Pitt got started on Week Three of spring camp Tuesday morning in the South Side. The practice was the Panthers’ first time on the field since Saturday’s scrimmage, and from the look of things, the defense appeared to win the scrimmage.
As is tradition under Pat Narduzzi, the unit that wins the scrimmage wears blue jerseys and the “losers” wear white. For the first two weeks of spring camp, the offense was wearing blue and the defense was in white. But on Tuesday, the defense had the blue jerseys on.
We’ll see what Narduzzi and other coaches have to say about that change after practice.
- If the defense did, in fact, win the scrimmage, is that necessarily a bad thing for the offense? It’s not good, of course, but I don’t think it’s an omen. On the contrary, it’s probably what I would expect to see. We always hear that defense tends to start faster than offense, but on top of that, this spring camp, in particular, should see the defense ahead of the offense.
After all, this is a defense that returns nine full-time starters plus six other players who made at least one start in 2017. And that doesn’t even count Quintin Wirginis, who played in 38 games from 2014-16 and is penciled in as the starting middle linebacker.
Conversely, the offense is replacing starters at more than half of the positions, depending on your perspective (is Kenny Pickett a returning starter with one game of starting experience under his belt? Kind of). So I would expect the defense to pick up where it left off and the offense to be rebuilding, at least to some extent.
- Perhaps in another scrimmage-related development, the offensive line took on a new look during the open viewing window for media Tuesday morning. For the first two weeks of camp, we saw Jerry Drake at left tackle, Bryce Hargrove at left guard, Jimmy Morrissey at center, Mike Herndon at right guard and Alex Bookser at right tackle.
On Tuesday, Hargrove was a left tackle and Connor Dintino, who had been the second-team center, was at left guard. Drake moved to right tackle on the second team and fellow redshirt freshman Owen Drexel stepped into the second-team center job.
There are probably a few things to take out of that. The first thing I notice is the versatility, which has a guy like Hargrove moving from guard to tackle or Dintino moving from center to guard. And those probably aren’t permanent moves; rather, it’s an indication of those players - and others - being able to play multiple positions.
I also think that all of these things happen with Stefano Millin looming on the horizon as an impending arrival for both the players and the coaches. The coaches want to find where everyone fits best, but they also know they have a ready-made left tackle with experience getting on campus in a couple months.
They’ve got players who can play multiple spots, so they’ll probably keep moving guys around and trying different things - within reason - to find the best fit between now and September.
- There’s interesting versatility on the defensive line, too. Ends are ends and tackles are tackles, of course, but I think there are some crossover physical abilities that could let the coaches try some different things in terms of personnel. We’ve seen over the last three years that the Delta package - Pitt’s standard third-down personnel grouping with three linemen - has often used three defensive ends.
That’s not always the case; Shakir Soto played the Delta tackle spot in 2016 (although he was a converted defensive end) and Amir Watts saw some snaps there last season, but we’ve also seen guys like Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones line up at tackle in that personnel package.
I think this season could see even more variations like that, with ends moving inside and tackles moving outside. A guy like Weaver or Jones or Dewayne Hendrix, for instance, could have an advantage working against interior linemen on passing downs, especially if the coaches couple that with a defensive tackle lined up on the edge to occupy the offensive tackle.
We’ll see what the coaches end up doing in the season, but I think those options do exist.
- If you’re interested in special teams, it looks like redshirt sophomore Brandon Ford is now working as the second-team long-snapper behind returning starter Cal Adomitis. And the coaches are also still looking for a good backup holder; second-team kicker Jake Scarton typically holds, but the staff doesn’t seem to feel great about the backup options and we’ve seen a few guys work there.
- Also, Rafael Araujo-Lopes and Paris Ford continue to be the main options catching punts.
- A couple recruits were at Tuesday morning’s practice, including JUCO offensive lineman Jacob Gamble and Gateway’s prolific receiver, Courtney Jackson.
As is tradition under Pat Narduzzi, the unit that wins the scrimmage wears blue jerseys and the “losers” wear white. For the first two weeks of spring camp, the offense was wearing blue and the defense was in white. But on Tuesday, the defense had the blue jerseys on.
We’ll see what Narduzzi and other coaches have to say about that change after practice.
- If the defense did, in fact, win the scrimmage, is that necessarily a bad thing for the offense? It’s not good, of course, but I don’t think it’s an omen. On the contrary, it’s probably what I would expect to see. We always hear that defense tends to start faster than offense, but on top of that, this spring camp, in particular, should see the defense ahead of the offense.
After all, this is a defense that returns nine full-time starters plus six other players who made at least one start in 2017. And that doesn’t even count Quintin Wirginis, who played in 38 games from 2014-16 and is penciled in as the starting middle linebacker.
Conversely, the offense is replacing starters at more than half of the positions, depending on your perspective (is Kenny Pickett a returning starter with one game of starting experience under his belt? Kind of). So I would expect the defense to pick up where it left off and the offense to be rebuilding, at least to some extent.
- Perhaps in another scrimmage-related development, the offensive line took on a new look during the open viewing window for media Tuesday morning. For the first two weeks of camp, we saw Jerry Drake at left tackle, Bryce Hargrove at left guard, Jimmy Morrissey at center, Mike Herndon at right guard and Alex Bookser at right tackle.
On Tuesday, Hargrove was a left tackle and Connor Dintino, who had been the second-team center, was at left guard. Drake moved to right tackle on the second team and fellow redshirt freshman Owen Drexel stepped into the second-team center job.
There are probably a few things to take out of that. The first thing I notice is the versatility, which has a guy like Hargrove moving from guard to tackle or Dintino moving from center to guard. And those probably aren’t permanent moves; rather, it’s an indication of those players - and others - being able to play multiple positions.
I also think that all of these things happen with Stefano Millin looming on the horizon as an impending arrival for both the players and the coaches. The coaches want to find where everyone fits best, but they also know they have a ready-made left tackle with experience getting on campus in a couple months.
They’ve got players who can play multiple spots, so they’ll probably keep moving guys around and trying different things - within reason - to find the best fit between now and September.
- There’s interesting versatility on the defensive line, too. Ends are ends and tackles are tackles, of course, but I think there are some crossover physical abilities that could let the coaches try some different things in terms of personnel. We’ve seen over the last three years that the Delta package - Pitt’s standard third-down personnel grouping with three linemen - has often used three defensive ends.
That’s not always the case; Shakir Soto played the Delta tackle spot in 2016 (although he was a converted defensive end) and Amir Watts saw some snaps there last season, but we’ve also seen guys like Rashad Weaver and Patrick Jones line up at tackle in that personnel package.
I think this season could see even more variations like that, with ends moving inside and tackles moving outside. A guy like Weaver or Jones or Dewayne Hendrix, for instance, could have an advantage working against interior linemen on passing downs, especially if the coaches couple that with a defensive tackle lined up on the edge to occupy the offensive tackle.
We’ll see what the coaches end up doing in the season, but I think those options do exist.
- If you’re interested in special teams, it looks like redshirt sophomore Brandon Ford is now working as the second-team long-snapper behind returning starter Cal Adomitis. And the coaches are also still looking for a good backup holder; second-team kicker Jake Scarton typically holds, but the staff doesn’t seem to feel great about the backup options and we’ve seen a few guys work there.
- Also, Rafael Araujo-Lopes and Paris Ford continue to be the main options catching punts.
- A couple recruits were at Tuesday morning’s practice, including JUCO offensive lineman Jacob Gamble and Gateway’s prolific receiver, Courtney Jackson.
