LATROBE - Perhaps this is the best compliment the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff could pay rookie cornerback Bryant McFadden one week into his first NFL training camp: He doesn't look lost.

McFadden hasn't made a number of attention-getting hits - at least not yet - and the second-round pick from Florida State hasn't blown past starter Willie Williams or last year's second-rounder, Ricardo Colclough, on the depth chart.

What McFadden has done is give the Steelers every sign he could be a starter, and a good one, very soon. Maybe not this season, when he likely will settle in as a nickel and dime back, though his learning curve could speed up quickly should Williams get hurt or not perform to expectations.

Also, McFadden plays at the Steelers' most unsettled position, and that uncertainty about who will start Sept. 11 against Tennessee is creating confidence in his mind he will play sooner rather than later. Colclough, third-year cornerback Ike Taylor and McFadden are splitting time with starters Williams and Deshea Townsend during team drills - the only position where so many players are rotating.

The Steelers tried out former Patriots cornerback Ty Law, a one-time Pittsburgh area high school star, but apparently weren't comfortable with his salary demands or the condition of the left foot he injured last season.

"I think Ricardo and Ike are probably a little ahead of Bryant right now just because they've been in the system for a while, but I like what Bryant does," coach Bill Cowher said. "He has a lot of gifted athletic ability and he's a very aggressive kid, so I like where all those guys are."

McFadden is trying to be patient, even if the player considered the nation's top high school cornerback in 2000 at McArthur High in Hollywood, Fla., has done almost nothing but start his entire career.

"I'm a competitor and if I didn't say I wanted to play, they drafted the wrong individual," said McFadden, a former college teammate of Steelers safety Chris Hope. "But you can contribute in a lot of other ways, too, whenever you're called into the game in the nickel or dime packages or special teams, just have fun and do 100 percent of what you're doing."

The Steelers saw that intensity during their spring coaching sessions, when McFadden looked ready several times to put a hit on a receiver during noncontact drills. The 5-foot-111/2, 190-pound McFadden may have had only one interception last season but, according to him, he held four opposing receivers without a catch. To him, the lack of big plays made is countered by the absence of big plays permitted.

That ability as a cover cornerback who played mostly in man-to-man coverage in college led the Steelers to draft him, as did his success at a major-college school. Colclough (Tusculum) and Taylor (Louisiana-Lafayette) played at smaller schools, and thus didn't face the quality of competition McFadden did.

"I don't think anything is unrealistic," McFadden said of starting for a team that was 15-1 last season. "I'm a very optimistic individual and I set goals high for myself and as far as me believing in myself, I've been brought here for a reason. I think it's possible. I have a long way to go and I know that, I'm not trying to pressure myself to make any quick, drastic changes, just let it come to me naturally."

He has changed one aspect of his game: He no longer goes out looking for big hits the way he did at Florida State.

"I've got to tone it down," he said. "If you want to take care of your body and watch out for your teammates, you've got to be a professional and lighten up. That's something that I've already adjusted to and made a quick change."