Aug 8, 2018 By Jim Wexell for The 4 min read

LATROBE — Mason Rudolph’s first pass of training camp was memorialized this way in the notebook:

“Gary Yepremian-like pass by 2 with 41 (Farrington Huguenin) pursuing on a roll right.”

Actually, there was no “Yepremian-like” about it. It was classic Yepremian.

Except for the interception and the touchdown, it was just like that all-time blooper of a pass that went backwards in Super Bowl VII.

Rudolph, though, picked himself up off the deck and on the next play threw a dart to a wide-open secondary receiver, Damoun Patterson, for a 30-yard gain.

Rudolph went through more ups and downs, but the last note in the notebook, on the cardboard page, was a description of his touchdown pass, with this quote from Mike Tomlin:

“Good work, two.”

That hard-earned compliment came at the end of a flawless two-minute drive with the third team. Rudolph completed his first four passes, then scrambled for a first down on third-and-7, then found Jaylen Samuels running across the middle and hit him for a touchdown to end Saturday’s practice.

“Good work, two.”

Rudolph hopes to hear those words again Thursday night in Philadelphia when the Steelers’ third-round pick makes his professional preseason debut against the Eagles.

“It’s been fun,” Rudolph said of training camp. “Just learning how everything operates up here in Latrobe, just kind of the flow of camp, the schedule, the off days, how to utilize your time and your free time. Anytime you do something for the first time, you kind of want to get there early and make sure you have the schedule down, you have the offense down. It’s definitely progressing the way I had hoped.”

Rudolph took offense at the Yepremian gaffe being labeled as his very first pass because of his spring experience. But even that was a bumpy ride as the four-year starter at Oklahoma State was forced to take snaps under center instead of in shotgun formation. There were fumbled exchanges that frustrated Rudolph more so than his patient coaches.

“We’ve cleaned it up for the most part here and I’m starting to feel comfortable after not doing that the last eight years of my life,” Rudolph said. “Just going to continue to move forward and try to do what I can each day, whether it’s footwork, or mentally, or protection, or taking some kind of step.”

Rudolph fends off questions about big-picture outlooks by mentioning his methodical approach to his pro career. It’s clear he’s taken one day at a time, one period at a time, one snap at a time. In fact, he didn’t talk as much about playing in Thursday’s game as he did practicing the next two days.

“I’m excited to put the finishing touches on our plan,” he said. And he meant it.

An in-the-moment approach has helped Rudolph keep his wits while dealing with a new level of ball, confusing coverages, confused progressions, and collapsing pockets.

But each day, with each new period, Rudolph has improved. His accuracy is better than the other two backups to Ben Roethlisberger, and his work in red-zone drills Friday night provided the few exciting offensive moments for a Steelers offense that practiced without Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell.

It was a glimpse of the future, and Rudolph provided legitimate sparks.

Does he believe he’s made big strides this camp?

“I just want to progress,” he said. “You guys can analyze how big the steps are. I’m just focused on completing passes, making sure I’m making mental steps forward every day, making sure I’m controlling the line of scrimmage with the offensive-line protections, making sure guys are in the right spots. We’ve got a lot of new faces filtering through, in and out of camp, so I’m making sure new guys like Bucky Hodges have the information they need to be successful, get the guys ready to go, and go execute the play.”

Rudolph gets it.

And on Thursday night, the Steelers will begin to judge whether they got it — a legitimate quarterback for the post-Roethlisberger era.

It means nothing now. It could mean everything one day.

NOTES — Tomlin only said of the quarterbacks that Roethlisberger won’t play Thursday night. … Brown, of course, won’t play but Tomlin said that his injury (quadriceps) is healing and he’s nearing a return to practice. … Tomlin also doesn’t expect TE Vance McDonald, and OLBs Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt to play. … Another OLB, Keion Adams, missed Tuesday’s practice. If he can’t play Thursday, that leaves the Steelers with only Anthony Chickillo, Huguenin and rookie Ola Adeniyi.