LATROBE, Pa. -- JuJu Smith-Schuster's ability with kids is not to be questioned entering his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The 21-year-old did Fortnite dances for several kids who were lining the walkway to the practice fields Sunday at Saint Vincent College. Once in the end zone after a goal-line score in 11-man work, Smith-Schuster flipped a football to a boy in the crowd.

JuJubilation 😂 pic.twitter.com/I85c7tGOp4

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 29, 2018

An explosive rookie year, raw talent and a walking espresso personality sparked all of this.

But his appeal won't answer the next challenge facing the receiver: Beating top cornerbacks when Antonio Brown is blanketed and Ben Roethlisberger needs a play on third down.

There's no Martavis Bryant to draw safety help. That's Smith-Schuster's job now. And though Smith-Schuster proved to be a physical and potent slot receiver with a big-play flare as a rookie, the 15-year veteran quarterback won't let him rest on that body of work.

"The challenge for JuJu is going to be, how is he going to respond to last year?" Roethlisberger said from Saint Vincent College. "When you're a young guy in this league, no matter what position -- quarterback, receivers -- you can sneak up on people. He’s not going to sneak up on anybody this year. People know what they are going to get. He’s going to have to now take his game to the next level, to now find a way to get better than what the defense expects of him."

Smith-Schuster takes that challenge seriously.

"My rookie year, anybody's rookie year, those who explode have lots of successes because they don't have film on them," Smith-Schuster said. "And like I said, second year, they have that on me. This year you've just got to work harder. It's me, AB [Antonio Brown], J-Hunt [Justin Hunter], [Marcus] Tucker, we're all going to be out there. The guys that we have this year, that's who we have to rock with, so it's going to be super exciting to see what the outcome of this is going to be."

Just about all of Smith-Schuster's first year exceeded expectations. The Steelers loved his physicality coming out of USC but didn't know he'd be crushing Harrison Smith up the hole and Vontaze Burfict in the open field. They figured his one weakness was big-play ability because of a lack of raw speed (he ran a 4.54-second 40 at the combine), but he shut that down in a hurry with 15.8 yards per catch and seven touchdowns.

Smith-Schsuter led all NFL receivers with 2.15 yards per route out of the slot, according to Pro Football Focus.

But now the Steelers will ask him to do more, and to stay healthy while doing it. Smith-Schsuter missed most of offseason workouts with a knee injury that he says is healed up. He missed part of Sunday's practice for what coach Mike Tomlin called a precaution, although he was catching passes from Roethlisberger after the session.

Eli Rogers can tout this year's receiving corps, but if rookie James Washington isn't ready to be the deep threat that the Steelers need, Smith-Schuster will be occasionally tasked with beating top corners on the outside.

Smith-Schuster craves that spotlight, on and off the field.

"Run up the ladder, have to stay successful and just keep moving up," Smith-Schuster said. "I'm happy playing inside and out. It's just going to open up more doors for me but for the other guys, too."