Yes, Steelers fans, it’s finally here! The team reports to Saint Vincent College today for the start of training camp, and with it come the first few steps in what many hope is a long journey towards a seventh Super Bowl championship.

The start of training camp means something else for the Smith family. We will embark next week on our third consecutive road trip to the rolling hills of Latrobe to attend a training camp practice. That may not sound like an ideal vacation for my wife and kids — sweating in the hot sun watching football practice, which is something they do on a regular basis with our high school team at home. Why drive five hours to watch a football practice when they can ride their bikes five blocks to do the same?

Because it’s the Steelers, that’s why. My family knows how much the pilgrimage to Latrobe has come to mean to me. I may romanticize it a bit much for their liking, but they can’t deny the special feeling that comes when you exit the vendor tents and crest the hill overlooking the playing fields and the distant shrubbery carved to spell “Saint Vincent.” The fresh cut grass and mountains that serve as a backdrop are like something from a movie set. The players filter out of gray-stone buildings across campus, descend an adjacent hill lined with cheering fans and trot onto the practice fields like the icons they are. You hear spectators speaking excitedly to one another as they gaze at them from afar. “Is that T.J? T.J’s practicing today!” The entire place gives off a football “Field of Dreams” vibe. It must be experienced to be fully appreciated.

There’s a price to pay when you bring your family, of course. The Steelers aren’t stupid. They make you walk through those vendor tents to get to the practice fields for a reason. I am yet to escape the gauntlet unscathed. In the past two years, my son has hit me up for Najee Harris and Kenny Pickett jerseys, while my daughter has come away with a Steelers teddy bear and a giant black-and-gold foam finger. The Pickett jersey is already obsolete and I fear the Harris jersey may soon be as well. The teddy bear never made it back from Latrobe. We left it in a hotel room the morning after we bought it. On the other hand, we break out the $5 foam finger every Sunday while watching the Steelers and wave it excitedly throughout. It has proven to be the wisest and most useful purchase of the bunch. Sometimes that’s the way it goes. The little things become the most special.

Our trek to Latrobe is special for another reason. It’s a great chance for me, in my role as a Steel Curtain Network content creator, to get an up-close-and-personal look at the team and report my findings back to you. That’s a special privilege and one I take seriously. I enjoy reading the first-hand accounts of other reporters when they are at camp. What did they see? Who stood out? Who struggled? There are little insights you gain when you see the team practice in person that you can’t come by otherwise. If I can pass those insights on to Steelers fans, all the better.

Here’s an example. Last year at camp I was excited to see Calvin Austin III. Much was made of his blazing speed after the Steelers drafted him in 2022, but then a training camp injury claimed his rookie season. At Latrobe last year, I was eager to finally see if his speed on the field matched the hype.

Turns out it did. Austin III was almost impossible to cover in one-on-one drills and his ability to get to top speed early in his routes had a Tyreek Hill-type feel to it. I couldn’t help but scribble giddy notes into my note pad, like “blazing speed,” “matchup nightmare,” and “back side of 3×1 sets all day!”

But then the Steelers went to 11-on-11 drills, and I immediately realized the problem. Calvin Austin III is listed as 5’9-165 pounds, and he might not be that big. When he took the field with 21 other professionals, including tight ends like Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, who stand 6’5 and 6’7, respectively, or 6’3 receiver George Pickens, Austin III disappeared. Once a play started, you just couldn’t find him. I thought, uh-oh, I don’t know how they’re going to use this guy. He’s too small to beat press coverage, so it’s hard to line him up on the ball where defensive backs can get a clean jam on him. He can’t run routes in the middle of the field, because the quarterback just won’t see him. Maybe they can throw bubble screens and run reverses to him, but how many of those can you get away with each game? My big takeaway was that Austin III was going to be a tough fit for the Steelers, or for any team, really, because he was just that small.

That’s a takeaway I passed along in a subsequent article for SCN, and one for which I received some criticism because readers believed his speed would compensate. I would have thought the same, too, had I not seen it up close. There is great value in being there, and in watching it happen live. I feel genuine when I report it back, and not like I’m misleading Steelers fans in any way.

Finally, I’m simply excited to get on the road again. I’ve been road tripping for most of my life. From driving to Myrtle Beach with my high school buddies on Spring Break of my senior year, to summertime treks through our national parks, the Rockies, California, Canada, Mexico, to traveling through Europe just last summer. The idea of packing up and heading out to see something new is always exciting to me. Two years ago, on our Latrobe trip, we stayed in Pittsburgh for a few nights to see the city. We went to a Pirates game, visited Kennywood, took a touristy trip to Primanti Brothers and had an otherwise wonderful time. Last year, it was Hershey Park, a detour south to Charlottesville, then back up to Latrobe. This year we’ll go north first to do some hiking in the Poconos before bending west towards Saint Vincent. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year for the time spent with two of the things I cherish most in life — Steelers football and my family.

It’s here, Steelers fans, the 2024 football season. Here we go, baby. Let’s have a hell of a ride!