LATROBE, Pa. -- At 5-foot-7, LaRod Stephens-Howling doesnt feel out of place during some of the Pittsburgh Steelers more size-oriented training camp drills. The running back has held his own during short-yardage and goal-line exercises and has looked right at home in "backs-on-backers" protection drills. It has helped that playing for the Steelers has made Stephens-Howling feel like hes home -- even if he didnt join the team until just this past off-season. A western Pennsylvania native who played at Pitt, Stephens-Howling is awash in familiarity during his first season with Pittsburgh. His hometown of Johnstown is about 45 minutes from the training camp site at St. Vincent College, and Stephens-Howling shared a practice facility with the Steelers while in college at Pitt. Even his new home stadium, Heinz Field, also is his old home stadium. Pitt and the Steelers share the venue. "Its a great feeling -- a homecoming feeling," Stephens-Howling said between workouts Saturday. "But after all that excitement gets out of the way, were still at training camp and were working hard to get a job on the 53. It doesnt matter where youre at, thats it." Stephens-Howlings roster spot would appear to be safe, even in a crowded backfield. A fifth-year pro, he was brought in to compete for third-down back and kick returning roles. Both are tasks he showed a proficiency for over four season (57 career games) with the Arizona Cardinals. A seventh-round pick in 2009, Stephens-Howling has amassed 4,067 yards and three touchdowns in the kick return game over his career in addition to seven touchdowns off plays from scrimmage. "Hes definitely given us some versatility," said Isaac Redman, who broke last seasons camp as the starting running back. "He can catch, and hes pretty quick. When you get him out in space hes hard to tackle. Youre not going to catch him from behind." Speed has always been the hallmark for Stephens-Howling, who led Pitt in rushing his freshman and sophomore seasons but backed up future NFL All-Pro LeSean McCoy late in his college career. Pure speed is what has made him such an attractive option as a returner. On offence, while lack of size has shied NFL teams away from considering Stephens-Howling as an every-down runner, an ability to catch balls out of the backfield helps make him an ideal third-down back. Lacking prototypical options at both kick returner and third-down back after last years 8-8 season, the Steelers signed Stephens-Howling as a free agent in April. "When I visited the Steelers, they talked about the opportunities they had at third-down back stuff and in return," Stephens-Howling said. "It looked good for me to come here and have the opportunity to compete for those jobs. At the same time its closer to home; Ive been across the country for four years so its nice to be closer to home." Stephens-Howlings father took him to the Steelers annual training camp night practice at Greater Latrobe High School when he was a kid. While in college, Stephens-Howling remembers frequently watching the Steelers practice from a window in the practice facility Pitt and the Steelers share. Although he has yet to appear in a regular-season game at Heinz Field, his first preseason game as a professional was there in 2009. Just four years later, hes the player at his position on the Steelers with the most NFL tenure. "Hes brought a lot of experience and helps out a lot already," said Jonathan Dwyer, Pittsburghs leading rusher last season. "Hes having a great camp so far. He brings a lot of exciting things to the table in the passing game and the running game. "Dont let his size fool you; hes a tough guy. He doesnt shy away form contact. Hes not scared of anybody." Stephens-Howling proved that Saturday when he was given the ball during short-yardage and goal-line drills. During one goal-line play he absorbed one of the most vicious hits of the practice, protecting his quarterback and allowing a touchdown pass. During individual blocking drills earlier this week, coach Mike Tomlin audibly enjoyed how the 185-pound running back was frustrating linebackers who often had six inches or more and at least 50 pounds on Stephens-Howling. "Blockings something I work on, and I try to get better everyday," Stephens-Howling said. "Im definitely not satisfied with my blocking right now, but as the games go on Im going to get better." In order to ensure a role in the backfield on third downs, he knows hell have to prove he can block as much as he will need to show he can catch. A career-high 17 of Stephens-Howlings 56 career receptions came last season. Coaches have talked about getting him the ball in space to take advantage of his speed. "Hes fast and he can also run the ball up the middle," Redman said. "Mostly, though, hes a good guy -- a genuinely good person -- and thats what we needed in our running back room. Personality-wise, he clicks right with us." The hope is he will on the field, too. Notes: The Steelers signed veteran OT DAnthony Batiste on Saturday and placed OT Nik Embernate on the waived/injured list. The 31-year-old Batiste had 10 of his 14 career starts last season for the Cardinals. He has appeared in 37 games over seven NFL seasons for six teams. The 6-4, 314-pound Batiste opened last season as the Cardinals starting left tackle and adds to tackle group that lacked depth behind projected starters Mike Adams and Marcus Gilbert. Embernate is an undrafted guard from San Diego State who sustained a knee injury earlier this week. ... Among the myriad players who sat out Saturdays practice for injury or personal reasons were TE Matt Spaeth, DE Brett Keisel, LB Jarvis Jones, RB LeVeon Bell, CB Cortez Allen, CB DeMarcus Van Dyke, CB Terry Hawthorne, LB Jason Worilds and LB Lawrence Timmons. "Im not going to get into the details on (minor injuries)," Tomlin said. "Many of these guys will be working their way back here in the next 24-48 hours." ... Tomlin ran another physical practice, saying the abundance of youth on the offensive and defensive lines has necessitated a camp with more live tackling and contact. Stitched Cheap Jerseys . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Wholesale Jerseys Authentic . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. 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MEDELLIN, Colombia -- The pilot of the chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and desperately pleaded for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, according to a leaked recording of the final minutes of the doomed flight.In the sometimes chaotic exchange with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British-built jet requests permission to land because of fuel problems without making a formal distress call. A female controller explained another plane that had been diverted with mechanical problems was already approaching the runway and had priority, instructing the pilot to wait seven minutes.As the jetliner circled in a holding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. Complete electrical failure, without fuel, he said in the tense final moments before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral that ended with it slamming into a mountainside Monday night.By then the controller had gauged the seriousness of the situation and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. It was too late. Just before going silent, the pilot said he was flying at an altitude of 9,000 feet and made a final plea to land: Vectors, senorita. Landing vectors.The recording, obtained Wednesday by Colombian media, appeared to confirm the accounts of a surviving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, point to a rare case of fuel running out as a cause of the crash of the jetliner, which experts said was flying at its maximum range.For now, authorities are avoiding singling out any one cause of the crash, which killed all but six of the 77 people on board, including members of Brazils Chapecoense soccer team traveling to Medellin for the Copa Sudamericana finals -- the culmination of a fairy tale season that had electrified soccer-crazed Brazil.A full investigation is expected to take months and will review everything from the 17-year-old aircrafts flight and maintenance history to the voice and instruments data in the black boxes recovered Tuesday at the crash site on a muddy hillside. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was taking part in the investigation because the planes engines were made by an American manufacturer.As the probe continued, mourning soccer fans in Medellin and the southern Brazilian town of Chapeco, where the team is from, held simultaneous stadium tributes to the victims. The six survivors were recovering in hospitals, with three in critical but stable condition, while forensic specialists worked to identify the victims so they could be transferred to a waiting cargo plane sent by the Brazilian air force to repatriate the bodies.Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombias aviation agency, said that while evidence initially pointed to an electrical problem, the possibility the crash was caused by lack of fuel has not been ruled out. Planes need to have enough extra fuel on board to fly at least 30 to 45 minutes to another airport in the case of an emergency, and rarely fly in a straight line because of turbulence or othher reasons.ddddddddddddBefore being taken offline, the website of LaMia, the Bolivian-based charter company, said the British Aerospace 146 Avro RJ85 jetliners maximum range was 2,965 kilometers (1,600 nautical miles) -- just under the distance between Medellin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the flight originated carrying close to its full passenger capacity.If this is confirmed by the investigators it would be very painful because it stems from negligence, Bocanegra told Caracol Radio on Wednesday when asked whether the plane should not have attempted such a long haul.One key piece to unlocking the mystery could come from Ximena Sanchez, a Bolivian flight attendant who survived the crash and told rescuers the plane had run out of fuel moments before the crash. Investigators were expected to interview her Wednesday at the clinic near Medellin where she is recovering.We ran out of fuel. The airplane turned off, rescuer Arquimedes Mejia quoted Sanchez as saying as he pulled her from the wreckage. That was the only thing she told me, he told The Associated Press.Investigators also want to speak to Juan Sebastian Upegui, the co-pilot of an Avianca commercial flight who was in contact with air traffic controllers near Medellins Jose Maria Cordova airport at the time the chartered plane went down.In a four-minute recording circulated on social media, Upegui described how he heard the flights pilot request priority to land because he was out of fuel. Growing ever more desperate, the pilot eventually declared a total electrical failure, Upegui said, before the plane quickly began to lose speed and altitude.I remember I was pulling really hard for them, saying `Make it, make it, make it, make it, Upeqgui says in the recording. Then it stopped. ... The controllers voice starts to break up and she sounds really sad. Were in the plane and start to cry.No traces of fuel have been found at the crash site and the plane did not explode on impact, one of the reasons there were six survivors.However, there could be other explanations for that: The pilot may have intentionally dumped fuel in the hopes of reducing the risk of a fireball in a crash, or the aircraft could have suffered a fuel leak or other unexplained reason for losing fuel.John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems, said the aircrafts amount of fuel deserves a careful look.The airplane was being flight-planned right to its maximum. Right there it says that even if everything goes well they are not going to have a large amount of fuel when they arrive, said Cox. I dont understand how they could do the flight nonstop with the fuel requirements that the regulations stipulate.--Goodman reported from Bogota. Associated Press writers Alba Tobella in Bogota, Ben Fox in Miami, Peter Prengaman in Rio de Janeiro and Dave Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report---Joshua Goodman is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman . 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