Pitt was back on the practice field Tuesday for the first time since Saturday's scrimmage, and if any individual players stepped up in the scrimmage and played their way into bigger roles, it wasn't quite evident in Tuesday's open media window.
For the most part, the depth chart looked the same on Tuesday as it had on Saturday. The most intriguing position continues to be the Money (weak-side) linebacker spot, where Mike Caprara is running with the first team ahead of Bam Bradley, which has been the case since late last week.
"Mike's been consistent, and so has Bam," head coach Pat Narduzzi said after Tuesday's practice. "It's a battle. It's a battle. They're both playing good football, which is good when you have two guys who can go in there. We're going to find out which one wants it more, who's fighting and scratching to be the guy."
For whatever it's worth - and it's probably not much - Bradley was the defense's second-leading tackler in the scrimmage with six total tackles, four solo stops, one tackle for loss, one sack and one quarterback hurry. Caprara had three tackles (one solo) and a tackle for loss.
But again, those are scrimmage stats, and spring scrimmage stats at that. The coaches seem to like what Caprara is doing right now (although he had to leave Tuesday's practice early for a dinner with the Chancellor).
The other position that has been seemingly up for grabs is strong safety. Jevonte Pitts and Pat Amara have been rotating there, with Pitts taking first-team reps all last week until Saturday, when Amara was on the first team in the scrimmage.
Pitts was back on the first team Tuesday, but Amara wasn't at practice (Narduzzi said Amara had a class), so that's a bit of a nonstarter. We'll see how they line up on Thursday.
The one two-deep move I noticed on Tuesday was that redshirt freshman Dennis Briggs was working on the second team at cornerback ahead of freshman Malik Henderson, who had been taking second-team reps for the last week or so. Briggs has been making quite an ascension since moving from running back to cornerback, and he seems to be working himself into position for playing time this season.
Of course, the looming specter of Jordan Whitehead is never far from the Pitt football team, and after talking to defensive coordinator Josh Conklin on Tuesday, it is pretty clear that the coaches expect to have Whitehead on the two-deep when the season starts, whether it's at cornerback, safety or nickel-back.
They expect him to be good enough that they can't keep him off the field. Linebackers coach Rob Harley said the coaches want to find the best 11 on defense, even if that means changing positions, and there seems to be an early belief that Whitehead will likely be one of the best 11. Maybe one of the best 13 or 14, at worst.
(Programming note: I sat down with Conklin for a long interview Tuesday, and that will air on this week's Panther-Lair Show. I highly recommend it. Great stuff from Conklin).
- To refresh on what the defensive two-deep looks like at the start of week three, Rori Blair and Shakir Soto are the top defensive ends, backed up by Ejuan Price and Shane Roy. Darryl Render is backed up by Justin Moody at defensive tackle, while Tyrique Jarrett has been working on the first team at nose tackle while Khaynin Mosley-Smith has been sidelined with an injury; Jeremiah Taleni has been Jarrett's backup.
At linebacker, Caprara and Nicholas Grigsby flank Matt Galambos on the first team. Quintin Wirginis is the backup middle linebacker; Bradley works behind Caprara at Money (weak-side); and Jameel Poteat is lining up behind Grigsby at Star (strong-side).
Briggs and Phillipie Motley backup Avonte Maddox and Lafayette Pitts at cornerback. Amara and Jevonte Pitts rotate a strong safety, and Reggie Mitchell is the first-team free safety with Terrish Webb behind him.
- There doesn't seem to be much shifting on offense. I've mentioned Mike Herndon stepping into the second-team spot at right guard ahead of Mike Grimm, but that's about it. The battle for third receiver continues, with Zach Challingsworth, Jester Weah, Chris Wuestner and Elijah Zeise in contention.
- Zeise has been pretty consistent through two scrimmages, with five or six receptions in each. But he has also earned the respect of Jevonte Pitts, a noted hard-hitter who said one of the biggest hits he made this spring was on Zeise. To his credit, Zeise held on to make the catch, Pitts said.
- Pitts also talked about the buzzword that has come to define Pitt's defense so far:
Simplicity.
"Everything is way more simple," he said. "I guess you could say everything is scaled back. Everything is more dumbed-down, as opposed to, we had so many checks last year It allows you to play faster. Every down, you can play faster because you know what you're doing."
And really, if any player is taking advantage of this staff's "clean slate" approach, it's Jevonte Pitts, who has gone from hardly playing at all to being in contention for a starting job.
"As soon as I heard that Coach Chryst was leaving, I just knew that I had to step up because I've been trying to play all these years and the time has finally come."
I asked Pitts if he got discouraged during the last few years.
"Oh man, definitely. It's always discouraging, especially when you think that you're going to come in and play. 'Alright, this is my year. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.' But it doesn't happen, and then finally you get a chance to play, you get a chance to show it. So I was discouraged at first, but then I got it together and I came out to fight.
- One of the themes about the defense has been simplicity, and one of the main points regarding the offense this spring has been running backs as pass-catchers. Not that they're necessarily going to be more of an emphasis in the passing game, but rather that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and running backs coach Andre Powell want all of the running backs to be able to play at all times, regardless of whether it's a "passing down" or a "running down."
Chaney talked about that after Saturday's scrimmage, particularly how he wanted all of the backs to be comfortable on all downs. And in that scrimmage, Qadree Ollison and James Conner combined to catch six passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
To some extent, it seems like Chaney and the rest of the current Pitt coaches don't think it makes a lot of sense to take Conner off the field or to have one or two backs designated as pass-catchers.
"I think that was one of Paul (Chryst)'s philosophies; personally, it's not one of mine," Chaney said Saturday. "I think James has the ability to be a good pass-protector. My goodness, he's big, he's physical and we don't have a lot of complexities within our system, so I look for him to be able to do that and stay on the field a little more regularly on third down."
Narduzzi echoed those sentiments Tuesday, with a more specific eye toward the future.
"Well, it's hard to play in the NFL when you're not in for any passes or (any) runs. So we're going to mix that up and let those guys do everything."
Narduzzi also stressed that Conner is a good receiver and is big enough to be a good blocker.
"Why would you not want him out on the field on third down?"
I can't say that's a bad question.
- Pitt announced on Tuesday that the spring game will have some special guests: Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald will serve as honorary coaches. That's a pretty big move for Pitt, especially since the coaches can host and interact with recruits at Highmark Stadium on April 18.
"It was an idea that we had as a staff and we were able to pull it together and have two great former Pitt players come back and be around our guys," Narduzzi said. "I think that's the big thing: bring back the great players here and hopefully some of the greatness will rub off."
Narduzzi also discussed the format of the spring game. It will be an actual game, played between two teams with an actual score determined by touchdowns and kicks. And, as was the case at Michigan State, the teams will be drafted.
Narduzzi said the process will start with the coaches getting split up, and then the coaches will draft the seniors. From there, the seniors on each team will draft the rest of their rosters, and the two resulting teams will face off in the spring game.
For the most part, the depth chart looked the same on Tuesday as it had on Saturday. The most intriguing position continues to be the Money (weak-side) linebacker spot, where Mike Caprara is running with the first team ahead of Bam Bradley, which has been the case since late last week.
"Mike's been consistent, and so has Bam," head coach Pat Narduzzi said after Tuesday's practice. "It's a battle. It's a battle. They're both playing good football, which is good when you have two guys who can go in there. We're going to find out which one wants it more, who's fighting and scratching to be the guy."
For whatever it's worth - and it's probably not much - Bradley was the defense's second-leading tackler in the scrimmage with six total tackles, four solo stops, one tackle for loss, one sack and one quarterback hurry. Caprara had three tackles (one solo) and a tackle for loss.
But again, those are scrimmage stats, and spring scrimmage stats at that. The coaches seem to like what Caprara is doing right now (although he had to leave Tuesday's practice early for a dinner with the Chancellor).
The other position that has been seemingly up for grabs is strong safety. Jevonte Pitts and Pat Amara have been rotating there, with Pitts taking first-team reps all last week until Saturday, when Amara was on the first team in the scrimmage.
Pitts was back on the first team Tuesday, but Amara wasn't at practice (Narduzzi said Amara had a class), so that's a bit of a nonstarter. We'll see how they line up on Thursday.
The one two-deep move I noticed on Tuesday was that redshirt freshman Dennis Briggs was working on the second team at cornerback ahead of freshman Malik Henderson, who had been taking second-team reps for the last week or so. Briggs has been making quite an ascension since moving from running back to cornerback, and he seems to be working himself into position for playing time this season.
Of course, the looming specter of Jordan Whitehead is never far from the Pitt football team, and after talking to defensive coordinator Josh Conklin on Tuesday, it is pretty clear that the coaches expect to have Whitehead on the two-deep when the season starts, whether it's at cornerback, safety or nickel-back.
They expect him to be good enough that they can't keep him off the field. Linebackers coach Rob Harley said the coaches want to find the best 11 on defense, even if that means changing positions, and there seems to be an early belief that Whitehead will likely be one of the best 11. Maybe one of the best 13 or 14, at worst.
(Programming note: I sat down with Conklin for a long interview Tuesday, and that will air on this week's Panther-Lair Show. I highly recommend it. Great stuff from Conklin).
- To refresh on what the defensive two-deep looks like at the start of week three, Rori Blair and Shakir Soto are the top defensive ends, backed up by Ejuan Price and Shane Roy. Darryl Render is backed up by Justin Moody at defensive tackle, while Tyrique Jarrett has been working on the first team at nose tackle while Khaynin Mosley-Smith has been sidelined with an injury; Jeremiah Taleni has been Jarrett's backup.
At linebacker, Caprara and Nicholas Grigsby flank Matt Galambos on the first team. Quintin Wirginis is the backup middle linebacker; Bradley works behind Caprara at Money (weak-side); and Jameel Poteat is lining up behind Grigsby at Star (strong-side).
Briggs and Phillipie Motley backup Avonte Maddox and Lafayette Pitts at cornerback. Amara and Jevonte Pitts rotate a strong safety, and Reggie Mitchell is the first-team free safety with Terrish Webb behind him.
- There doesn't seem to be much shifting on offense. I've mentioned Mike Herndon stepping into the second-team spot at right guard ahead of Mike Grimm, but that's about it. The battle for third receiver continues, with Zach Challingsworth, Jester Weah, Chris Wuestner and Elijah Zeise in contention.
- Zeise has been pretty consistent through two scrimmages, with five or six receptions in each. But he has also earned the respect of Jevonte Pitts, a noted hard-hitter who said one of the biggest hits he made this spring was on Zeise. To his credit, Zeise held on to make the catch, Pitts said.
- Pitts also talked about the buzzword that has come to define Pitt's defense so far:
Simplicity.
"Everything is way more simple," he said. "I guess you could say everything is scaled back. Everything is more dumbed-down, as opposed to, we had so many checks last year It allows you to play faster. Every down, you can play faster because you know what you're doing."
And really, if any player is taking advantage of this staff's "clean slate" approach, it's Jevonte Pitts, who has gone from hardly playing at all to being in contention for a starting job.
"As soon as I heard that Coach Chryst was leaving, I just knew that I had to step up because I've been trying to play all these years and the time has finally come."
I asked Pitts if he got discouraged during the last few years.
"Oh man, definitely. It's always discouraging, especially when you think that you're going to come in and play. 'Alright, this is my year. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.' But it doesn't happen, and then finally you get a chance to play, you get a chance to show it. So I was discouraged at first, but then I got it together and I came out to fight.
- One of the themes about the defense has been simplicity, and one of the main points regarding the offense this spring has been running backs as pass-catchers. Not that they're necessarily going to be more of an emphasis in the passing game, but rather that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and running backs coach Andre Powell want all of the running backs to be able to play at all times, regardless of whether it's a "passing down" or a "running down."
Chaney talked about that after Saturday's scrimmage, particularly how he wanted all of the backs to be comfortable on all downs. And in that scrimmage, Qadree Ollison and James Conner combined to catch six passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
To some extent, it seems like Chaney and the rest of the current Pitt coaches don't think it makes a lot of sense to take Conner off the field or to have one or two backs designated as pass-catchers.
"I think that was one of Paul (Chryst)'s philosophies; personally, it's not one of mine," Chaney said Saturday. "I think James has the ability to be a good pass-protector. My goodness, he's big, he's physical and we don't have a lot of complexities within our system, so I look for him to be able to do that and stay on the field a little more regularly on third down."
Narduzzi echoed those sentiments Tuesday, with a more specific eye toward the future.
"Well, it's hard to play in the NFL when you're not in for any passes or (any) runs. So we're going to mix that up and let those guys do everything."
Narduzzi also stressed that Conner is a good receiver and is big enough to be a good blocker.
"Why would you not want him out on the field on third down?"
I can't say that's a bad question.
- Pitt announced on Tuesday that the spring game will have some special guests: Larry Fitzgerald and Aaron Donald will serve as honorary coaches. That's a pretty big move for Pitt, especially since the coaches can host and interact with recruits at Highmark Stadium on April 18.
"It was an idea that we had as a staff and we were able to pull it together and have two great former Pitt players come back and be around our guys," Narduzzi said. "I think that's the big thing: bring back the great players here and hopefully some of the greatness will rub off."
Narduzzi also discussed the format of the spring game. It will be an actual game, played between two teams with an actual score determined by touchdowns and kicks. And, as was the case at Michigan State, the teams will be drafted.
Narduzzi said the process will start with the coaches getting split up, and then the coaches will draft the seniors. From there, the seniors on each team will draft the rest of their rosters, and the two resulting teams will face off in the spring game.
