Pitt opened spring camp 2016 on Tuesday with a morning session in the South Side. Here’s a rundown of news and notes from the practice.
- The biggest story was the return of James Conner. When he announced that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December, Conner and his doctor said that he would play for Pitt this season, but I don’t know if anyone expected him to be on the field this spring.
There he was, though, running through walk-throughs and stretching in the early part of practice. He’ll be limited this spring - he was limited on Tuesday - but it was encouraging to see him out there with the team. I’m sure his teammates felt the same way.
- Pitt’s official injury report for Tuesday listed the following players as out:
LB Bam Bradley (upper body)
DE Rori Blair (upper body)
WR Zach Challingsworth (upper body)
FB Colton Lively (lower body)
LB Anthony McKee (upper body)
OL Alex Officer (lower body)
There are a few significant absences in there, particularly at linebacker. And there are a few more players who practiced during Tuesday’s shorts-and-shirts workout but likely won’t be available when the team puts on shoulder pads on Saturday or full pads next week.
Among the limited:
OL Jaryd Jones-Smith
RB Rachid Ibrahim
LB Quintin Wirginis
RB James Conner
DE Allen Edwards
DT Tyrique Jarrett
- Let’s start with the offensive line. With Officer and Jones-Smith on the shelf, there was some shifting. It looked like the first team had Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle, Dorian Johnson at left guard, Alex Bookser at center, John Guy at right guard and Brian O’Neill ta right tackle.
The first thing that stands out there is Bookser at center. With Officer out, Artie Rowell gone to graduation and Gabe Roberts opting to transfer, there’s not a lot of depth at center. The coaches moved Connor Dintino from defensive tackle; that adds a scholarship player to the position but not any experience.
So Bookser could possibly give the staff another scholarship option at center while Officer is out, but it also increases the number of possible combinations the coaches can consider with the line. They have four starters back from last season plus Jones-Smith and Bookser; that makes six players for five spots. I think that Johnson and Jones-Smith are probably locked into guard and tackle, respectively, but the other four could move around (O’Neill might be fairly locked in at tackle, too). Giving Bookser reps at center increases his versatility and, by extension, the versatility of the linemen as the coaches look for their five best.
Of course, giving him those snaps also takes away from the options at guard, which is why you see John Guy working with the first team today.
On the second team, Aaron Reese and Carson Baker were the tackles, Mike Grimm and Mike Herndon were the guards and Alex Galiyas was at center. That’s the Day One lineup - again, with a few notable players out.
- Elsewhere on the offense, Pitt had five quarterbacks working on Tuesday: Nate Peterman, Adam Bertke, Ben DiNucci, Manny Stocker and Ryan Adzima. So at least there are numbers.
- Dontez Ford, Quadree Henderson and Tre Tipton took a lot of first-team reps, although the groups mixed and matched.
- On defense, the rotation at end looked a little different than it will since Blair and Edwards are out/limited. The top two of Ejuan Price and Dewayne Hendrix was in place, but James Folston and freshman Patrick Jones worked behind them.
And with Jarrett limited, the top tackles were Justin Moody and Jeremiah Taleni, with Shakir Soto and Shane Roy working on the second team.
- At linebacker, Matt Galambos was flanked by Mike Caprara on the weak side and Oluwaseun Idowu on the strong side. With Wirginis limited, Jim Medure was the backup middle linebacker; Jalen Williams and Saleem Brightwell worked on the outside of the second team.
- The secondary is about what you would expect: Jordan Whitehead and a rotation of Terrish Webb and Reggie Mitchell at safety (with Dennis Briggs behind Whitehead). Avonte Maddox was on the first team; Ryan Lewis and Phillipie Motley rotated opposite him, and Malik Henderson had the other spot on the second team.
- Whitehead, Maddox, Quadree Henderson and Rafael Araujo-Lopes all worked on punt returns. That’s a pretty explosive group.
- Overall, the first practice of spring was about what you would expect from a shorts-and-shirts practice. We’ll talk to Pat Narduzzi shortly and get some more details on a number of topics, but that’s how things look at the start of spring camp.
- The biggest story was the return of James Conner. When he announced that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December, Conner and his doctor said that he would play for Pitt this season, but I don’t know if anyone expected him to be on the field this spring.
There he was, though, running through walk-throughs and stretching in the early part of practice. He’ll be limited this spring - he was limited on Tuesday - but it was encouraging to see him out there with the team. I’m sure his teammates felt the same way.
- Pitt’s official injury report for Tuesday listed the following players as out:
LB Bam Bradley (upper body)
DE Rori Blair (upper body)
WR Zach Challingsworth (upper body)
FB Colton Lively (lower body)
LB Anthony McKee (upper body)
OL Alex Officer (lower body)
There are a few significant absences in there, particularly at linebacker. And there are a few more players who practiced during Tuesday’s shorts-and-shirts workout but likely won’t be available when the team puts on shoulder pads on Saturday or full pads next week.
Among the limited:
OL Jaryd Jones-Smith
RB Rachid Ibrahim
LB Quintin Wirginis
RB James Conner
DE Allen Edwards
DT Tyrique Jarrett
- Let’s start with the offensive line. With Officer and Jones-Smith on the shelf, there was some shifting. It looked like the first team had Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle, Dorian Johnson at left guard, Alex Bookser at center, John Guy at right guard and Brian O’Neill ta right tackle.
The first thing that stands out there is Bookser at center. With Officer out, Artie Rowell gone to graduation and Gabe Roberts opting to transfer, there’s not a lot of depth at center. The coaches moved Connor Dintino from defensive tackle; that adds a scholarship player to the position but not any experience.
So Bookser could possibly give the staff another scholarship option at center while Officer is out, but it also increases the number of possible combinations the coaches can consider with the line. They have four starters back from last season plus Jones-Smith and Bookser; that makes six players for five spots. I think that Johnson and Jones-Smith are probably locked into guard and tackle, respectively, but the other four could move around (O’Neill might be fairly locked in at tackle, too). Giving Bookser reps at center increases his versatility and, by extension, the versatility of the linemen as the coaches look for their five best.
Of course, giving him those snaps also takes away from the options at guard, which is why you see John Guy working with the first team today.
On the second team, Aaron Reese and Carson Baker were the tackles, Mike Grimm and Mike Herndon were the guards and Alex Galiyas was at center. That’s the Day One lineup - again, with a few notable players out.
- Elsewhere on the offense, Pitt had five quarterbacks working on Tuesday: Nate Peterman, Adam Bertke, Ben DiNucci, Manny Stocker and Ryan Adzima. So at least there are numbers.
- Dontez Ford, Quadree Henderson and Tre Tipton took a lot of first-team reps, although the groups mixed and matched.
- On defense, the rotation at end looked a little different than it will since Blair and Edwards are out/limited. The top two of Ejuan Price and Dewayne Hendrix was in place, but James Folston and freshman Patrick Jones worked behind them.
And with Jarrett limited, the top tackles were Justin Moody and Jeremiah Taleni, with Shakir Soto and Shane Roy working on the second team.
- At linebacker, Matt Galambos was flanked by Mike Caprara on the weak side and Oluwaseun Idowu on the strong side. With Wirginis limited, Jim Medure was the backup middle linebacker; Jalen Williams and Saleem Brightwell worked on the outside of the second team.
- The secondary is about what you would expect: Jordan Whitehead and a rotation of Terrish Webb and Reggie Mitchell at safety (with Dennis Briggs behind Whitehead). Avonte Maddox was on the first team; Ryan Lewis and Phillipie Motley rotated opposite him, and Malik Henderson had the other spot on the second team.
- Whitehead, Maddox, Quadree Henderson and Rafael Araujo-Lopes all worked on punt returns. That’s a pretty explosive group.
- Overall, the first practice of spring was about what you would expect from a shorts-and-shirts practice. We’ll talk to Pat Narduzzi shortly and get some more details on a number of topics, but that’s how things look at the start of spring camp.
