Pitt was back at it in the South Side Thursday morning for an indoor practice. Here’s a look at what stood out.
- Throughout spring camp, we’ve been monitoring the turnovers. We don’t actually see the turnovers happen, of course, but we see the “TAKEAWAY” stickers that go on the helmets after defensive players record turnovers during practice, and on Thursday, there were two new ones I noticed.
And they were both on the same player.
- Junior safety P.J. O’Brien had two new “TAKEAWAY” stickers on his helmet Thursday, seemingly indicating that he recorded two turnovers in Tuesday’s practice. That brings O’Brien’s total to three, which ties him with Noah Biglow for the most of any defender.
M.J. Devonshire, Dante Caputo and Dylan Bennett also have multiple takeaways with two each.
- O’Brien is really interesting to me. He was Erick Hallett’s primary backup at field safety last season, which puts him in line to take over that spot this year, and everything I’ve heard is that he’s staying on that path and should be the starter.
But he also took four penalties on special teams last season. He was called for roughing the kicker against Georgia Tech, targeting on a punt return at North Carolina and two against Duke - holding on a punt return and a false start on a punt.
It wasn’t all bad, though. He also blocked a punt against Tennessee, recorded 12 tackles on the season and had a tackle for loss in the win at Miami.
O’Brien has a lot of potential, but he’s about to step into one of the most important - and most challenging - positions on Pitt’s defense. There’s a ton of responsibility on the field safety, and you’re talking about a position that has been manned by the likes of Jordan Whitehead, Damar Hamlin and Hallett - some of the best safeties to play at Pitt under Pat Narduzzi.
That’s an impressive lineage to uphold, and O’Brien is going to have his work cut out for him.
- Speaking of third-year players, I think I might have been too quick to write off Myles Alston. The redshirt sophomore from Virginia has played a grand total of 31 snaps on offense in his career; all 31 of those came last season, and he run-blocked on 16 of them, according to Pro Football Focus. On the 15 plays where he ran a pass route, he was targeted once; he didn’t catch that pass (a seven-yard attempt at North Carolina). Quite frankly, my expectations for Alston have been pretty low, and you’ve seen me write about the receiver group basically being Konata Mumpfield, Bub Means, Daejon Reynolds and TBD. I’ve written about the freshmen being counted on to contribute, and there’s always a possibility of adding more transfers.
But perhaps Alston should be in that conversation. I don’t know how he’s doing in the team drills, but watching him in individual drills, there seems to be some potential. Not necessarily potential to be the WR1, but potential to get on the field and contribute in a meaningful way.
Last year, Jared Wayne led the team with 60 receptions, Mumpfield caught 58 and Means caught 27. Beyond those three, Jaden Bradley had 10 catches in six games and Jaylon Barden caught three passes in eight games.
If we assume roughly 140 or so catches for the top three receivers - Mumpfield, Means and Reynolds - then you’re still looking at another dozen or so passes to go to the other wideouts. And maybe more if Pitt tops last season’s total of 223 team receptions.
Somebody has to catch those passes. Perhaps Alston can catch a few of those.
- I mentioned Ryan Baer on Tuesday, but in watching the offensive line today, I am going to double-down on the redshirt freshman’s ceiling for this season.
I think he’s going to be on the field, and he just might push his way into a starting job. It sure looks like Baer is giving Branson Taylor a run for his money at left tackle, which is pretty impressive considering Taylor is a redshirt junior who played 400+ snaps on offense last season, while Baer is a redshirt freshman who played five snaps, according to PFF.
Experience isn’t everything, though. Sometimes talent wins out. And if Baer gets on the field ahead of Taylor, it will be due to talent winning out.
Like I said on Tuesday, if Baer doesn’t get ahead of Taylor, then it’s going to mean that Taylor elevated his game. Either way, it’s a win for Pitt.
- Speaking of young players who are impressive, freshman linebacker Braylan Lovelace continues to open eyes. There have been a few on-the-record comments praising Lovelace’s play in spring camp, and I’ve heard even more off the record. I don’t think too many people expected Lovelace to do much this spring, coming as he did from Leechburg where he was a two-way player dominating Class A competition.
Would his athleticism translate? Would he be big enough? Would he pick up the complexities of a college defense?
So far, it seems like there are a lot of yes answers to those questions. We’ve talked a lot about depth at linebacker and needing players to step up, and while I’m still holding out to see Jordan Bass in camp this summer, Lovelace is making a strong early impression.
- Continuing with talk of youth, the young defensive linemen continue to impress. I know I’ve mentioned Sean FitzSimmons a few times, but it sounds like Pitt’s got some really high-ceiling guys at defensive end in Sam Okunlola and Jimmy Scott. They’ve both been impressing the coaches and should get on the field this season.
- On the recruiting front, Pitt had a few targets on campus Thursday:
Beasley, the Luman twins, Maynard and Marcelin are targets in the 2024 class. The Riffe twins are giant offensive linemen from Florida who will join Pitt this summer as walk-ons.
- Stay tuned for photos, videos and more from Thursday's practice.
- Throughout spring camp, we’ve been monitoring the turnovers. We don’t actually see the turnovers happen, of course, but we see the “TAKEAWAY” stickers that go on the helmets after defensive players record turnovers during practice, and on Thursday, there were two new ones I noticed.
And they were both on the same player.
- Junior safety P.J. O’Brien had two new “TAKEAWAY” stickers on his helmet Thursday, seemingly indicating that he recorded two turnovers in Tuesday’s practice. That brings O’Brien’s total to three, which ties him with Noah Biglow for the most of any defender.
M.J. Devonshire, Dante Caputo and Dylan Bennett also have multiple takeaways with two each.
- O’Brien is really interesting to me. He was Erick Hallett’s primary backup at field safety last season, which puts him in line to take over that spot this year, and everything I’ve heard is that he’s staying on that path and should be the starter.
But he also took four penalties on special teams last season. He was called for roughing the kicker against Georgia Tech, targeting on a punt return at North Carolina and two against Duke - holding on a punt return and a false start on a punt.
It wasn’t all bad, though. He also blocked a punt against Tennessee, recorded 12 tackles on the season and had a tackle for loss in the win at Miami.
O’Brien has a lot of potential, but he’s about to step into one of the most important - and most challenging - positions on Pitt’s defense. There’s a ton of responsibility on the field safety, and you’re talking about a position that has been manned by the likes of Jordan Whitehead, Damar Hamlin and Hallett - some of the best safeties to play at Pitt under Pat Narduzzi.
That’s an impressive lineage to uphold, and O’Brien is going to have his work cut out for him.
- Speaking of third-year players, I think I might have been too quick to write off Myles Alston. The redshirt sophomore from Virginia has played a grand total of 31 snaps on offense in his career; all 31 of those came last season, and he run-blocked on 16 of them, according to Pro Football Focus. On the 15 plays where he ran a pass route, he was targeted once; he didn’t catch that pass (a seven-yard attempt at North Carolina). Quite frankly, my expectations for Alston have been pretty low, and you’ve seen me write about the receiver group basically being Konata Mumpfield, Bub Means, Daejon Reynolds and TBD. I’ve written about the freshmen being counted on to contribute, and there’s always a possibility of adding more transfers.
But perhaps Alston should be in that conversation. I don’t know how he’s doing in the team drills, but watching him in individual drills, there seems to be some potential. Not necessarily potential to be the WR1, but potential to get on the field and contribute in a meaningful way.
Last year, Jared Wayne led the team with 60 receptions, Mumpfield caught 58 and Means caught 27. Beyond those three, Jaden Bradley had 10 catches in six games and Jaylon Barden caught three passes in eight games.
If we assume roughly 140 or so catches for the top three receivers - Mumpfield, Means and Reynolds - then you’re still looking at another dozen or so passes to go to the other wideouts. And maybe more if Pitt tops last season’s total of 223 team receptions.
Somebody has to catch those passes. Perhaps Alston can catch a few of those.
- I mentioned Ryan Baer on Tuesday, but in watching the offensive line today, I am going to double-down on the redshirt freshman’s ceiling for this season.
I think he’s going to be on the field, and he just might push his way into a starting job. It sure looks like Baer is giving Branson Taylor a run for his money at left tackle, which is pretty impressive considering Taylor is a redshirt junior who played 400+ snaps on offense last season, while Baer is a redshirt freshman who played five snaps, according to PFF.
Experience isn’t everything, though. Sometimes talent wins out. And if Baer gets on the field ahead of Taylor, it will be due to talent winning out.
Like I said on Tuesday, if Baer doesn’t get ahead of Taylor, then it’s going to mean that Taylor elevated his game. Either way, it’s a win for Pitt.
- Speaking of young players who are impressive, freshman linebacker Braylan Lovelace continues to open eyes. There have been a few on-the-record comments praising Lovelace’s play in spring camp, and I’ve heard even more off the record. I don’t think too many people expected Lovelace to do much this spring, coming as he did from Leechburg where he was a two-way player dominating Class A competition.
Would his athleticism translate? Would he be big enough? Would he pick up the complexities of a college defense?
So far, it seems like there are a lot of yes answers to those questions. We’ve talked a lot about depth at linebacker and needing players to step up, and while I’m still holding out to see Jordan Bass in camp this summer, Lovelace is making a strong early impression.
- Continuing with talk of youth, the young defensive linemen continue to impress. I know I’ve mentioned Sean FitzSimmons a few times, but it sounds like Pitt’s got some really high-ceiling guys at defensive end in Sam Okunlola and Jimmy Scott. They’ve both been impressing the coaches and should get on the field this season.
- On the recruiting front, Pitt had a few targets on campus Thursday:
Beasley, the Luman twins, Maynard and Marcelin are targets in the 2024 class. The Riffe twins are giant offensive linemen from Florida who will join Pitt this summer as walk-ons.
- Stay tuned for photos, videos and more from Thursday's practice.
