Weather be damned, Pitt was outside for Thursday morning’s training camp practice. But this is Pittsburgh, where any possible weather conditions could pop up at any point, regardless of season.
So when there was some light rain Thursday morning, Pat Narduzzi seemingly had no hesitation in putting the players on the outdoor fields. It’s always good to practice in the elements when possible, and that’s what Pitt did for the morning practice.
- I’ll be honest, though, while there are plenty of jokes to make when the coaches start doing wet ball drills and it’s always notable to observe ball security, I was perhaps most interested in the look of some of the players - whether rain was falling on them or not.
- Like the linebackers. I spent a decent amount of time watching that group Thursday morning - and I took a decent amount of video as well so you can see this for yourself - there are some real athletes at linebacker. More than we’ve seen in the past. So while Pitt’s linebacker groups of the last eight years have featured a lot of converted safeties and receivers, I would contend that this year’s group is the most athletic of the Narduzzi era.
- I’ve talked plenty about Bangally Kamara, and that probably won’t stop, but there are other players to note, too. Like Solomon DeShields. Narduzzi was asked about DeShields before Thursday’s practice, and his praise was strong:
“He’s right there at the top. He’s a guy competing. He can play both to the field and the boundary and he’s been running with the one’s and people are trying to unseat him there.”
DeShields is a unique player in that he saw the field a lot last season but didn’t really have a steady role in the base defense; almost all of his work came in the third-down Delta package. Now he’ll be moving into the starting job at Money linebacker, where he’ll be playing to the boundary with an emphasis on the pass rush and stopping the run.
Watching DeShields go through drills Thursday morning, I was really impressed with how he just seems to explode. He hit the sled like he was shot out of a cannon during one drill and then drew a lot of ooh’s and ahh’s during another drill when he backpedaled and then broke on a pass to make an athletic catch.
I’ve got a running list of candidates to break out this season, and DeShields is pretty high on it.
- The freshman linebackers are really impressive-looking, too. Jordan Bass has great size; it’s hard to imagine him being a high school receiver and safety, but that’s where he played at Phoebus. Now he’s built like a college linebacker with a frame that can keep adding weight.
Rasheem Biles is built pretty well, too. All three of the freshmen, really - Bass, Biles and Braylan Lovelace - look the part physically. We’ll see how it shakes out for them in terms of playing time this season, but the ceiling seems to be really high for that group.
- Thursday morning’s “TAKEAWAY” watch: Kamara and cornerback A.J. Woods added “TAKEAWAY” stickers since the last time we saw them practicing on Tuesday, so those guys must have done something good in the last two days.
Pitt actually tweeted out Kamara’s takeaway, so we know when that one happened:
https://twitter.com/Pitt_FB/status/1689294241460334592?s=20
There are now 13 defenders who have forced turnovers in training camp so far. Six of them are defensive backs, as you might expect, but the linebackers are well-represented: Kamara, Biles, Shayne Simon, Aydin Henningham, Kyle Louis and Dylan Bennett have all recorded a takeaway so far.
- I really like the look of some of the freshman defensive backs, too. Shadarian Harrison and Cruce Brookins, in particular, stood out to me today. They both have great size, and while they’re in a tough spot with the depth chart this season, the future looks pretty bright for them as well.
- I watched a few punt drills on Thursday morning and saw Jeff Yurk drop one just about perfectly: it hit inside the 15 on the sideline and then bounced out of bounds. Caleb Junko went next and had another nice one, although it seemed to go out of bounds right at the 20. Either way, they weren’t returnable and they put the offense in a tough spot with where they landed.
- It does look like Che Nwabuko could get a look on punt return, although M.J. Devonshire seems to be the top guy there.
- I also noticed that some defensive tackles - David Green and Sean FitzSimmons, specifically - were getting some work on the punt team. That’s interesting, of course, but it also speaks to their athleticism.
- We’ll have more coverage later today - photos, videos, interviews and more - and then we’ll be back in the South Side Friday morning for the final open practice of the week.
So when there was some light rain Thursday morning, Pat Narduzzi seemingly had no hesitation in putting the players on the outdoor fields. It’s always good to practice in the elements when possible, and that’s what Pitt did for the morning practice.
- I’ll be honest, though, while there are plenty of jokes to make when the coaches start doing wet ball drills and it’s always notable to observe ball security, I was perhaps most interested in the look of some of the players - whether rain was falling on them or not.
- Like the linebackers. I spent a decent amount of time watching that group Thursday morning - and I took a decent amount of video as well so you can see this for yourself - there are some real athletes at linebacker. More than we’ve seen in the past. So while Pitt’s linebacker groups of the last eight years have featured a lot of converted safeties and receivers, I would contend that this year’s group is the most athletic of the Narduzzi era.
- I’ve talked plenty about Bangally Kamara, and that probably won’t stop, but there are other players to note, too. Like Solomon DeShields. Narduzzi was asked about DeShields before Thursday’s practice, and his praise was strong:
“He’s right there at the top. He’s a guy competing. He can play both to the field and the boundary and he’s been running with the one’s and people are trying to unseat him there.”
DeShields is a unique player in that he saw the field a lot last season but didn’t really have a steady role in the base defense; almost all of his work came in the third-down Delta package. Now he’ll be moving into the starting job at Money linebacker, where he’ll be playing to the boundary with an emphasis on the pass rush and stopping the run.
Watching DeShields go through drills Thursday morning, I was really impressed with how he just seems to explode. He hit the sled like he was shot out of a cannon during one drill and then drew a lot of ooh’s and ahh’s during another drill when he backpedaled and then broke on a pass to make an athletic catch.
I’ve got a running list of candidates to break out this season, and DeShields is pretty high on it.
- The freshman linebackers are really impressive-looking, too. Jordan Bass has great size; it’s hard to imagine him being a high school receiver and safety, but that’s where he played at Phoebus. Now he’s built like a college linebacker with a frame that can keep adding weight.
Rasheem Biles is built pretty well, too. All three of the freshmen, really - Bass, Biles and Braylan Lovelace - look the part physically. We’ll see how it shakes out for them in terms of playing time this season, but the ceiling seems to be really high for that group.
- Thursday morning’s “TAKEAWAY” watch: Kamara and cornerback A.J. Woods added “TAKEAWAY” stickers since the last time we saw them practicing on Tuesday, so those guys must have done something good in the last two days.
Pitt actually tweeted out Kamara’s takeaway, so we know when that one happened:
https://twitter.com/Pitt_FB/status/1689294241460334592?s=20
There are now 13 defenders who have forced turnovers in training camp so far. Six of them are defensive backs, as you might expect, but the linebackers are well-represented: Kamara, Biles, Shayne Simon, Aydin Henningham, Kyle Louis and Dylan Bennett have all recorded a takeaway so far.
- I really like the look of some of the freshman defensive backs, too. Shadarian Harrison and Cruce Brookins, in particular, stood out to me today. They both have great size, and while they’re in a tough spot with the depth chart this season, the future looks pretty bright for them as well.
- I watched a few punt drills on Thursday morning and saw Jeff Yurk drop one just about perfectly: it hit inside the 15 on the sideline and then bounced out of bounds. Caleb Junko went next and had another nice one, although it seemed to go out of bounds right at the 20. Either way, they weren’t returnable and they put the offense in a tough spot with where they landed.
- It does look like Che Nwabuko could get a look on punt return, although M.J. Devonshire seems to be the top guy there.
- I also noticed that some defensive tackles - David Green and Sean FitzSimmons, specifically - were getting some work on the punt team. That’s interesting, of course, but it also speaks to their athleticism.
- We’ll have more coverage later today - photos, videos, interviews and more - and then we’ll be back in the South Side Friday morning for the final open practice of the week.
