MCKEESPORT, Pennsylvania -- As the sun settled into a late afternoon golden hour that cast a blinding, yet photogenic glow on the small football stadium outside Pittsburgh, T.J. Watt emerged from the low-slung brick building.

About 200 yards in front of him was a group of high schoolers with red practice pinnies pulled over their shoulder pads, huddled in a semi-circle facing the building.

They didn’t know what -- or who -- they were waiting for, but as the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year lumbered closer, the whispers turned to frenzied shouts.

“Is that --”... “Wait, that kind of looks like --” … “HEY THAT’S T.J. WATT!”

And all of a sudden the varsity football team at McKeesport High realized that the Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Watt was there to address them ahead of their WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal game against Armstrong on Friday.

“My high school football coach, he taught me a lesson that still sticks with me today,” Watt told the players. “When you're doing any sprints, you're doing any workout in the weight room, you start with your foot behind the line, you get all the way through the line, you do every single rep. You don't ever skip a rep. As soon as you skip a rep, there's a guy in a county over, a school over who's doing every single rep, everything that he possibly can to get better. … I don't want you guys to get complacent in any way because you have a target on your back every week.”

The timing, it turns out, was perfect for both Watt and McKeesport.

The high school football team was undefeated entering its last regular season game, but they came up short in the finale, losing to Thomas Jefferson 20-10. A week later though, in the first round of the playoffs, they beat Mars 43-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Watt, wearing a red puffer vest over a gray long-sleeve shirt, was just five days away from a scheduled return to his first NFL action since sustaining a torn pectoral muscle in the final regulation minutes of an improbable win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 11. And during his nine-week IR stint, Watt also had arthroscopic surgery to clean up a preseason knee injury. Though he was years removed from his high school career at Pewaukee High School in Wisconsin, Watt knew exactly what the McKeesport team was going through because one loss ended his senior season after a 10-0 start.

“It just brings you back to day one,” said Watt, who added he was “optimistic” about playing Sunday. “I remember growing up being in third or fourth grade, going to the high school football games, running around under the bleachers -- all the little things that remind you of why I started playing this game, why I fell in love with it.

“It's all about preparing when no one else is watching, these guys are doing that right now, that helps you become successful. And it's always a breath of fresh air to be able to be out here.”

Once activated off Injured Reserve, Watt won’t return to his Steelers teammates with the kind of spotlight he had at McKeesport, but his presence can undoubtedly change the narrative for a defensive unit that’s been maligned and exploited since he left.

The Steelers have just 15 sacks this season -- ranking in the bottom third of the league -- and have recorded only eight over eight games since Watt went out of the lineup. While statistically, Watt accounted for just one sack against the Bengals, the Steelers defense as a whole racked up seven and had four interceptions -- including one by Watt.

“I think it just brings us together, closer,” nose tackle Montravius Adams said. “T.J. brings something to the game that can't be measured, you know what I mean? And that's just his presence, even without his play. So with his play being back, sky's the limit.”

Not only will Watt’s presence boost the pass rush, but it has the ability to lift the entire defense, a unit that on paper is the league’s highest-paid but has been without its $112 million man for nearly the bulk of the season so far.

“T.J. doesn't talk,” cornerback Arthur Maulet said. “He does everything by example. He plays balls to the wall, man. He makes plays all over the field. That's enough motivation. Can't let a guy down like that, a guy that's giving us his all, doing everything the right way, studying film there before you're there, doing everything the right way. So it's just like, we gotta play for this guy.”

While Watt’s return is undoubtedly most important to the defense, he’s not the only addition that could help the Steelers salvage a 2-6 start.

Safety Damontae Kazee, who fractured his forearm in the final preseason game, is also poised to return from injured reserve. Kazee, a six-year veteran, signed with the Steelers in free agency and was a standout in camp. During those training camp practices, the Steelers deployed a three-safety look. Not only can the Steelers use that look now, but Kazee’s versatility also gives the secondary crucial depth.

“We just gotta work together,” Kazee said. “We gotta be brothers at the end of the day. Gotta do your job so your brother can do his. Execute the plays and come out with a W.”

Cornerback Levi Wallace is also scheduled to return after missing the loss to Philadelphia with a shoulder injury, and the Steelers added corner William Jackson III, a player primed to be especially effective in the Steelers’ press man coverage, from Washington at the trade deadline.

“It's exciting to get all my guys back,” Maulet said. “Big family reunion. Obviously getting the MVP back is great, right? T.J. back getting pressure back there. Kazee back, another vet back there. Levi's coming back. I'm excited to get the guys back, to get a real look at what we’re going to be looking like potentially for the rest of the year if everyone stays healthy.”