May 14, 2017 4 min read

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Rookie minicamp has wrapped up without a ton of fanfare. And that’s probably justified.

As Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Saturday, the speed of the game hasn’t showed up for these young guys just yet. That will happen in another week when the Steelers resume their OTAs.

That does not mean, however, that there aren’t some things to be gleaned out of this latest session of football in shorts.

The guy who was the standout of the sessions to me was first-year receiver Marcus Tucker.

The 5-10, 190-pound Tucker spent last season on the Steelers’ practice squad and that time was obviously well spent. He was murder on the various defensive backs who attempted to cover him this weekend.

But, with a stacked depth chart ahead of him, he’ll have a tough time making the 53-man roster.

@ Seventh-round draft pick Keion Adams appears to be a natural pass rusher.

The 6-2, 245-pound Adams has quick, active hands and doesn’t waste a lot of movement.

Now, since these camps aren’t padded, there’s no true contact, so basically, all you get to see is some hand fighting.

But Adams showed he can do that.

@ Speaking of hand fighting, first-round draft pick T.J. Watt got locked up with an offensive lineman at one point, with the lineman – I couldn’t tell who it was – grabbing some big handfuls of jersey.

Watt didn’t appreciate the holding and gave the lineman a big head slap at the end of the play. Feisty.

Watt also had a nice interception dropping into coverage, leaping to tip the ball to himself and drew praise from head coach Mike Tomlin on another play when he peeled back into coverage to perfectly play a short crossing route.

He already looks like a keeper.

@ Young corners Cam Sutton and Brian Allen also had some well-documented moments this weekend.

Sutton seems to read the receiver well and gets good breaks on the football.

While Allen’s athleticism was very apparent on a leaping, one-handed interception he made Friday.

Everyone has Allen tabbed as a practice squad player this year, but if he makes a play or two like that in the preseason, the Steelers aren’t going to be able to hide him easily.

Corners who are 6-3 and that athletic are hard to find.

@ Former IUP guard Ethan Cooper is a wide body at 6-2, 322 pounds. But he has the quick feet needed to play in the NFL.

The Steelers don’t have a big need for offensive linemen, but Cooper is one undrafted rookie to keep an eye on moving forward.

@ Two others are inside linebacker Keith Kelsey of Louisville and tight end Scott Orndoff of Pitt.

Kelsey is smallish at 6-0, 233 pounds, but the three-year starter for the Cardinals shows nice movement to the ball.

Orndoff, meanwhile, showed he can catch the ball in traffic this weekend. If he blocks as well as expected, he’ll be in the mix for no worse than a practice squad spot.

@ When you’re viewing the rookie tryout guys, you look for distinguishing traits or great plays.

One player who certainly had a distinguishing trait was former Fordham tight end Phazahn Odom.

Odom is 6-8 and listed at 251 pounds, though at that height, he looked skinnier than that. His Fordham bio listed him at 238, which looked to be much closer to the truth.

Not surprisingly, Odom was an all-state basketball player in college. And he looked a little plodding when running his routes.

But that size is intriguing.

Another player who caught my eye was receiver Rokeem Williams of Miami (Ohio).

Williams, 6-0, 200, has decent size and plucked the ball out of the air well.

But both players could have a tough time getting signed by this team, which doesn’t have a lot of holes.