Coach Mike Tomlin resumes his spring practices Tuesday after giving his team two weeks off from OTAs, although they continued to voluntarily lift and work out in Pittsburgh.

Rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall will return to Pittsburgh, where they'll get another look at the hamstring he injured on the first day of minicamp six days after he was drafted.

He said his leg feels "pretty good." So, too, has been his relationship with veteran halfback Willie Parker, the NFL's leading rusher through 14 games last season before he broke his fibula. The plan by Tomlin is to have Parker, who has topped 1,200 yards rushing in each of the past three seasons, and Mendenhall share time. How that's done is anyone's guess at the moment.

Parker, though, has taken Mendenhall under his wing and sees him more as a help than competition for his job.

"I've been in the league a little bit, so I definitely can teach him," said Parker, who has four NFL seasons behind him. "I embraced him as soon as he came in, trying to teach him the ropes and stuff."

Parker and other Steelers running backs helped put the first-round pick at ease.

"I was kind of nervous coming in," Mendenhall said. "But the running back room and Willie have been nothing but professional since I've been here, just trying to help me as much as they can. The better I do, the better they are going to do; we are going to be as a team."

What was Parker able to show Mendenhall in his first weekend as a pro?

"How to be a professional," he said. "He has been here for a few years. He is showing me how to work, what to do, how to carry yourself as a professional and as a man."

Said Parker, "I'm a team player. He's here to push me, I'm here to make him better. We're going to compete and have fun doing it."

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