--LB James Farrior said he is the designated defender to wear the new radio communication receiver in his helmet for the defense, although it was not tried in minicamp.

--The Steelers resume their OTAs May 20.

--Mike Tomlin rode his special teams hard last season, devoting a large portion of spring and training camp practices to them. They did not respond in kind during the season, so he's taking a new approach.

"We're emphasizing it but we're emphasizing it in a different way," Tomlin said. "I'm trying to create a little urgency through scarcity. We're not going to do it as much; we're going to work hard but we're going to work smarter."

--Hines Ward was scheduled to make his second trip of the year to South Korea, where he was welcomed as a hero following his Super Bowl MVP in 2006. Since then, he's made the trip twice a year to work on his foundation to aid bi-racial people in that country. Ward was born in South Korea, son of a Korean native mother and black U. S. serviceman father.

--Even RB Willie Parker was surprised the Steelers waited until the fourth-round to draft an offensive lineman.

"Everybody said what I need is an offensive lineman," said Parker. "That wasn't my call to pick an offensive lineman. It would have been good to get one, but we didn't."

--Rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago two days after he left his first minicamp in Pittsburgh. One of the two men put a gun to Mendenhall's face and demanded everything he had. He turned over his wallet, his cell phone and his car keys. No one was hurt and the police have not made an arrest.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I think that would be cool to be out there with Willie at the same time." -- Rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall, on plans to pair him with Willie Parker in the same backfield on occasion.

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