PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers are officially set to kick off their 2011 training camp at Saint Vincent College this week.The team confirmed Monday that players will report to camp on Thursday, with the first practice that will be open to the public beginning Friday.
(Complete Training Camp Practice Schedule)
Steelers President Art Rooney II was asked during a Monday press conference if he thought the team’s veteran roster would give it an advantage heading into camp.”I think that having a veteran team can be an advantage in a lot of different circumstances, but it’s hard to predict. It really is up to our players and coaches to make sure that’s an advantage and prepare in a way that they can take advantage of that if that occurs,” said Rooney.Several Steelers took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the end of the lockout.Wider receiver Hines Ward wrote, “Just got off the Bat Phone…Football is back in business baby!!!! Here we go!”Safety Ryan Clark tweeted, “I just want to say thank you to all the fans that stayed true. Especially the ones who understood we hadn’t missed a thing yet.”
LIVE WIRE: Follow the latest tweets from NFL leaders, Steelers players, national media and fans

During the ongoing lockout, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe has been preparing to host the Steelers’ training camp as it does every year.Several NFL teams have already canceled plans to hold their camps at off-site locations, but the Steelers have been holding off on doing that and they want their camp to be in Latrobe if a labor deal gets done in time.

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As a reminder, here’s the Steelers’ 2011 Preseason Schedule. They’ll play the Washington Redskins during Week 1 on August 12 at 7:30, then the Philadelphia Eagles on August 18 (at 8:00 PM on FOX). They’ll then take on the Atlanta Falcons at some point between August 27 at 7:30. They’ll wrap things up with a game against the Carolina Panthers on either September 1 at 8:00.

This, of course, assumes that the NFL Lockout will finish in time for all the games to be played. It would be surprising if it didn’t, simply because the preseason is really lucrative. The NFL will have plenty of incentive to reach an agreement with the players if things go on much longer.

If the lockout lasts longer than, say, another week, it might be difficult for the NFL to play a full preseason slate. There will have to be a free agency period, and then, of course, training camp, where teams will have to familiarize all their new players with their system. It could get frenzied, and if the lockout continues, some preseason games may have to be cut.