LATROBE, Pa. – We live in an internet world, a world of instant messaging, cell phones, blogs and wireless communication. In an age of instant gratification, immediacy is something that's demanded. We want what we want, and most of all we want it now.

In a way that this mind-set relates to his job, Coach Mike Tomlin is decidedly old school. He may have some understanding of the mania that grips the Steelers fans and the media assigned to cover the team concerning even the tiniest detail, let alone something as important as the configuration of the starting offensive line.

But Tomlin doesn't really care what inquiring minds might want to know. He believes in allowing the process to work itself out, and so as the Steelers get close to completing their first week of training camp, nothing is known about which five players will make up the starting offensive line, because there is nothing to know yet.

"I am one who believes that it will all become obvious," said Tomlin when asked about his timetable for making these types of personnel decisions. "Sometimes I think if you are patient and don't rush to judge, decisions become obvious and I am hoping this is one that does."

When training camp opened, Marvel Smith and Alan Faneca were set at their respective positions on the left side of the line, but the other three jobs were wide open. When the Steelers first-team offense took the field on Friday night at Latrobe Stadium, the three players joining Smith and Faneca were Chukky Okobi at center, Kendall Simmons at right guard and Max Starks at right tackle.

Gauging each player's progress along the way is something Tomlin doesn't do publicly, and training camp is an exercise when a player's stock can rise or fall from one workout to the next. But if there have been two guys who have stepped forward as serious challengers for a starting spot along the offensive line, they would be Sean Mahan and Willie Colon.

Mahan was the only high-profile acquisition the Steelers made during the March free agency period, and when he was signed he said he was being brought to Pittsburgh to play center.

"They want me to come in and play center, so they've seen tape on me back to 2004 when I played center," Mahan said at the time. "Me playing left guard was because of injuries primarily. Tampa Bay wanted me to play center, and then we had injuries on the line and I moved to left guard, right guard, because I'm a versatile player."

Colon was the team's fourth-round draft choice in 2006, and he quickly made an impression at his rookie training camp by backing down from no one. He was inactive for the first 14 games of 2006, but then he started the final two at right tackle when Starks was injured.

"I've been working hard, dropping the weight, concentrating on a lot of little things that will make me better," said Colon. "Competition is what the NFL's all about."

During the offseason program, Mahan worked at center and guard, while Colon worked at center, guard and tackle. So far in this camp, the players have been spending the bulk of their time at the positions where they figure to have the best shot at cracking the starting lineup – Mahan at center and Colon at right tackle. But that could change, too.

"We visit that on a nightly basis for the guys who are competing for a job. We're going to do that from time-to-time at every position," said Tomlin. "We're out here to improve, to come together, to get better, to put ourselves in a position to compete, and the five preseason games will determine who wins those jobs."

While Tomlin refuses almost daily to handicap the competition, he has been willing to compliment Colon when asked about him specifically.

"We are going to go into this thing with Willie focusing on right tackle, along with Max (Starks), but there will be some movement," said Tomlin. "Willie is a guy we think is capable of competing and being in our top five, so we need to have position flexibility to see if he is capable of doing that, whether it is at right tackle, center or guard. We have to exercise a little patience and be open-minded and let that work itself out. It will, but initially we are going to start him out at right tackle."

And in the meantime, stay tuned.

"I try not to paint a picture of what I think is going to happen," said Tomlin. "I like to stack the team along with everyone else and make it as strong as possible and then go through the process of building it. Those questions will be raised and answered along the way, but I feel really good about where we are right now."