Almost every summer, some player on the Steelers roster comes out of nowhere and starts impressing fans. More often than not, the player is a ‘training camp star’ and nothing more, but every once in a while a diamond in the rough truly emerges.
A couple of years ago, fans were comparing Isaac Redman to Jerome Bettis and calling for him to be the team’s starting running back out of training camp. Redman had huge numbers in the preseason playing against mostly 2nd and 3rd team defenses. While he’s not an elite back, Redman has developed into a useful player for the Steelers and his training camp heroics were signs of things to come.
This year, the early favorite for the star of training camp is 7th round pick RB Baron Batch. Local and national media have been raving about him so far. Here’s what Ken Laird wrote on Batch:
Batch was a featured blocker in pass protection in a drill termed ‘Backs on ‘Backers,’ where pass rushing linebackers get a 5-yard running head start as they come towards a dummy QB, needing to pass through a backfield RB or TE. On three straight reps against 2nd year LB Jason Worilds, Batch got the better of the action and absorbed the collisions in a way that had onlooking teammates and coaches highly enthused. At one point Tomlin said, “Take that with you Jason,” followed by an “I like that Batch.”
Batch did so well that Tomlin had him go head to head with former NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison and again Batch took the lick and kept the QB clean. Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians ran onto the field of play and put his arm around Batch as they came off. Afterwards an elated Batch said, “It’s definitely surreal. I’ve been watching [Harrison] play since I was in high school. I was just trying to remember my technique and do the best I could.”
It’s still really, really early, but media, fans and coaches are already raving about him. The Steelers have Redman, Mewelde Moore and Jonathan Dwyer on the roster so RB is a bit crowded, but the team desperately needs one of those players to step up and share some of the load with Rashard Mendenhall.
Batch will be a key player to watch.
