Steelers' Ike Hilliard Bringing Leadership Through Experience to Young Receiver Room
PITTSBURGH -- Ike Hilliard is working with his new wide receiver room for the first time since joining the Steelers in February. The former 12-year NFL veteran brings on-field, and coaching, experience to the locker room, embracing his role as a leader for a young group of receivers.
Hilliard's mission is to prepare his young core for a season that follows unique circumstances. The Steelers finally rejoined each other at Heinz Field for the first time since last season, leaving coaches six short weeks before Week 1 of the 2020 regular season.
"Every year is the same for me," Hilliard told media on a Zoom call Monday. "I'm not going to make any excuses. We are going to get these guys ready to play. These kids are extremely talented. It's just our job to get the most out of them. We are not going to make any excuses about how much time we missed in the offseason on the grass or any of those things. We've worked virtually. We've worked hard. We have to now make sure that when we do get real snaps, we maximize those, and we get the most out of those players on a snap-by-snap basis. It's going to be no different this year. These young men are going to be productive, and we are all going to be proud of the product that we prove."
The task of keeping this training camp experience relatively the same will come from the ability of the coaches. Hilliard will need to prepare his players for an entire season with 14 padded practices and no preseason games.
So far, he isn't worried. Looking at the training period the same as every year, Hilliard is leaning on his communication skills to help guide his athletes.
"It starts with me in the room with how I deliver the message by way of the head coach and offensive coordinator," Hilliard said. "It's my job to help these young men the way prepare that they are supposed to prepare, to teach them how to be pros. That's no disrespect to anyone who has been here before me, but that's what I've been asked to do. And, I intend to do that. I'm going to lead by example, lead them through the way I teach, how I prepare, how I prepare them, what we do every day from a fundamental standpoint and how we see the big picture on a snap-by-snap basis. Those leaders usually emerge throughout competition, throughout their work. At some point, that will take care of itself outside of me."
His NFL experience is how he hopes to connect with his wideouts. A former member of the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Hilliard has seen success in the NFL and wants to bring his lessons to Pittsburgh.
"I would hope that to some degree being fortunate enough to play 12 years would help me in terms of how I communicate, what I communicate, how I can detail what I need to for each player or collectively with the group in terms of the nuances of the position," Hilliard said. "For me, I think I would have to go back to my first job interview and the late Tony Sparano told me that playing years are like dog years to coaches. It's a little bit different in terms of communicating with the players, how you deal with the players and how the players deal with you, the things that you see on the move, regarding playing the game and the things of that nature. Really harness that to the fullest capability and try to exude that every time you teach. Hopefully, it helps. I've been unbelievably blessed up until this point to still be around the game and looking forward to lean on that experience as I continue to teach."
His receiver core is young. The average age of a Steelers' receiver is 24, with Amara Darboh being the oldest at 26-years-old.
Hilliard will bring leadership with experience. He'll also need to teach these players how to expand their game as young members of the NFL. A task he's, again, leaning on his playing experience for.
"There's a certain feeling in the timing, the spacing portion of receiver play," Hilliard said. "Sometimes, I guess it's really not talked about a lot. I think it's important for young players to know that outside of the progression of the quarterback, the spacing and timing and the rhythm of the play is just as important as their individual talent level regardless of how they get open depending on the coverage before they make a play. I think helping them to understand that on a snap-by-snap basis and how they fit within every concept, how their role evolves during the course of a game based on a game plan and understand the big picture in what we are trying to accomplish. I think a lot of that is what I hopefully and confidently will bring to the table to help these young men be successful."
Noah Strackbein is a Publisher with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
