LATROBE, PA (93.7 The Fan) – It seems like a very high school thing for players in their 20s to 30s to have to run a lap when they make a mistake. It’s something the Steelers have implemented in training camp this year for a specific group.
Currently, if an offensive lineman has a false start or a center has a bad snap, coaches call out a penalty and have him run a lap. They started doing it with defensive linemen for offside penalties.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called it “a teaching tool.” Rookie center Zach Frazier said it was first suggested by special teams coach Danny Smith and then players took it to other coaches. They see it as a way to keep everyone accountable.
“Art (offensive coordinator Arthur Smith) said it was kind of like a ‘high school Harry,’ going back to the old school,” sophomore offensive lineman Spencer Anderson said. “I think it’s good because, knock on wood, I don’t want to go around. I want to be focused on cadence because that’s just an energy drain for no reason because you’re not focused.”
Troy Fautanu, Keeanu Benton, Willington Previlon, Joey Fisher, Anderson Hardy and Ryan McCullum were all punished when their names were shouted for Steelers fans to hear as their teammates booed them before taking a penalty lap around the main field at Chuck Noll Field on Sunday.
“It’s a big motivator because it’s embarrassing when you have to go out and run a lap,” Frazier said. “That’s just because we can’t do what’s going on before the snap. We have to fix it and one way to stop it is to have guys run a lap.”
“It holds us accountable, as much as you think it’s high school, I don’t want to run laps, so I don’t want to do that again,” Fautanu said. “Stuff like that is stuff we can control. Coach T says it all the time, it’s JV. It’s college, I’m a pro now, so I have to make sure I don’t blow a play for 21 other people.”
“You don’t want to do that in front of the coaches, the players and also the people of Pittsburgh.”
Several were embarrassed in the last practice before putting on pads, we’ll see how this affects attention to detail in the future.
