Pitt opened the first training camp of the Pat Narduzzi Era on Monday, as the team took to the practice fields outside the Panthers' South Side facilities for a morning workout.
A morning "walk-through" is probably a better description for the day since, as per NCAA rules, the players practiced in shorts, jerseys and helmets - no shoulder pads and no leg pads. Still, the practice offered a chance to get a first look at the 2015 team, and there were several things that stood out.
Filling a hole
Starting on offense, the biggest question was along the line, where Pitt has to replace Jaryd Jones-Smithwho suffered a season-ending knee injury this summer. The Panthers need a new first-team right tackle, and the summer speculation was that redshirt freshman Alex Bookser would take over.
Sure enough, that was the case, as Bookser worked on the first team at right tackle, redshirt sophomoreAlex Officer lined up at right guard and redshirt senior Artie Rowell was at center. That lineup makes the most sense, since Bookser was a standout tackle in high school, Officer has experience at both guard and center and Rowell was the starting center last season before suffering an injury.
The rest of the line mirrored what it was in the spring (and last season): Dorian Johnson at left guard and Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle.
There was intrigue behind Bookser, though. That's where Brian O'Neill lined up. O'Neill, of course, moved from tight end to the offensive line this summer, and while he obviously has a lot of learning to do in getting comfortable on the offensive line, he's got good size for the position. He is a bit thin - or at least as thin as a 270-pound person can be - but he is impressively tall and seems like he can fit well on the offensive line.
Whether he will compete with Bookser for the starting right tackle job remains to be seen - the smart money is on Bookser - but the coaches have him working on the second team, at least to start camp.
Elsewhere on the offensive line, Aaron Reese was the left tackle on the second team and John Guy has moved inside to guard. Mike Herndon was the second-team right guard and Gabe Roberts was at center. The third-team line featured freshmen Tony Pilato (left tackle) and Alex Paulina (left guard), redshirt freshmen Alex Galiyas (center) and Mike Grimm (right guard) and redshirt sophomore Carson Baker(right tackle).
As always, that all comes with the caveat of being the first lineup of the first practice of training camp. Plenty can - and likely will - change over the next three weeks.
Back end of the secondary
The other position move that emerged this summer involved star freshman Jordan Whitehead, who told Panther-Lair.com that he had moved from cornerback to safety. Narduzzi claimed that no decision on such a move had been made, but Whitehead was with the safeties Monday morning.
That makes sense since sophomore Pat Amara was not practicing. Amara missed a significant amount of spring camp with a personal health issue, and the expectation was that he would be limited, if available at all, in training camp. Hence the coaching staff's belief that Whitehead would have a better chance of getting on the field at safety than cornerback.
(For what it's worth, Narduzzi said after Monday's practice that he expects Amara to be on the field Tuesday, so perhaps his absence will be shorter.)
So there he was on Monday, taking reps with the safeties. It goes without saying, but Whitehead certainly passes the eyeball test: he is really put together and doesn't look like a freshman, at least physically. The next three weeks will reveal how quickly he can adapt to a college defense, but he certainly looks the part.
Whitehead's primary competition at strong/boundary safety will be redshirt junior Jevonte Pitts, who split first-team reps with Amara in the spring until taking all of those reps when Amara was sidelined. Redshirt junior Reggie Mitchell was on the first team at free/field safety Monday.
Return duty
Whitehead was also in the mix catching punts Monday morning, although that wasn't a small group. In addition to Whitehead, the coaches had Tyler Boyd, Avonte Maddox, freshman Quadree Hendersonand JUCO transfer Rafael Araujo-Lopes catching punts.
Later, a smaller group of Boyd, Henderson and Araujo-Lopes worked in those drills.
Other spots
There weren't any real surprises in how the team lined up for early-practice walk-throughs Monday morning. With Rori Blair suspended for the season opener against Youngstown State, Shakir Soto andEjuan Price were at first-team defensive end (Blair did practice, though, as did Boyd, lest there be any concern that he was suspended from practice, which would seem to be counter-productive if it were the case).
The defensive tackle position could be interesting to watch, particularly at nose tackle. Khaynin Mosley-Smith and Tyrique Jarrett were listed as OR starters - basically undetermined co-starters - on the pre-camp two deep, and it looks like they could be competing for that job. Jarrett was named the most improved defensive player of spring camp and the coaching staff spoke very highly of him on multiple occasions, including this summer, so he could push Mosley-Smith, who is the upperclassman at the position.
At linebacker, Matt Galambos was flanked by Nicholas Grigsby and Bam Bradley, and the cornerbacks were, naturally, the two players with experience at the position: Lafayette Pitts and Avonte Maddox.
On offense, the clearest two-deep to see was on the offensive line. The order of the receivers and running backs will shake out over the next few days/weeks.
Other notes
- Incumbent Chad Voytik was the first-team quarterback, as expected, and it looks like transfer Nate Peterman was his main backup, although redshirt freshman Adam Bertke took a few snaps behind the second-team offensive line.
Again, though, that was the early-practice walk-through, which can provide interesting insight into how the coaches have the players lining up but isn't necessarily indicative of what happened later in practice. Peterman is expected to be the primary backup behind Voytik - and compete with the returning starter for the top job.
- Monday provided the first look at Pitt's freshmen and other newcomers. Sophomore defensive endDewayne Hendrix stood out right away, even without pads; he looks like an SEC defensive end, which makes sense since he transferred from Tennessee. Pitt's coaches will likely look on Hendrix with a sense of longing as this season goes on, since he certainly looks the part.
- Hendrix's fellow Tennessee transfer, Peterman, has good size. He's listed as being one inch and 10 pounds bigger than Voytik, but the difference is probably a bit more than that. There wasn't much to see of his throwing ability on Monday, but at first glance, he looks solid.
- Whitehead is probably the most physically impressive of the freshmen, but a few others looked good. Jay Stocker is tall but thin. Saleem Brightwell and Anthony McKee look like slightly bigger safeties lining up at linebacker. Gentry Ivery is a little bigger than expected, but Quadree Henderson is probably listed accurately at 5'8" and 170 pounds. Dane Jackson stands out as a tall cornerback, while Tre Tipton has a similar build to that of Tyler Boyd.
- For what it's worth, Narduzzi said that McKee had an interception during a two-minute drill. He believed McKee picked off Ben DiNucci, but added that DiNucci connected on a nice fade pattern during the same drill.
- On the recruiting front, four-star Central Catholic defensive back Damar Hamlin was at practice Monday. He has made a seemingly-countless number of visits to Pitt since the spring, which has to be exciting for the coaches, who have prioritized him as one of their top defensive back targets in the class of 2016.
A morning "walk-through" is probably a better description for the day since, as per NCAA rules, the players practiced in shorts, jerseys and helmets - no shoulder pads and no leg pads. Still, the practice offered a chance to get a first look at the 2015 team, and there were several things that stood out.
Filling a hole
Starting on offense, the biggest question was along the line, where Pitt has to replace Jaryd Jones-Smithwho suffered a season-ending knee injury this summer. The Panthers need a new first-team right tackle, and the summer speculation was that redshirt freshman Alex Bookser would take over.
Sure enough, that was the case, as Bookser worked on the first team at right tackle, redshirt sophomoreAlex Officer lined up at right guard and redshirt senior Artie Rowell was at center. That lineup makes the most sense, since Bookser was a standout tackle in high school, Officer has experience at both guard and center and Rowell was the starting center last season before suffering an injury.
The rest of the line mirrored what it was in the spring (and last season): Dorian Johnson at left guard and Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle.
There was intrigue behind Bookser, though. That's where Brian O'Neill lined up. O'Neill, of course, moved from tight end to the offensive line this summer, and while he obviously has a lot of learning to do in getting comfortable on the offensive line, he's got good size for the position. He is a bit thin - or at least as thin as a 270-pound person can be - but he is impressively tall and seems like he can fit well on the offensive line.
Whether he will compete with Bookser for the starting right tackle job remains to be seen - the smart money is on Bookser - but the coaches have him working on the second team, at least to start camp.
Elsewhere on the offensive line, Aaron Reese was the left tackle on the second team and John Guy has moved inside to guard. Mike Herndon was the second-team right guard and Gabe Roberts was at center. The third-team line featured freshmen Tony Pilato (left tackle) and Alex Paulina (left guard), redshirt freshmen Alex Galiyas (center) and Mike Grimm (right guard) and redshirt sophomore Carson Baker(right tackle).
As always, that all comes with the caveat of being the first lineup of the first practice of training camp. Plenty can - and likely will - change over the next three weeks.
Back end of the secondary
The other position move that emerged this summer involved star freshman Jordan Whitehead, who told Panther-Lair.com that he had moved from cornerback to safety. Narduzzi claimed that no decision on such a move had been made, but Whitehead was with the safeties Monday morning.
That makes sense since sophomore Pat Amara was not practicing. Amara missed a significant amount of spring camp with a personal health issue, and the expectation was that he would be limited, if available at all, in training camp. Hence the coaching staff's belief that Whitehead would have a better chance of getting on the field at safety than cornerback.
(For what it's worth, Narduzzi said after Monday's practice that he expects Amara to be on the field Tuesday, so perhaps his absence will be shorter.)
So there he was on Monday, taking reps with the safeties. It goes without saying, but Whitehead certainly passes the eyeball test: he is really put together and doesn't look like a freshman, at least physically. The next three weeks will reveal how quickly he can adapt to a college defense, but he certainly looks the part.
Whitehead's primary competition at strong/boundary safety will be redshirt junior Jevonte Pitts, who split first-team reps with Amara in the spring until taking all of those reps when Amara was sidelined. Redshirt junior Reggie Mitchell was on the first team at free/field safety Monday.
Return duty
Whitehead was also in the mix catching punts Monday morning, although that wasn't a small group. In addition to Whitehead, the coaches had Tyler Boyd, Avonte Maddox, freshman Quadree Hendersonand JUCO transfer Rafael Araujo-Lopes catching punts.
Later, a smaller group of Boyd, Henderson and Araujo-Lopes worked in those drills.
Other spots
There weren't any real surprises in how the team lined up for early-practice walk-throughs Monday morning. With Rori Blair suspended for the season opener against Youngstown State, Shakir Soto andEjuan Price were at first-team defensive end (Blair did practice, though, as did Boyd, lest there be any concern that he was suspended from practice, which would seem to be counter-productive if it were the case).
The defensive tackle position could be interesting to watch, particularly at nose tackle. Khaynin Mosley-Smith and Tyrique Jarrett were listed as OR starters - basically undetermined co-starters - on the pre-camp two deep, and it looks like they could be competing for that job. Jarrett was named the most improved defensive player of spring camp and the coaching staff spoke very highly of him on multiple occasions, including this summer, so he could push Mosley-Smith, who is the upperclassman at the position.
At linebacker, Matt Galambos was flanked by Nicholas Grigsby and Bam Bradley, and the cornerbacks were, naturally, the two players with experience at the position: Lafayette Pitts and Avonte Maddox.
On offense, the clearest two-deep to see was on the offensive line. The order of the receivers and running backs will shake out over the next few days/weeks.
Other notes
- Incumbent Chad Voytik was the first-team quarterback, as expected, and it looks like transfer Nate Peterman was his main backup, although redshirt freshman Adam Bertke took a few snaps behind the second-team offensive line.
Again, though, that was the early-practice walk-through, which can provide interesting insight into how the coaches have the players lining up but isn't necessarily indicative of what happened later in practice. Peterman is expected to be the primary backup behind Voytik - and compete with the returning starter for the top job.
- Monday provided the first look at Pitt's freshmen and other newcomers. Sophomore defensive endDewayne Hendrix stood out right away, even without pads; he looks like an SEC defensive end, which makes sense since he transferred from Tennessee. Pitt's coaches will likely look on Hendrix with a sense of longing as this season goes on, since he certainly looks the part.
- Hendrix's fellow Tennessee transfer, Peterman, has good size. He's listed as being one inch and 10 pounds bigger than Voytik, but the difference is probably a bit more than that. There wasn't much to see of his throwing ability on Monday, but at first glance, he looks solid.
- Whitehead is probably the most physically impressive of the freshmen, but a few others looked good. Jay Stocker is tall but thin. Saleem Brightwell and Anthony McKee look like slightly bigger safeties lining up at linebacker. Gentry Ivery is a little bigger than expected, but Quadree Henderson is probably listed accurately at 5'8" and 170 pounds. Dane Jackson stands out as a tall cornerback, while Tre Tipton has a similar build to that of Tyler Boyd.
- For what it's worth, Narduzzi said that McKee had an interception during a two-minute drill. He believed McKee picked off Ben DiNucci, but added that DiNucci connected on a nice fade pattern during the same drill.
- On the recruiting front, four-star Central Catholic defensive back Damar Hamlin was at practice Monday. He has made a seemingly-countless number of visits to Pitt since the spring, which has to be exciting for the coaches, who have prioritized him as one of their top defensive back targets in the class of 2016.
