Kenny Pickett isn’t slowing down now. And, in reality, he can’t.
The Steelers will break minicamp on Thursday afternoon and won’t rejoin each other until late July, when they head to Latrobe for training camp.
How players approach the summer break differs. Some use it to relax, some use it to sharpen their craft.
Pickett is clear on how he plans to occupy the next seven weeks.
“Study more, man,” Pickett said Wednesday. “I’m nowhere where I need to be. I’m going to go home and work on fundamental things before camp and obviously stay in the playbook and kind of run through OTAs, minicamp.
“I have all those scripts, so I’m going to go back through that every day. The work’s definitely going to continue.”
Pickett has worked as the third string quarterback through OTAs and minicamp, backing up projected starter Mitch Trubisky and backup Mason Rudolph.
While the three are battling for spots on the depth chart, Pickett says they also are connecting. He is, however, staying away from labeling his relationships with the other quarterbacks as mentor/mentee.
“The mentor word — I don’t think it’s his job to sit there and teach me,” Pickett said. “I’m going to ask questions and watch him. It’s really my job to ask questions, to learn from him and watch how he does things. And how they go about their business. There’s a fine line between that mentor thing. We have a great relationship ship and everything is going smoothly.”
Pickett and Trubisky have already made some summer plans.
“I plan on going down to Florida,” Pickett said. “I know Mitch is down there, so we’ve already talked about meeting up down there and training a little bit, and hanging out.”
Expectations are high for Pickett following his 20th overall selection. He feels that he’s
“They’ve thrown a lot of stuff at me. A lot of installs. I’m just trying to do the best I can to prepare each day. But I feel really good with where I’m at and where we are.
“It was 100 percent was a successful spring. I want to use this and run into camp with it.”