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Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is dedicated to his craft. So dedicated, as a matter of fact, that he actually bought his own Jugs machine to catch footballs at his place.
“I bought it online,” said Smith-Schuster, according to Teresa Varley of the Steelers' team website. “I did it on the rooftop of my apartment. I just needed space and I wanted to catch Jugs, I don’t get enough catches in, so I do it on the rooftop of my apartment.”
Smith-Schuster posted an Instagram story of himself using the Jugs machine on Thursday night, just ahead of his team's Monday night matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. So, was Smith-Schuster trying to emulate catching passes in the dark to prepare himself?
“That’s not necessarily why I did it then, but I guess you could say that,” said Smith-Schuster. “It’s just the time of the day, whenever I can get it in. I don’t have enough time to get all of the catches in here, so I just do it at home.”
The 22-year-old has logged 14 catches for 243 yards and a touchdown through the first three games of the season, a season that has turned into an unmitigated disaster for the Steelers, as they have started out 0-3 and lost Ben Roethlisberger for the year in the process.
Smith-Schuster, who played his collegiate football at the University of Southern California, was originally selected by Pittsburgh in the second round (62nd pick overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
He played in 14 games during his rookie campaign, catching 58 passes for 917 yards and seven scores. He then followed that up by hauling in 111 receptions for 1,426 yards and seven touchdowns last year, making the Pro Bowl as a result.
