LATROBE - Nearly every NFL team has a half-dozen players like Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Nate Washington, a small college star accustomed to playing games in the fall before crowds smaller than pro teams draw for a summertime practice.

They are players whose 40-yard dash times might be a tenth of a second slower than the high draft picks from the big schools. Or they lack that extra inch or two of extension as they go up for passes. Maybe they made the Little All-America team, rather than the big team.

There's little chance they will make their teams, so they hope deep down for an injury or a breakdown that allows them to wedge their way onto an NFL roster - the exception to the rule.

For Nate Washington, a soon-to-be graduate of Ohio's tiny Tiffin University, the opportunity may have arrived through Pro Bowl receiver Hines Ward's 15-day holdout.

With Ward gone and Antwaan Randle El hurt last week, Washington got an increasing number of opportunities to take snaps in practice. Then, with the regulars playing only one quarter Monday night against the Eagles, he was the Steelers' leading receiver with four catches for 76 yards, including a 33-yard catch.

Washington didn't play himself into a job with one good preseason performance, but he stood out enough that coach Bill Cowher was still talking about him Thursday.

With Ward, Randle El and Cedrick Wilson the top three receivers and fourth-round draft pick Fred Gibson certain to stay, Washington is among a crowded group of seven receivers essentially trying for one roster spot. Others in the group include holdover Lee Mays and Zamir Cobb, who had an excellent camp a year ago before breaking his ankle just before the season started.

"Nate Washington right now has been the one guy who's been the most consistent player," Cowher said. "If there's one guy who has seized this opportunity, it's been Nate Washington. He's been very, very consistent."

If nothing else, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Washington seems likely to make the practice squad. For a player who comes from a college many of his teammates have never heard of - many call it "Tipton" - what Washington has accomplished until now is significant.

"I never really looked to the NFL when I was in college," said Washington, who set eight school receiving records at Tiffin, a Division II school with 1,500 students located near Toledo. "I took college just like I'm taking it now, day by day. There I was a main focus of the offense so, each day, I was focused on trying to better myself and get open."

Perhaps the least surprised person with Washington's play to date is Tiffin coach Nate Cole, who was an assistant coach when he recruited Washington out of Toledo Scott High School.

Cole said Washington wasn't just the best player ever at Tiffin, a school that shares its stadium with another college (Heidelberg) and two high school teams, but also one of the best receivers in Division II. Washington made 212 catches for 4,214 yards and 47 touchdowns during his college career.

"It's a matter of me showing I can do it on Sundays as well as any other day of the week in practice," Washington said. "I realize a lot of the guys in NFL didn't make it as first or second round picks, they came in as free agents, and it's making me hungry to get to the spot those guys got to."

Washington may play a lot again Saturday night against the Dolphins, even though the regulars are expected to go a half. Ward probably won't play that long since he will have practiced only three times since ending his holdout Monday, and Gibson may be held out with a sore shoulder.

"Right now, I'm really not trying to focus on that, because I think the second I focus on that I'll start slipping up," Washington said of his chances of making the team. "But I think I've got a decent chance."

Notes:

QB Ben Roethlisberger is not listed on the injury report. A lineman stepped on Roethlisberger's foot in practice Wednesday, causing him to miss a few plays. ... Tommy Maddox will again follow Roethlisberger, with Charlie Batch and Brian St. Pierre to follow. ...Cowher said second-year RB Willie Parker is competing with holdover Verron Haynes for the third-down back's job. ... RB Duce Staley and LB Joey Porter are progressing on schedule following knee operations, and neither has been ruled out of the Sept. 11 opener against Tennessee. ... Asked about rookie G Chris Kemoeatu's play Monday, Cowher said, "He knocked a lot of people on the ground."