud Dupree expectations

Boykin, who just worked out for the Dallas Cowboys, is saying that he has no injuries and he’s blaming Lake for starting the rumor about his hip. Looks like at this point it would make sense of why Boykin wasn’t making it on the field last year for the Steelers and why Carolina released him so quickly after signing him.