Latrobe Lowdown: Camp Tomlin Begins in 12 Days

We are now less than two weeks away from the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2012 Training Camp, and for the first time since Head Coach Mike Tomlin took over the reigns from former coach William Laird Cowher, fans and players alike will be learning to deal with wholesale changes to the team.

The Steelers enter 2012 with a new Offensive Coordinator in Todd Haley, who brings with him a radically different offensive scheme than we have seen in Pittsburgh.  Many new faces will be moving into the dorms at St. Vincent College, including a slew of highly-rated draft picks.  The team will be entering their first season without longtime veteran leaders Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke, and James Farrior.  The Steelers are also dealing with a volatile contract situation with WR Mike Wallace, an issue that may prove to loom large as the season grows closer.

The media-fueled controversy between QB Ben Roethlisberger and Haley has died down.  It seems that despite learning a new system for the first time in his career, Roethlisberger is more focused than ever on bringing home another Lombardi trophy to the Steel City.  The running back position will be interesting to watch, as starter Rashard Mendenhall will be shelved for an indefinite amount of time while finishing his recovery from a torn ACL sustained in the regular season finale last winter.  The man on deck to inherit the starter load of carries is former undrafted free agent Isaac Redman, who parlayed a start in the AFC Wild Card game versus Denver into a 121-yard performance.  He will be sharing duties with Jonathan Dwyer, John Clay, Baron Batch, and rookie speedster Chris Rainey.

We have many questions to answer before the Steelers kick off the regular season in Denver on September 9th.  The Steelers will be riding right into the fire this season, becoming the first opponent for future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning in Broncos jersey.  In addition to that, the team will be returning to the site of one of their most disappointing postseason losses in recent history AND doing all of this on the prime time stage.  Between now and September 9, our staff will be following the Steelers with wall to wall coverage of Camp Tomlin 2012, the preseason, and many articles predicting and analyzing every tidbit of information on the 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Our “Latrobe Lowdown” series will include:

– Daily recaps of the happenings in Latrobe.

– A live report from Steelers Training Camp on the weekend of August 4-5.

– Breakdowns of each position, with a look at every player in camp and where they stack up as camp begins.

– A detailed look at the 2012 Steelers schedule, including predictions and analysis on each game.

– A look at the fantasy football value of the Steelers offensive players.

Be sure to read Nice Pick Cowher every day between now and the start of Training Camp on August 25 to get the best insight and analysis on what should prove to be a very exciting Steelers season.

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