FRIDAY MORNING REPORT AUGUST 1st
by Dale GrdnicThe Ryan Clark Story is an amazing one that has been replayed all week during Pittsburgh Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College and has all the ingredients to be a major hit.
It tugs at one's heart, has incredible intrigue and even a happy ending that few believed possible - except Clark - when he contracted a mysterious ailment late last Oct., 2007 that led to doctors removing his spleen and gall bladder.
Despite losing nearly 40 pounds, Clark returned to the Steelers practice fields this past spring and is back in the starting lineup at free safety this summer.
"I'm having a great time out here, and my body is feeling really good,'' Clark said after Friday morning's special teams workout. "But when you drop to 170 pounds from more than 200 pounds, it was tough to get my body working right again. My muscles were all tight, and in no way was I ready to play football.''
However, with strong support from his family, friends and teammates, as well as undeniable faith, the 5-foot-11 Clark is back up to 206 pounds and appears to be back on track for another good season. The Steelers signed him as an unrestricted free agent in 2006 to solidify their secondary, and he recorded a career-best 75 tackles with 12 starts alongside strong safety Troy Polamalu.
Both were clearly missed by the Steelers defense late last season, so that's why it's good to at least have Clark roaming the secondary again this summer.
"I just kept praying about it, and everything worked out,'' Clark said. "A lot of people were stumped by my illness, so maintaining a strong faith is what pulled me through. And as far as getting back into the swing of things, football doesn't change much. On defense, we have to stop the other team from scoring.''
To accomplish that goal, the Steelers appear to be going more often to the Cover-2 defense with both safeties staying high so as not to get beaten deep. Mike Tomlin was tutored for that scheme by Tony Dungy when they were together in Tampa Bay, and he has implemented it occasionally with Dick LeBeau's zone blitz defensive philosophies in Pittsburgh.
"We've always played a form of it, because you know nothing we do with Coach LeBeau is going to be conventional,'' Clark said. "So, we've used a lot of different looks out there, with Coach Tomlin getting a hand in it, and I think we did really well with those coverages last year. There was some tremendous football being played by our defense.''
Clark noted that the Steelers are looking to take many veteran starters off the special teams, if possible, this season and fill the holes with rookies and younger players. But if he gets the call, Clark will be ready to go.
And, that in itself, is an amazing story.
Notes: Players on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list - safety Troy Polamalu (hamstring), offensive guard Chris Kemoeatu (triceps) and nose tackle Casey Hampton - picked up their running Friday morning... Hampton and Kemoeatu worked with conditioning assistant Marcel Pastoor, while Polamalu was observed by training John Norwig... His assistant, Ryan Grove, put injured rookie linebacker Mike Humpal (groin) through a few drills as well.FRIDAY EVENING PRACTICE >>>
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