5 takeaways from day 3 of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished their third training camp practice yesterday. Here are the players who stood out in a big way.

Sunday’s training camp practice was full of excitement, and a few surprisingly hard hits (given the situation). There were positives and negatives to note for the Steelers.

Pittsburgh had nearly a full staff on hand again as they took the field for their 3rd practice. Here are the five biggest takeaways from day three in Latrobe:

JuJu is legit

If you knew nothing about the Steelers (or football, for that matter), but were in attendance at Saint Vincent College yesterday, it was clear to see that JuJu Smith-Schuster was far-and-away the best receiver on the football field.

Though he didn’t always separate clean, he caught just about everything thrown his way – even when players like Joe Haden were draped all over him. JuJu looks like the real deal so far.

Ola Adeniyi had a great day

I wasn’t able to catch every rep of Ola Adeniyi (as is the issue with so many players practicing at the same time), but everything I caught looked very good.

Adeniyi showed active hands and a violent rip-pull move around the edge. He humiliated tackle Jerald Hawkins on a few reps. Ola may just be 21, but he’s playing like one of the seasoned veterans out there. Oh, and he was even the first player to greet Ryan Switzer down the field during punt coverage.

Diontae Johnson was impressive

Though he still had a few concentration drops, rookie receiver, Diontae Johnson, was overall impressive. He displayed fantastic release off the line of scrimmage and torched Brian Allen for a deep score in one-on-ones.

Johnson also added a pair of touchdowns in seven shots today. It was a promising outing from the 3rd round draft choice.

Dan McCullers is really strong

This is something I’m sure you already knew, but I felt like it needed to be addressed anyway. Though he doesn’t offer much in terms of lateral movement, McCullers can’t be anchored against.

The massive defensive tackle won nearly every one-one-one rep as he marched his way to the quarterback. This is the best I have seen him look so far in his career, but keep your expectations reasonable.

Defensive backs played well

This is really broad, but fairly true. With the exception of Brian Allen, most of the defensive backs had a solid day at camp. I was impressed with the mirroring ability of Justin Layne, while Steven Nelson has a physicality about him that I love.

Terrell Edmunds showed fantastic closing speed and good ability to immediately break on routes. It was a good showing for this group today.

The Steelers had an exciting third practice in Latrobe on Sunday. I will continue to provide my takes as camp rolls along.