Well, there was one big change on Thursday: Pitt practiced outside for the first time in spring camp. This was actually interesting because it gave us a chance to see the new banners Pitt has hung on its end of the practice field.
I'll post a video of the banners shortly, but it's definitely a nice look. They include some of Pat Narduzzi's favorite words: Attitude, Effort, Knowlege, Toughness as well as a few instances of "PITT IS IT." This doesn't seem like something big, but just like the redecorating of the indoor facility, it's notable. Pitt has to recruit and needs things to look as fancy and as branded as possible; sharing facilities with the Steelers is great and all, but recruits need to be reminded constantly that this is Pitt's house, too.
Speaking of the Steelers, they've added a few banners to the outdoor practice fields, too, and will be hanging a few things in the indoor as well; it will look nice, and to be frank, they can thank Narduzzi for that. If he hadn't pushed for it - and he's been pushing for it for awhile - I don't think they would have added those things otherwise.
- As to the on-field action - what we saw of it - there were a few things that stood out to me. First, on the offensive line: we heard Pat Narduzzi praise freshman Jerry Drake earlier this spring, and right now he's working as the backup left tackle. I think more than a few injures would have to happen for Drake to get on the field in 2017, but consistent second-team work is impressive for an early-enrolling freshman competing in his first spring practice.
- I've also noticed Justin Morgan working to establish himself on the second team at right guard. He is a large human being - Pitt lists him at 6'6" and 355 pounds - but with Pitt's general size on the offensive line, he fits right in, particularly when he took a few first-team reps next to similarly-large Jaryd Jones-Smith.
- I mentioned last night that I've heard Chris Clark suffered a knee injury in Saturday's scrimmage, and that makes the move of Devon Edwards back to tight end from defensive end rather prescient. That means a lot of extra work for Edwards with Clark on the sidelines, but all of it reflects the lack of depth at the position (which has been discussed here a length).
- On defense, we're still seeing a lot of the same front four: Rori Blair and Dewayne Hendrix at end and Jeremiah Taleni and Keyshon Camp at tackle. The depth at end contains a combination of Allen Edwards, James Folston, Patrick Jones and Rashad Weaver, while Amir Watts gets some rotation with Camp and Shane Roy and Mike Herndon work on the second team.
- One interesting note on that group: Weaver was getting some work on the punt coverage units - and looked pretty natural running down the field. It looked to be a second-team unit, but it speaks to how he's not a typical defensive end, and it will be interesting to see if he gets some action with the defense this season.
- At linebacker, Quintin Wirginis continues to work at first-team middle linebacker after getting on the field for the first time in spring camp this week. Saleem Brightwell and Oluwaseun Idowu were flanking him during early-practice walk-throughs, while Anthony McKee and Jalen Williams looked to be the second-team Star linebackers and Elijah Zeise was with the two's at Money. If I had to guess, I think Zeise probably gets a decent amount of first-team work during the team periods later in practice.
- The secondary continues to look like what it has been since camp started: Avonte Maddox and Phillipie Motley at cornerback, Jordan Whitehead and Dennis Briggs at safety. Since we've been discussing safety alignments and the differences between the two positions, the backups for the strong/boundary safety (behind Briggs) were Phil Campbell and Henry Miller, who moved to safety after starting spring camp at cornerback, and Whitehead's backups at free/field safety were Jay Stocker and Bricen Garner.
- Overall, when I look at that set of safeties and consider the impending arrival of Paris Ford, I think that might be the first position where you would say, Okay, Pat Narduzzi's plans to restock this defense are coming together. That is a solid three-deep of talented players; five of the six signed with Narduzzi and three of the six were part of Narduzzi's "full classes."
- Cornerback has been a bit slower of a process. Therran Coleman is in the two-deep right now, but with Miller moving to safety and Damar Hamlin on the sidelines and George Hill having health issues that ended his football career (although I'm not sure if he would have played cornerback; I think his future would have been on offense), there isn't as big of an influx of Narduzzi players there. Damarri Mathis and Jason Pinnock will help in that regard - Paris Ford could play cornerback as well - but that depth is still being built.
- Maurice Ffrench would be the other "Narduzzi guy" who figures to be in the mix at cornerback, and the more I look at the situation and talk to the coaches, I get the impression that the ceiling is pretty high for him. I know a lot of people on this board were excited about him as a recruit, but it seems like the coaches are even higher on him than that: they legitimately think he can help them on both sides of the ball, and if you read the interview with Kevin Sherman today, it sure seems like they believe he is good enough to use in a lot of different ways.
To me, that speaks volumes about where they see him - almost to the level of Jordan Whitehead. I'm not comparing the two, but Ffrench has a lot of physical tools and has shown the coaches enough to earn legitimate opportunities on both sides of the ball, not just as a sixth receiver or fifth cornerback, but a legitimate two-deep contender.
I'll post a video of the banners shortly, but it's definitely a nice look. They include some of Pat Narduzzi's favorite words: Attitude, Effort, Knowlege, Toughness as well as a few instances of "PITT IS IT." This doesn't seem like something big, but just like the redecorating of the indoor facility, it's notable. Pitt has to recruit and needs things to look as fancy and as branded as possible; sharing facilities with the Steelers is great and all, but recruits need to be reminded constantly that this is Pitt's house, too.
Speaking of the Steelers, they've added a few banners to the outdoor practice fields, too, and will be hanging a few things in the indoor as well; it will look nice, and to be frank, they can thank Narduzzi for that. If he hadn't pushed for it - and he's been pushing for it for awhile - I don't think they would have added those things otherwise.
- As to the on-field action - what we saw of it - there were a few things that stood out to me. First, on the offensive line: we heard Pat Narduzzi praise freshman Jerry Drake earlier this spring, and right now he's working as the backup left tackle. I think more than a few injures would have to happen for Drake to get on the field in 2017, but consistent second-team work is impressive for an early-enrolling freshman competing in his first spring practice.
- I've also noticed Justin Morgan working to establish himself on the second team at right guard. He is a large human being - Pitt lists him at 6'6" and 355 pounds - but with Pitt's general size on the offensive line, he fits right in, particularly when he took a few first-team reps next to similarly-large Jaryd Jones-Smith.
- I mentioned last night that I've heard Chris Clark suffered a knee injury in Saturday's scrimmage, and that makes the move of Devon Edwards back to tight end from defensive end rather prescient. That means a lot of extra work for Edwards with Clark on the sidelines, but all of it reflects the lack of depth at the position (which has been discussed here a length).
- On defense, we're still seeing a lot of the same front four: Rori Blair and Dewayne Hendrix at end and Jeremiah Taleni and Keyshon Camp at tackle. The depth at end contains a combination of Allen Edwards, James Folston, Patrick Jones and Rashad Weaver, while Amir Watts gets some rotation with Camp and Shane Roy and Mike Herndon work on the second team.
- One interesting note on that group: Weaver was getting some work on the punt coverage units - and looked pretty natural running down the field. It looked to be a second-team unit, but it speaks to how he's not a typical defensive end, and it will be interesting to see if he gets some action with the defense this season.
- At linebacker, Quintin Wirginis continues to work at first-team middle linebacker after getting on the field for the first time in spring camp this week. Saleem Brightwell and Oluwaseun Idowu were flanking him during early-practice walk-throughs, while Anthony McKee and Jalen Williams looked to be the second-team Star linebackers and Elijah Zeise was with the two's at Money. If I had to guess, I think Zeise probably gets a decent amount of first-team work during the team periods later in practice.
- The secondary continues to look like what it has been since camp started: Avonte Maddox and Phillipie Motley at cornerback, Jordan Whitehead and Dennis Briggs at safety. Since we've been discussing safety alignments and the differences between the two positions, the backups for the strong/boundary safety (behind Briggs) were Phil Campbell and Henry Miller, who moved to safety after starting spring camp at cornerback, and Whitehead's backups at free/field safety were Jay Stocker and Bricen Garner.
- Overall, when I look at that set of safeties and consider the impending arrival of Paris Ford, I think that might be the first position where you would say, Okay, Pat Narduzzi's plans to restock this defense are coming together. That is a solid three-deep of talented players; five of the six signed with Narduzzi and three of the six were part of Narduzzi's "full classes."
- Cornerback has been a bit slower of a process. Therran Coleman is in the two-deep right now, but with Miller moving to safety and Damar Hamlin on the sidelines and George Hill having health issues that ended his football career (although I'm not sure if he would have played cornerback; I think his future would have been on offense), there isn't as big of an influx of Narduzzi players there. Damarri Mathis and Jason Pinnock will help in that regard - Paris Ford could play cornerback as well - but that depth is still being built.
- Maurice Ffrench would be the other "Narduzzi guy" who figures to be in the mix at cornerback, and the more I look at the situation and talk to the coaches, I get the impression that the ceiling is pretty high for him. I know a lot of people on this board were excited about him as a recruit, but it seems like the coaches are even higher on him than that: they legitimately think he can help them on both sides of the ball, and if you read the interview with Kevin Sherman today, it sure seems like they believe he is good enough to use in a lot of different ways.
To me, that speaks volumes about where they see him - almost to the level of Jordan Whitehead. I'm not comparing the two, but Ffrench has a lot of physical tools and has shown the coaches enough to earn legitimate opportunities on both sides of the ball, not just as a sixth receiver or fifth cornerback, but a legitimate two-deep contender.
