T.J. Watt wasn't willing to go as far as to say things are coming to him easily at rookie minicamp, but nor have his first two days on the field with the Steelers been a struggle.
"It's been a lot of fun," Watt assessed. "It's just been fun to get out here. And with this coaching group and with these guys it's a lot of energy, and that's what makes football really fun. Obviously, it's a lot of learning. But you come back, Day Two, and a lot of stuff starts clicking and you start playing a lot faster. That just makes it more enjoyable.
"I feel like I'm assimilating pretty well just because a lot of the stuff is what I've been doing at Wisconsin, it's just learning terminology. I wouldn't say easy; I'm in the NFL, nothing comes easy here. But at the same time I feel like I'm just trying to stay in my books as much as possible, make this transition as fluid as possible and just try to get out here and make as many plays as I can early on."
Watt decided long ago that his ultimate goal was to be a professional athlete.
And the presence of two older brothers in the NFL classifies the Watt family as a football family.
But the Steelers' No. 1 pick still stopped short of declaring himself ahead of the game in terms of understanding the game.
"That's not for me to assess," Watt said. "I put in a lot of work. It does come natural to me a lot, but I put in a lot of work in the film. I'll go back after meetings and study a lot of tape and study a lot of the playbook just to try to play fast. You have to come out here, you have to play fast and you don't have room to make a lot of mistakes.
"I'm just trying to come out here and play fast, have fun and make plays."
Steelers' rookies take the field for rookie minicamp.
Keith Kelsey, Brian Allen and T.J. Watt
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Mike Matthews
Head Coach Mike Tomlin
Austin Gearing
Farrington Huguenin and Matt Galambos
Farrington Huguenin
Marcel Newson
Head Coach Mike Tomlin
Christian Brown
A.J. Hughes
Corey Jones
Keion Adams
Vance Settlemire
Akil Blount
Joshua Dobbs
Corey Jones
Roy Philon and Lavon Hooks
T.J. Watt
Dillon Kidd
Colin Holba
Dylan Colucci
T.J. Watt
Head Coach Mike Tomlin
Keion Adams
T.J. Watt
Demond Tucker
T.J. Watt
Matt Feiler
Joey Porter
Kelvin Taylor
Karmichael Dunbar
T.J. Watt
T.J. Watt
Dan Rooney, Marcus Tucker, Kevin Hart, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Rokeem Williams
T.J. Watt
Devonte Johnson
Cameron Sutton
T.J. Watt
Christian Brown and Reggie Mitchell
Joshua Dobbs
Kelvin Taylor
Kendall Pace
T.J. Watt
Dylan Colucci
Cameron Sutton
Brian Allen
Corey Jones
Roy Philon
Austin Gearing
Keion Adams, T.J. Watt, and Matt Galambos
Chris Blewitt
Kevin Hart
Akil Blount
Terrish Webb
Brian Allen
Joshua Dobbs
Scott Orndoff and Jacob Hagen
Lavon Hooks
Kyle Friend and Nelson Adams
T.J. Watt
Brian Allen
Cameron Sutton
Kevin Hart
JuJu Schuster-Smith and Cameron Sutton
Wayne Capers
Watt declared himself open to exploring any and all avenues to making plays as a rookie, including the kicking game.
"Any way to get on the field possible, I'm doing it," he said. "I'm just trying to get out here and contribute to this team any way I can and if it's special teams, I'll do it."
Watt's indoctrination will continue with the conclusion of rookie minicamp on Sunday, another opportunity for Watt to embrace new challenges with enthusiasm.
"Everything's challenging out here," he said. "But at the same time you just have to take it in stride and get better each and every practice."
