After a week off, Pitt was back at practice in the South Side on Tuesday. Here’s a look at what stood out from the indoor session.
- We often track the “TAKEAWAY” stickers during camp - the stickers that go on a player’s helmet after he records a turnover in practice. It’s a trophy, of sorts, providing some recognition for the players and letting everybody else - like the media - know who has been making plays.
- To that end, here’s what we saw on Tuesday morning:
- Ryland Gandy had two “TAKEAWAY” stickers. He had his first one during the first week of spring camp, and he has since added a second one. If I recall correctly, Gandy had a decent number of turnovers in training camp last August, and he looks like a presumptive favorite to win one of the open starting jobs at cornerback.
- Rashad Battle had two stickers on Tuesday morning. Battle is a corner we’re keeping an eye on, for sure; he’s tall and physical and has played well when he’s gotten an opportunity, but those instances have been limited since he has been injured the last two seasons. If he can stay healthy, Battle can be in the rotation at corner and probably have a role as the extra defensive back in the “Delta” defensive sub-package on third down.
- P.J. O’Brien got his first sticker of the spring. O’Brien is an interesting guy to me, because he’s not going to be a starter - Javon McIntyre and Donovan McMillon have those two spots locked up - but he’ll have a significant role. Last season, that role was four starts and 352 snaps, although two of his starts came in the first two games before McMillon moved into a starting job at boundary safety. O’Brien still played around 30 snaps per game after that, but in the current era of college football, a starter who loses his job and “only” plays 30 snaps per game probably isn’t likely to stick around - and that’s especially true for a talented safety like O’Brien.
But to O’Brien’s credit, he’s still at Pitt and figures to have a rotational role at safety once again.
- Two linebackers added “TAKEAWAY” stickers while we were gone: Solomon DeShields and Rasheem Biles.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I’m really bullish on Pitt’s linebackers this season. DeShields is top returning producer in the group - and arguably the top returning player on defense overall - and he’s locked in as a starter at one of the outside spots (probably Money, the linebacker that plays to the boundary side, which is where he lined up last year). Brandon George, who returned to Pitt after entering the portal, Keye Thompson, who came to Pitt from Ohio, and Braylan Lovelace, who played as a true freshman last season, figure to be the options in the middle.
And at Star linebacker - the wide side of the field - there are options like Kyle Louis, Jordan Bass and Biles.
I like that group a lot. I think last year’s freshmen - Bass, Biles and Lovelace - really impressed and should be ready for even more work this season. I think the middle linebackers are very solid. And I think DeShields can be an impact player. Expectations for the linebackers should be pretty high this season.
- Earlier, I mentioned that Gandy is a likely favorite for one of the starting jobs at corner. I think Tamon Lynum, who joined the team this offseason as a transfer from Nebraska, has to be considered as a favorite for the other starting spot. He’s listed at 6’2” and 190 pounds, and I think he looks to be pretty close to that size.
I obviously haven’t seen Lynum hit anyone yet, but he’s built like the kind of physical corners Pitt covets for its defense. If Lynum plays that way, he’ll be a good fit against the run and the pass.
- A big part of what we get to see during the media viewing window is special teams. In the past, that meant watching punt walk-throughs and return drills. But as Pat Narduzzi pointed out the last time we were here, special teams drills look different now with Jacob Bronowski. Primarily, they look different because we haven’t really seen anybody kick a football. We actually haven’t even seen the punters and kickers do things with the rest of the team. All of the focus through four practices - that we’ve seen, at least - has been on fundamental work: how to approach blocks, how to get off blocks, the proper angles to take and that kind of thing.
And it involves just about everybody. The quarterbacks and offensive linemen are doing their own drills, of course, and roughly half of the defensive line is, too. But the rest of the team all works on special teams drills in that part of practice.
That’s not necessarily new; obviously, most of the team is involved in special teams. But breaking it down to specific individual technique is a different approach from what we’ve seen in the past.
When Narduzzi announced Bronowski’s hiring, one of the key points he emphasized was Bronowski’s organizational skills. I think he was drawn to the way Bronowski approaches special teams - not just in his scheme and system, but how he organizes it and coaches it. The heavy focus on fundamentals during spring camp is a piece of that, I think.
- We’ll have photos, videos, interviews and more from practice later today.
- We often track the “TAKEAWAY” stickers during camp - the stickers that go on a player’s helmet after he records a turnover in practice. It’s a trophy, of sorts, providing some recognition for the players and letting everybody else - like the media - know who has been making plays.
- To that end, here’s what we saw on Tuesday morning:
- Ryland Gandy had two “TAKEAWAY” stickers. He had his first one during the first week of spring camp, and he has since added a second one. If I recall correctly, Gandy had a decent number of turnovers in training camp last August, and he looks like a presumptive favorite to win one of the open starting jobs at cornerback.
- Rashad Battle had two stickers on Tuesday morning. Battle is a corner we’re keeping an eye on, for sure; he’s tall and physical and has played well when he’s gotten an opportunity, but those instances have been limited since he has been injured the last two seasons. If he can stay healthy, Battle can be in the rotation at corner and probably have a role as the extra defensive back in the “Delta” defensive sub-package on third down.
- P.J. O’Brien got his first sticker of the spring. O’Brien is an interesting guy to me, because he’s not going to be a starter - Javon McIntyre and Donovan McMillon have those two spots locked up - but he’ll have a significant role. Last season, that role was four starts and 352 snaps, although two of his starts came in the first two games before McMillon moved into a starting job at boundary safety. O’Brien still played around 30 snaps per game after that, but in the current era of college football, a starter who loses his job and “only” plays 30 snaps per game probably isn’t likely to stick around - and that’s especially true for a talented safety like O’Brien.
But to O’Brien’s credit, he’s still at Pitt and figures to have a rotational role at safety once again.
- Two linebackers added “TAKEAWAY” stickers while we were gone: Solomon DeShields and Rasheem Biles.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I’m really bullish on Pitt’s linebackers this season. DeShields is top returning producer in the group - and arguably the top returning player on defense overall - and he’s locked in as a starter at one of the outside spots (probably Money, the linebacker that plays to the boundary side, which is where he lined up last year). Brandon George, who returned to Pitt after entering the portal, Keye Thompson, who came to Pitt from Ohio, and Braylan Lovelace, who played as a true freshman last season, figure to be the options in the middle.
And at Star linebacker - the wide side of the field - there are options like Kyle Louis, Jordan Bass and Biles.
I like that group a lot. I think last year’s freshmen - Bass, Biles and Lovelace - really impressed and should be ready for even more work this season. I think the middle linebackers are very solid. And I think DeShields can be an impact player. Expectations for the linebackers should be pretty high this season.
- Earlier, I mentioned that Gandy is a likely favorite for one of the starting jobs at corner. I think Tamon Lynum, who joined the team this offseason as a transfer from Nebraska, has to be considered as a favorite for the other starting spot. He’s listed at 6’2” and 190 pounds, and I think he looks to be pretty close to that size.
I obviously haven’t seen Lynum hit anyone yet, but he’s built like the kind of physical corners Pitt covets for its defense. If Lynum plays that way, he’ll be a good fit against the run and the pass.
- A big part of what we get to see during the media viewing window is special teams. In the past, that meant watching punt walk-throughs and return drills. But as Pat Narduzzi pointed out the last time we were here, special teams drills look different now with Jacob Bronowski. Primarily, they look different because we haven’t really seen anybody kick a football. We actually haven’t even seen the punters and kickers do things with the rest of the team. All of the focus through four practices - that we’ve seen, at least - has been on fundamental work: how to approach blocks, how to get off blocks, the proper angles to take and that kind of thing.
And it involves just about everybody. The quarterbacks and offensive linemen are doing their own drills, of course, and roughly half of the defensive line is, too. But the rest of the team all works on special teams drills in that part of practice.
That’s not necessarily new; obviously, most of the team is involved in special teams. But breaking it down to specific individual technique is a different approach from what we’ve seen in the past.
When Narduzzi announced Bronowski’s hiring, one of the key points he emphasized was Bronowski’s organizational skills. I think he was drawn to the way Bronowski approaches special teams - not just in his scheme and system, but how he organizes it and coaches it. The heavy focus on fundamentals during spring camp is a piece of that, I think.
- We’ll have photos, videos, interviews and more from practice later today.
