Healthy Sanders motivated

Associated Press

LATROBE, PA.

Emmanuel Sanders caught a touchdown pass running a fade route during a drill Saturday.

Then after Pittsburgh Steelers receivers, defensive backs and quarterbacks turned around en masse and headed to the opposite end of Chuck Noll Field, Sanders caught another touchdown pass on the next play.

That was streaking across the back of the end zone during an 11-on-11 drill. Later in practice, he added another score when he reeled in a pass with his fingertips along the end zone’s left sideline and capped off his “four-touchdown day” by catching a Ben Roethlisberger pass in stride as he was sprinting down the right sideline.

All in all, a good training camp day for Sanders.

Then again, any training camp day is a good one for Sanders — as long as he’s not in pain.

Coming off an injury-filled season that included a camp in which he was rehabbing both feet after offseason surgery, Sanders says he’s healthy, happy and ready for a breakout season.

“Oh my God, you have no idea, man,” Sanders said when asked how much better he feels this training camp as opposed to the previous one.

“Last year around this time, I was down and out. And now I have an appreciation for training camp.

“A lot of those guys are like, ‘Argh, I gotta go to training camp.’ I’m like, ‘Yes! Let’s go to training camp! I’m healthy, I’m finally here.’ So you know I’m enjoying it each day.”

Sanders is running as the team’s second receiver, too, with Mike Wallace’s holdout well into its second week.

Known as an ambitious, hard worker through his college and young pro career, Sanders spent his offseason mostly staying off his feet — and with some dramatically more pedestrian goals.

“My main goal this offseason was to stay healthy,” he said.

Sanders broke his right foot during the 2011 Super Bowl at the end of his rookie season. Later that offseason — one in which there was no minicamp or OTAs due to the lockout — Sanders had surgery on the left foot.

The result was a disjointed camp and start to the season. Sanders missed five games for the Steelers (No. 7 in the AP Pro32) due to injury and caught only 22 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.

Sanders had a team-high six receptions for a career-high 81 yards in Pittsburgh’s wild-card playoff loss in Denver. He’s hoping that can serve as a springboard heading into this season.

A day after G Willie Colon (ankle) and RB Isaac Redman (groin) sustained minor injuries during a practice at a local high school, neither practiced Saturday.