Pitt was back in the South Side this morning for the Panthers’ fourth practice of spring camp, opening Week Two in full pads after putting them on for the first time on Saturday.
It’s always good to see the players in full pads; if nothing else, they actually look like football players. I think the defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends benefit the most - they seem to ‘grow’ the most with pads on - but everybody just looks a little bigger when they’re in full gear.
- The offensive linemen mostly look the same, to my eye. Those guys are big to begin with, and Pitt’s certainly got a big group this year. I’m relatively bullish on the starting five of Matt Goncalves, Blake Zubovic, Jake Kradel, Ryan Jacoby and Branson Taylor; that group has a lot of experience from last season and should be able to pick up where they left off.
Even a guy like Jacoby, who mostly saw his snaps coming at the tight end spot, has good upside. One person last year told me they thought he looked better in practice than Marcus Minor, and while I’m not sure if I totally buy that, even if it was only true for one or two practices, it’s pretty promising.
- The big question, to me, is the depth at tackle. Ryan Baer is an obvious answer and ideally Pitt can get through the season only needing three tackles. Last year they played five total, although that includes Baer, who saw minimal snaps. But they did get Goncalves and Taylor on the field a lot due to injuries to Carter Warren and Gabe Houy. Maybe there will be a balancing-out of the injuries this year after tackle got hit hard in 2022, but if Pitt gets unlucky again, that depth will be tested, and I’m not really sure who’s a good option behind Goncalves, Taylor and Baer. A fourth tackle will need to emerge.
- The coaches give the defensive players some recognition for creating turnovers by putting tape on their helmets that read “TAKEAWAYS.” It’s like a camp version of helmet stickers (although I don’t think the offensive guys have any equivalent for big plays). Today I noticed a handful of guys with that tape on their helmets:
Cornerback Tamarion Crumpley
Cornerback Noah Biglow
Safety Donovan McMillon
Safety Dante Caputo
- Caputo is a redshirt senior walk-on from North Allegheny who transferred to Pitt in 2021 after spending two years as a walk-on at Wisconsin. His lone appearance with the Panthers over the last two seasons was in El Paso for the Sun Bowl when he played 13 snaps on special teams.
- Biglow is a redshirt sophomore who played in four games each of the last two seasons, primarily on special teams. He logged 17 snaps on defense in 2022, with 14 of those coming in the regular-season finale at Miami. As a freshman in 2021, he played about 15 snaps on defense.
- Crumpley is also entering his redshirt sophomore season, and he has seen even less playing time. He was a Signing Day commitment in Dec. 2020, if you recall, putting him in the class of recruits who were unable to take official visits due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At some point down the road, we’ll take a dive into what’s become of the prospects who were recruited at that particular point in time, but as far as Crumpley is concerned, the last two years haven’t amounted to much. He has not appeared in a game yet for Pitt, and I’m not sure where he fits on the depth chart right now.
- I don’t think the cornerback depth chart is tough to decipher at this point. Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire are the top two with A.J. Woods right behind them in what will likely be a three-man rotation. That was basically the case last season: according to Pro Football Focus, Devonshire played 674 snaps on defense, Woods played 478 and Williams played 476 in 12 games. The numbers favor Devonshire, but it’s really only a difference of about a dozen snaps per game. All three guys played a lot, and that will be the case again this season.
Even if Devonshire and Williams are ahead of Woods, I’m not counting Woods out. He has always been one of the fastest runners on the team, and on Tuesday, he made a particularly athletic play that showed off some impressive ball skills.
- The fourth corner behind them is the job that is most up for grabs. Ryland Gandy got a lot of praise from the coaches for his play in spring camp last year after he enrolled in January. He played in four games to keep his redshirt, but only one of those saw him log snaps on defense (probably because Devonshire, Williams and Woods stayed on the field so much). Jahvante Royal moved to offense, so he’s not in the mix, but the Panthers do have Rashad Battle back after he missed the final 10 games of the 2022 season due to a knee injury.
- I would expect Battle to be the No. 4 corner in 2023 as well as serving as the extra defensive back in Pitt’s third-down Delta defensive sub-package. He was working in that role during the three games he played last season pre-injury, and he is a good fit for it moving into this year (provided he is at 100%).
- The other player with the “TAKEAWAY” tape is McMillon, and while I wrote about the safeties last week, I’m going to bring them up again, mostly because I had an eye on them during one of the drills on Tuesday.
In particular, I noticed McMillon and redshirt sophomore Stephon Hall standing next to each other. This stood out to me because it struck me how they both have really good size for safeties. Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett were very good players for Pitt, obviously, but neither was what you would call “tall.” I think I was taller than both of them, and I’m a shade under 6’0”. Hall and McMillon are both taller than me; Pitt lists Hall at 6’1” and McMillon at 6’2”, and I buy both of those heights. They definitely pass the looks test, and if McMillon looks like an SEC safety - which he does - Hall has some of that, too.
Seeing those two next to each other also reminded me that they were both WPIAL standouts in the recruiting class of 2021. And that reminded me how there were a few people I talked to at the time who felt that Hall wasn’t quite as far behind McMillon as the rankings had him. While there was a consensus that McMillon was a better prospect, some questioned if he would stick at safety or grow into an outside linebacker, while Hall had the athleticism to use his height in the secondary.
Now they might be playing next to each other.
- From what I can tell, Javon McIntyre and P.J. O’Brien are the top two safeties right now, with Hall and McMillon behind them for the time being. McIntyre got a lot of experience last season, particularly late in the year, and O’Brien played 100 or so defensive snaps, too. Add in McMillon’s experience at Florida and Hall’s potential, and I could see the coaches using a bit more rotation at safety this season than they did in 2022.
- Conversely, I’m curious to see if the depth at linebacker develops to the point where they can rotate like they did last year. Shayne Simon, Bangally Kamara and Solomon DeShields look like the top three right now, with Brandon George as a viable option in the middle, either to rotate with Simon or replace him (either giving Simon rest or shifting him outside). But that’s only four guys, and I’m not really sure who Nos. 5 and 6 are. Buddy Mack moved back to safety. Aydin Henningham hasn’t really caught on. And Kyle Louis is an unknown after redshirting last season.
I really wouldn’t be surprised to see a freshman or two get on the field at linebacker this season. Whether that’s Braylan Lovelace, who enrolled early, or one of the two guys coming this summer - Jordan Bass and Rasheem Biles - remains to be seen, but it feels like they almost have to use at least one freshman, if not more, this season.
- On the recruiting front, Pitt had a number of prospects on campus for visits today, including these guys that we spotted:
Smith, Chaney and Kosin have offers from Pitt, while Fenwick is a 2024 quarterback target to watch. 2025 QB Jimmy Sullivan was also at practice.
- Pitt has four practices this week: today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Going three days in a row is atypical, but looking ahead, the team won’t practice the Saturday of Easter weekend (April 8), so to get all 15 in, they are stacking practices this week. Only today, Thursday and Friday are open to the media.
It’s always good to see the players in full pads; if nothing else, they actually look like football players. I think the defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends benefit the most - they seem to ‘grow’ the most with pads on - but everybody just looks a little bigger when they’re in full gear.
- The offensive linemen mostly look the same, to my eye. Those guys are big to begin with, and Pitt’s certainly got a big group this year. I’m relatively bullish on the starting five of Matt Goncalves, Blake Zubovic, Jake Kradel, Ryan Jacoby and Branson Taylor; that group has a lot of experience from last season and should be able to pick up where they left off.
Even a guy like Jacoby, who mostly saw his snaps coming at the tight end spot, has good upside. One person last year told me they thought he looked better in practice than Marcus Minor, and while I’m not sure if I totally buy that, even if it was only true for one or two practices, it’s pretty promising.
- The big question, to me, is the depth at tackle. Ryan Baer is an obvious answer and ideally Pitt can get through the season only needing three tackles. Last year they played five total, although that includes Baer, who saw minimal snaps. But they did get Goncalves and Taylor on the field a lot due to injuries to Carter Warren and Gabe Houy. Maybe there will be a balancing-out of the injuries this year after tackle got hit hard in 2022, but if Pitt gets unlucky again, that depth will be tested, and I’m not really sure who’s a good option behind Goncalves, Taylor and Baer. A fourth tackle will need to emerge.
- The coaches give the defensive players some recognition for creating turnovers by putting tape on their helmets that read “TAKEAWAYS.” It’s like a camp version of helmet stickers (although I don’t think the offensive guys have any equivalent for big plays). Today I noticed a handful of guys with that tape on their helmets:
Cornerback Tamarion Crumpley
Cornerback Noah Biglow
Safety Donovan McMillon
Safety Dante Caputo
- Caputo is a redshirt senior walk-on from North Allegheny who transferred to Pitt in 2021 after spending two years as a walk-on at Wisconsin. His lone appearance with the Panthers over the last two seasons was in El Paso for the Sun Bowl when he played 13 snaps on special teams.
- Biglow is a redshirt sophomore who played in four games each of the last two seasons, primarily on special teams. He logged 17 snaps on defense in 2022, with 14 of those coming in the regular-season finale at Miami. As a freshman in 2021, he played about 15 snaps on defense.
- Crumpley is also entering his redshirt sophomore season, and he has seen even less playing time. He was a Signing Day commitment in Dec. 2020, if you recall, putting him in the class of recruits who were unable to take official visits due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At some point down the road, we’ll take a dive into what’s become of the prospects who were recruited at that particular point in time, but as far as Crumpley is concerned, the last two years haven’t amounted to much. He has not appeared in a game yet for Pitt, and I’m not sure where he fits on the depth chart right now.
- I don’t think the cornerback depth chart is tough to decipher at this point. Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire are the top two with A.J. Woods right behind them in what will likely be a three-man rotation. That was basically the case last season: according to Pro Football Focus, Devonshire played 674 snaps on defense, Woods played 478 and Williams played 476 in 12 games. The numbers favor Devonshire, but it’s really only a difference of about a dozen snaps per game. All three guys played a lot, and that will be the case again this season.
Even if Devonshire and Williams are ahead of Woods, I’m not counting Woods out. He has always been one of the fastest runners on the team, and on Tuesday, he made a particularly athletic play that showed off some impressive ball skills.
- The fourth corner behind them is the job that is most up for grabs. Ryland Gandy got a lot of praise from the coaches for his play in spring camp last year after he enrolled in January. He played in four games to keep his redshirt, but only one of those saw him log snaps on defense (probably because Devonshire, Williams and Woods stayed on the field so much). Jahvante Royal moved to offense, so he’s not in the mix, but the Panthers do have Rashad Battle back after he missed the final 10 games of the 2022 season due to a knee injury.
- I would expect Battle to be the No. 4 corner in 2023 as well as serving as the extra defensive back in Pitt’s third-down Delta defensive sub-package. He was working in that role during the three games he played last season pre-injury, and he is a good fit for it moving into this year (provided he is at 100%).
- The other player with the “TAKEAWAY” tape is McMillon, and while I wrote about the safeties last week, I’m going to bring them up again, mostly because I had an eye on them during one of the drills on Tuesday.
In particular, I noticed McMillon and redshirt sophomore Stephon Hall standing next to each other. This stood out to me because it struck me how they both have really good size for safeties. Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett were very good players for Pitt, obviously, but neither was what you would call “tall.” I think I was taller than both of them, and I’m a shade under 6’0”. Hall and McMillon are both taller than me; Pitt lists Hall at 6’1” and McMillon at 6’2”, and I buy both of those heights. They definitely pass the looks test, and if McMillon looks like an SEC safety - which he does - Hall has some of that, too.
Seeing those two next to each other also reminded me that they were both WPIAL standouts in the recruiting class of 2021. And that reminded me how there were a few people I talked to at the time who felt that Hall wasn’t quite as far behind McMillon as the rankings had him. While there was a consensus that McMillon was a better prospect, some questioned if he would stick at safety or grow into an outside linebacker, while Hall had the athleticism to use his height in the secondary.
Now they might be playing next to each other.
- From what I can tell, Javon McIntyre and P.J. O’Brien are the top two safeties right now, with Hall and McMillon behind them for the time being. McIntyre got a lot of experience last season, particularly late in the year, and O’Brien played 100 or so defensive snaps, too. Add in McMillon’s experience at Florida and Hall’s potential, and I could see the coaches using a bit more rotation at safety this season than they did in 2022.
- Conversely, I’m curious to see if the depth at linebacker develops to the point where they can rotate like they did last year. Shayne Simon, Bangally Kamara and Solomon DeShields look like the top three right now, with Brandon George as a viable option in the middle, either to rotate with Simon or replace him (either giving Simon rest or shifting him outside). But that’s only four guys, and I’m not really sure who Nos. 5 and 6 are. Buddy Mack moved back to safety. Aydin Henningham hasn’t really caught on. And Kyle Louis is an unknown after redshirting last season.
I really wouldn’t be surprised to see a freshman or two get on the field at linebacker this season. Whether that’s Braylan Lovelace, who enrolled early, or one of the two guys coming this summer - Jordan Bass and Rasheem Biles - remains to be seen, but it feels like they almost have to use at least one freshman, if not more, this season.
- On the recruiting front, Pitt had a number of prospects on campus for visits today, including these guys that we spotted:
Smith, Chaney and Kosin have offers from Pitt, while Fenwick is a 2024 quarterback target to watch. 2025 QB Jimmy Sullivan was also at practice.
- Pitt has four practices this week: today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Going three days in a row is atypical, but looking ahead, the team won’t practice the Saturday of Easter weekend (April 8), so to get all 15 in, they are stacking practices this week. Only today, Thursday and Friday are open to the media.
