Part of a semi-regular series of short interviews with Steelers players. Today: linebacker Lawrence Timmons.

So soft spoken he could make Troy Polamalu seem like a loudmouth by comparison, linebacker Lawrence Timmons is coming off of arguably his best professional season -- six sacks, three INTs, two forced fumbles and a TD -- yet was a Pro Bowl snub.

But having only turned 27 in the middle of this month, the former first-round pick from Florida State and seven-year veteran still has his best playing years -- and some likely trips to Honalulu -- ahead of him.

1: You’re reaching seasoned vet status on the defense – does that change your approach to things like OTAs or minicamp?

TIMMONS: It’s still the same.  ... I’m still trying to be an essential part of this defense and make game-changing plays ... I’m just trying to get better in every area. That’s about it.

2: What are your impressions thus far of fellow Florida State Seminole linebacker Vince Williams?

TIMMONS: He looks like a smart player. He’s very gifted with his athletic ability and I’m starting to get excited to see what he’s going to do in camp.

3: You’re a big Penguins fan. What do you think of the series coming up against Boston and what do you make of the goaltender situation?

TIMMONS: I think we’re going to finish and go into another Stanley Cup and win. I’m a big Evgeni [Malkin] fan and I always like Sidney [Crosby]. We have so many players – we have a lot of guys that are stepping up for us. I’m just excited to see the games. ... Fleury has done so much for us, but you can’t really switch up things right now. I’m not a hockey coach at all, but it’s the playoffs. You gotta go with what’s winning now and we got a great coach, so – he knows what he’s doing. 

& OUT: You made a European tour this offseason – how was it and what did you see?

TIMMONS: I did. I had a lot of fun. I went to Paris for a little bit. Had a good time over there. I saw the Unknown Soldier’s tomb in the center of Paris (the Arc de Triumphe). I saw Notre Dame. I saw Paris Saint-Germain, the big soccer team play. It was crazy. Definitely different than here. [The fans] were singing the whole time. I went to see Chelsea play Man U. at Wembley (Stadium where the Steelers will play in September) in London. What’s the big Ferris Wheel? The Eye. I saw The Eye. I saw Big Ben – not [our] Big Ben. I went there and Rome. Saw the Vatican. Saw all the churches, the Pantheon. I saw the Colosseum. It was great. [The cities] all have something special about them. You can’t go wrong over there. 

Above: Lawrence Timmons poses with some very surprised Steelers fans at La Botticella Birrera in Roma -- a.k.a. the Roman Steelers bar.

***** Yesterday Issac Redman talked about his approach to 2013, which included a change in offseason training and dieting. Today, I asked him specifics about how it was different to work with trainer Ron Jones in Tampa, Florida, which he said he got in shape for before he even started training, because he said, "I knew he was going to kill me."

How did you change your diet?

"I cut out the fast food – I was eating a lot of junk, pizza. I'm from near Philadelphia so I'd be eating cheesesteaks whenever I go home, so [now] I eat a lot of salad, chicken, fish and I stay on that. I might get a steak on Friday – steak's pretty good for you so I might get that once a week, but I've pretty much turned into a chicken Caesar salad guy."

Was that transition difficult?

"It is. I tried to make sure that I ate a lot of things that I like. It wasn't really that hard – I mean I love those cheesesteaks and things like that its kind of hard to not get that, but I love baked chicken and I can cook, so I make it the way I like it. So it's not as hard. I like salads. I just try to stick with it and stay away from people that's even eating that stuff – I can't go to my mom's house because she's always frying foods."

Is the trick to eat less or eat differently?

It's eating less and different at the same times. I try to break the portions down and eat about five times a day, smaller portions, and the weight stops dropping fast.

What about the workouts?

"We start off, maybe one day we'll go on the field and I'll pull a weight on a sled, I run with the parachute, I do a bunch of agility drills, one time I had a bunch of chains wrapped around me [while] running routes, I do sprints with the parachute, I have bands strapped around my thigh area because I didn't like my knee drive, so that helped with me getting my knees up, being able to get up over top of tackles and get my feet down on the ground faster. Some days we'd run on the beach, do agility on the beach, running sand hills. A whole bunch of stuff. And after two weeks, I could see the difference.

"It was intense. I've never trained like that, ever. It was like old school training. His motto was 'bringing old school training back.' It was that old school, getting' grimy – nothing pretty about it, just out there working hard."

***** Rookie running back Le'Veon Bell (highlights above) is drawing a media throng whenever he stops to talk, and today was no exception. Some of what he said:  

What does he think of an RB-by-committee approach to an offense?

"Running back by committee is always fine, I did that at Michigan State. I ran by committee and one year, I was the guy. I'm able to play in both scenarios, whatever they may be. I'm ready for anything. I'm just ready to go out here and compete."

Would he be better as the feature back?

"I feel like any running back would. I mean just being in a rythym – the more carries you get, the more feel you get for a defense, the more rythm you get in the game, so of course that would be the case if you get the ball more times."

How much time has he put in with the playbook?

A lot. I keep my head in the play book, especially when I'm here, when I go back to the apartment I might chill out and take a little break from it but I always keep my head in there, I'm watching film, that's one thing I like doing -- I just like watching football in general anyway, I just throw in a game and watch it. Maybe not breaking it down but just watching how the game is played always helped me out. ... My first time seeing the playbook, I was like 'whoa' but I'm starting to pick up on everything – I didn't mess up on any assignments the last three days ... I'm picking up on everything.

What did he think of being compared to Eddie George by Todd Haley at the draft?

"He did that?  He compared me to Eddie George? ... I guess I'm more of a similar running style to him. I'm not saying I'm an Eddir George, but I'm a taller, a slimmer type of guy. I don't know. I guess my running style is comparable but that's the first time I'm hearing that."

So who does he run like?

"I really don't think I run like anybody. I'm kind of a balanced runner. Im a bigger guy, but I don't look at myself as a bruiser. I don't look at myself as a scat back either. I'm just kind of a balanced guy. I'm a bigger guy who can make moves. I can get tough yardage and catch the ball out of the backfield. There's a lot of things I bring to the game. I don't really emulate somebody else's running style. I just try to get my own. Take little bits and pieces of everybody's game – players that I used to watch and I try to put it in my game."

***** Finally, the social media posts of the week, courtesy of numbers 84 & 24. That's Rabbi Anotonio Brown on top, wearing his Steeler-themed Yarmulke in a picture he posted on Facebook, and below that the inimitable Ike Taylor throwin' deuces with 80-year-old Ambassador "Papa" Dan Rooney. 

A few notes from day two of OTA's ... 

***** Following what is something of a trend in this OTA, add running back Issac Redman to a list that includes Troy Polamalu and LaMarr Woodley as players who look noticeably svelter than they did during the 2012 season. Redman said that he's dropped 10 pounds while training with Ron Jones in Tampa. 

“The goal was to get more explosive to get quicker, to get faster and to drop weight. After the season was over, I didn’t like the weight that I was at, so I started from day one. I’m starting to feel good, but I still want to drop a little more weight and get a little bit faster."

Echoing the lament of nearly every single adult in the United States, Redman said of his weight, “It’s so easy for it to come on, and its so hard to get it off ...” and added, "It just takes dedication and to eat healthy and eat right. The way I’m built, I’m not going to come in at 215. I’m hoping to come into camp around 228-230."

Redman said that he intends to resume training in Tampa once OTAs and mini-camp is over, and that he knows that this season is potentially a make-or-break one for him, not only with Pittsburgh but as a professional football player.

“I know this is my contract year. If it’s not here with the Steelers, I have to be realistic – I have to do well in order to continue my [career] in this league. I’m not playing around. We were 8-8. It was embarrassing not to make the playoffs. For the team and for my own career, I know I have to perform at a higher level this year."

***** Jonathan Dwyer said today he fully anticipated that the Steelers would draft a running back and welcomes the challenge of competing with second-round pick Le'Veon Bell. 

"I knew it was going to happen – we needed depth. We lost two guys ... we basically had only three of us and the fullback. We needed some more guys in our room. I knew it was going to happen. I wasn’t surprised by it at all. I think its good to bring in more competition for us – whatever we can to make our room better."

Dwyer shares an agent with Bell and he said he met the rookie well before the draft and had nothing but good things to say about the Big Ten's leading rusher in 2012.

"I think he’s a great player. He’s done some great things at Michigan State. He’s a big guy, like myself and [Isaac] Red[-man]. He does a lot of good things ... I think he’s going to make us better as a group. We’re going to compete and make each other better, and we’ll make him better and push him as well ...”

***** LaMarr Woodley on James Harrison's departure: "It’s part of football. People come and go, but all you can do is work with who’s here. Jason Worilds has been here a long time and being that James and me was hurt these last two years he had a lot of opportunities to get some reps and now he’s going on to be a starter."

***** Woodley seemingly does not want to give top draft pick Jarvis Jones a big head, saying "I don’t know much about Jarvis – the few highlights I’ve seen of him in a game [was] during the draft. I don’t watch too much college football."

***** Finally, this pic below, spotted at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan by my uncle, Jeffrey Gigler, a civilian contractor on the base: 

Stay safe, unc. Get home soon. 

Call them Da Beard and Da Brush. 

Pittsburgh Steelers running back and artist-in-residence Baron Batch presented team captain Brett Keisel with an abstract painting today after the team's first OTA session of 2013. The Steeler-flavored art features Keisel doing his signature bowhunter sack dance move over a field of 'beard' and Keisel's bird-of-prey eyes glaring out from the hypocycloids. 

Batch said that it only took about five hours to actually paint start to finish, but that he'd been working on the idea for weeks in his head and sketching out designs.

Other stuff from today:

***** Second-round pick Le'Veon Bell of Michigan State on being a big back, but not a "big" back:  

"A lot of people look at me like a big heavy guy but a lot of people forget I'm a 6' 2' guy and at the combine I measured in at 230 [and] I was like 7% body fat. I'm not an out of shape guy. I'm a pretty lean guy."  

***** It's only but Mike Tomlin was already in midseason form in answering reporters questions: 

Does it feel different out there with a lot of new personnel? 

"It feels new and different every year this time. We're working with 90 guys and largely every year 40 or so of them minimum are new guys and so from that standpoint its the same. We're always excited and energized to work with new faces."  

Impressed with anyone?

"Not at all. Football in shorts." 

Any urgency given all the offseason defections?

"No. This time of year you need to have a certain sense of urgency as you build and prepare. Hopefully this year is no different than any other in that regard." 

The latest on Heath Miller & Sean Spence ...

"As of right now, they're on schedule. We're pleased with where they are and we'll just continue to take it day by day and when that day comes, it'll be a good day." 

Where is Jarvis Jones? (healthwise)

"He's in the building. From a health standpoint? He's capable of practicing which he did and had a good day out there." 

***** Antonio Brown says that the Todd Haley offense is easier to grasp after a full year:

"Definitely. Everyone understands Todd's logic. He's got a feel for guys from last year and I think [we're] working together in the right direction."

***** Also, the team today hired former special teams ace Chidi Iwuoma as the team's BLESTO scout.