T.J. Watt’s first late-July sojourn Saint Vincent College came in 2017. As such, Monday evening was far from his first drive to the Unity Township campus in the heart of the Laurel Highlands.

But this start of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is like none of the others that have preceded it for the four-time All Pro outside linebacker.

“I feel like it’s the first day of school for me,” Watt said Tuesday morning not long after the report deadline for Steelers players. “It’s kind of the first day of everything.”

No active player in the NFL had been at an opening of a Steelers training camp that was presided over by anyone other than Mike Tomlin — until Tuesday. Greenfield’s Mike McCarthy is in charge now, and with a new head coach comes a renewed nervous energy for even the most established players who had become so accustomed to camps at Saint Vincent run by Tomlin since 2007.

“It’s still the same dorm room. Eating in the same spot. Same weight room, stuff like that,” Watt said. “But there’s still so much new that it keeps it exciting, keeps it fresh.”

Veteran Steelers players noticed the change in tone even during spring workouts. Sessions were meticulously designed. They seemed more efficient. There was very little down time. Pace and tempo were noticeable tenets.

“There’s a systematic approach to everything that we do,” said McCarthy, whose father owned Joe McCarthy’s Bar and Grille in The Run section of Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood. “I like to get up in the morning. I believe in regularity. That’s the way my father raised me. You get your heavy lifting done in the morning.

“You get up, you get ‘em goin.”

The first day the 2026 Steelers get up and get goin’ for a camp practice is Wednesday. The session is scheduled for 11:20 a.m.-12:46 p.m. and is open to the public.

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