Pitt held its final practice of spring camp 2023 in the South Side on Thursday, and the Panthers went out with a bang.
Well, our coverage opportunities went out with a bang, as the media was permitted to watch nearly twice as much of practice as we typically get. That means that, instead of being ushered out at the conclusion of period five, we stayed on the field until the end of practice nine.
- What did we get to see in those extra four periods?
Some interesting things, actually. In fact, I would go so far as to say we watched some actual football. Or, at the very least, something approaching it. After all, there were players from offense and defense facing each other in a situation where a football traveled from one player to another.
That’s football, and we got to see some of it on Thursday.
- The most entertaining extra period was the last one, and the action was happening on two fields.
On one field, the quarterbacks, the running backs, the tight ends and the offensive line faced the defensive line, the linebackers and the safeties for a good old-fashioned series of inside run drills. It’s been a long time since we’ve watched inside run, but it pretty much went the way I remember it often going in the past:
The defensive line and linebackers clogging all the holes and the running backs finding very little room to run. I don’t read too much into that regarding the offensive line; I am actually pretty bullish on that group. But I do think that it’s encouraging for the defensive line and linebackers to have that kind of success against the run, particularly with as much turnover as there has been in the front seven.
- On the next field over, there was a bit more excitement as the receivers and defensive backs went head-to-head for some one-on-ones, and that was pretty fun, for a few reasons.
I’ll say this right off the bat: after spending a good deal of time on Tuesday talking about how bearish I am on the receivers, that group acquitted itself nicely on Thursday.
Granted, these were very much individual competitions and not necessarily indicative of how those guys will function in the full offense. They were also working from the 10-yard line on fade patterns, which adds some context. But that’s an important area of the field and a spot where Pitt could stand to have some more success - or at least present more of a threat than it did last season.
- Either way, the receivers made some impressive plays during the one-on-ones. Bub Means really opened my eyes. I’ve talked a lot about him having high-level athleticism, but he needs to do more to turn that athleticism into a significant role as a receiver.
If he can make catches like he did in the one-on-one fade drill, then he’s going to make an impact this season.
- Konata Mumpfield had a nice session during those drills, too. I’ve made no secret of my thoughts on Mumpfield: I think he was probably misused last season but has a ton of potential to be an impact player, and he did well during that period, particularly in his body control.
- I also liked what I saw from Lamar Seymore and Jahvante Royal. I had some high expectations for Seymore when he enrolled as a freshman in January, but I hadn’t heard much about how he was doing. He definitely looked good in the one-on-ones.
Royal is another guy I haven’t heard a ton about after he made the full-time move from defensive back this offseason. There was never a question about his athleticism or size; both are high-level. Can he play receiver, though? That question remains to be answered, but he made some impressive plays in that drill.
- I still have my questions about Pitt’s receivers for this season, and I believe the coaches need to find another receiver in the transfer portal before the summer. But I’ll definitely give the group credit for their work Thursday morning.
- Since it’s the end of spring camp, here’s my best/educated guess on what the depth chart looks like:
QB - Phil Jurkovec, Christian Veilleux
RB - Rodney Hammond, C’Bo Flemister
TE - Gavin Bartholomew, Karter Johnson
RT - Matt Goncalves, Trey Anderson
RG - Blake Zubovic, Jason Collier
C - Jake Kradel, BJ Williams
LG - Ryan Jacoby, Ryan Baer
LT - Branson Taylor, Terrence Moore
Now, I will add some context with a few of those - particularly on the left side of the line. I think there’s a three-man battle with Jacoby, Taylor and Baer; the top two of those three will start. Taylor and Jacoby are mostly locked into tackle and guard, respectively, but Baer has been playing both positions, so whether it’s Taylor and Baer, Baer and Jacoby or Taylor and Jacoby, the coaches have the flexibility to put any two of those three on the field together. It will come down to which two emerge as the best options.
I would guess that Moore will end up as the No. 2 center as well, but the coaches have been using Williams there quite a bit while cross-training Moore at tackle. So there are a few moving parts.
- I didn’t list the receivers, but if I did, I would have Mumpfield, Means and Daejon Reynolds on the top unit with Myles Alston and, to put it simply, two other guys behind them. That could be Royal or Addison Copeland or Che Nwabuko. It could be Seymore and Israel Polk.
Our standard line when talking about receiver depth charts is that the coaches will rotate often enough that the actual distinctions of first-team and second-team matter less than the snaps. I think the coaches are still figuring out who is in competition for those snaps.
- On defense, it’s a little easier to discuss rather than list. I think the top four defensive ends are Dayon Hayes, Nate Temple, Bam Brima, Nahki Johnson and Sam Okunlola.
Yes, that’s five. And we could probably string it out to six if we include Jimmy Scott. It might just be spring camp talk, but it sounds like all six of those guys have practiced well enough to earn playing time.
- Defensive tackle has a lot of competitors, too. Devin Danielson, David Green and Tyler Bentley are all sixth-year seniors and experienced vets, and then you have those three complemented by Deandre Jules, who has had the best spring camp of his career, according to Charlie Partridge; Elliot Donald, who has been learning tackle and end in order to get on the field sooner; and Sean FitzSimmons, who might be the most disruptive of the group.
Here again, they could legitimately go three-deep at each interior position.
- Linebacker doesn’t seem to be quite as deep. Shayne Simon, Bangally Kamara and Solomon DeShields are the top three, and we’ve talked about them a lot. Then you’ve got Brandon George as the backup middle linebacker and, as of Thursday morning, Braylan Lovelace backing up Kamara at Star and Nick Lapi backing up DeShields at Money.
Lapi is a walk-on and Lovelace is a true freshman who enrolled in January. So like I said, that’s not a lot of depth.
- At cornerback, it’s probably what you came into spring camp expecting to see:
Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire backed by A.J. Woods and Ryland Gandy.
- Safety is a little more interesting, as we’ve discussed throughout spring camp. Javon McIntyre is the top boundary safety with Florida transfer Donovan McMillon behind him. But at field safety, the battle between Phillip O’Brien and Stephon Hall has been one of the top position competitions all spring. O’Brien seems to be ahead of Hall for the time being, but that is subject to change, and the pairings at safety will be really interesting to watch at the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday.
- We’ve got plenty more to say about spring camp, of course, but we’ll leave Thursday’s report with a recruiting rundown, because Pitt had some priority targets on campus for the morning practice.
Well, our coverage opportunities went out with a bang, as the media was permitted to watch nearly twice as much of practice as we typically get. That means that, instead of being ushered out at the conclusion of period five, we stayed on the field until the end of practice nine.
- What did we get to see in those extra four periods?
Some interesting things, actually. In fact, I would go so far as to say we watched some actual football. Or, at the very least, something approaching it. After all, there were players from offense and defense facing each other in a situation where a football traveled from one player to another.
That’s football, and we got to see some of it on Thursday.
- The most entertaining extra period was the last one, and the action was happening on two fields.
On one field, the quarterbacks, the running backs, the tight ends and the offensive line faced the defensive line, the linebackers and the safeties for a good old-fashioned series of inside run drills. It’s been a long time since we’ve watched inside run, but it pretty much went the way I remember it often going in the past:
The defensive line and linebackers clogging all the holes and the running backs finding very little room to run. I don’t read too much into that regarding the offensive line; I am actually pretty bullish on that group. But I do think that it’s encouraging for the defensive line and linebackers to have that kind of success against the run, particularly with as much turnover as there has been in the front seven.
- On the next field over, there was a bit more excitement as the receivers and defensive backs went head-to-head for some one-on-ones, and that was pretty fun, for a few reasons.
I’ll say this right off the bat: after spending a good deal of time on Tuesday talking about how bearish I am on the receivers, that group acquitted itself nicely on Thursday.
Granted, these were very much individual competitions and not necessarily indicative of how those guys will function in the full offense. They were also working from the 10-yard line on fade patterns, which adds some context. But that’s an important area of the field and a spot where Pitt could stand to have some more success - or at least present more of a threat than it did last season.
- Either way, the receivers made some impressive plays during the one-on-ones. Bub Means really opened my eyes. I’ve talked a lot about him having high-level athleticism, but he needs to do more to turn that athleticism into a significant role as a receiver.
If he can make catches like he did in the one-on-one fade drill, then he’s going to make an impact this season.
- Konata Mumpfield had a nice session during those drills, too. I’ve made no secret of my thoughts on Mumpfield: I think he was probably misused last season but has a ton of potential to be an impact player, and he did well during that period, particularly in his body control.
- I also liked what I saw from Lamar Seymore and Jahvante Royal. I had some high expectations for Seymore when he enrolled as a freshman in January, but I hadn’t heard much about how he was doing. He definitely looked good in the one-on-ones.
Royal is another guy I haven’t heard a ton about after he made the full-time move from defensive back this offseason. There was never a question about his athleticism or size; both are high-level. Can he play receiver, though? That question remains to be answered, but he made some impressive plays in that drill.
- I still have my questions about Pitt’s receivers for this season, and I believe the coaches need to find another receiver in the transfer portal before the summer. But I’ll definitely give the group credit for their work Thursday morning.
- Since it’s the end of spring camp, here’s my best/educated guess on what the depth chart looks like:
QB - Phil Jurkovec, Christian Veilleux
RB - Rodney Hammond, C’Bo Flemister
TE - Gavin Bartholomew, Karter Johnson
RT - Matt Goncalves, Trey Anderson
RG - Blake Zubovic, Jason Collier
C - Jake Kradel, BJ Williams
LG - Ryan Jacoby, Ryan Baer
LT - Branson Taylor, Terrence Moore
Now, I will add some context with a few of those - particularly on the left side of the line. I think there’s a three-man battle with Jacoby, Taylor and Baer; the top two of those three will start. Taylor and Jacoby are mostly locked into tackle and guard, respectively, but Baer has been playing both positions, so whether it’s Taylor and Baer, Baer and Jacoby or Taylor and Jacoby, the coaches have the flexibility to put any two of those three on the field together. It will come down to which two emerge as the best options.
I would guess that Moore will end up as the No. 2 center as well, but the coaches have been using Williams there quite a bit while cross-training Moore at tackle. So there are a few moving parts.
- I didn’t list the receivers, but if I did, I would have Mumpfield, Means and Daejon Reynolds on the top unit with Myles Alston and, to put it simply, two other guys behind them. That could be Royal or Addison Copeland or Che Nwabuko. It could be Seymore and Israel Polk.
Our standard line when talking about receiver depth charts is that the coaches will rotate often enough that the actual distinctions of first-team and second-team matter less than the snaps. I think the coaches are still figuring out who is in competition for those snaps.
- On defense, it’s a little easier to discuss rather than list. I think the top four defensive ends are Dayon Hayes, Nate Temple, Bam Brima, Nahki Johnson and Sam Okunlola.
Yes, that’s five. And we could probably string it out to six if we include Jimmy Scott. It might just be spring camp talk, but it sounds like all six of those guys have practiced well enough to earn playing time.
- Defensive tackle has a lot of competitors, too. Devin Danielson, David Green and Tyler Bentley are all sixth-year seniors and experienced vets, and then you have those three complemented by Deandre Jules, who has had the best spring camp of his career, according to Charlie Partridge; Elliot Donald, who has been learning tackle and end in order to get on the field sooner; and Sean FitzSimmons, who might be the most disruptive of the group.
Here again, they could legitimately go three-deep at each interior position.
- Linebacker doesn’t seem to be quite as deep. Shayne Simon, Bangally Kamara and Solomon DeShields are the top three, and we’ve talked about them a lot. Then you’ve got Brandon George as the backup middle linebacker and, as of Thursday morning, Braylan Lovelace backing up Kamara at Star and Nick Lapi backing up DeShields at Money.
Lapi is a walk-on and Lovelace is a true freshman who enrolled in January. So like I said, that’s not a lot of depth.
- At cornerback, it’s probably what you came into spring camp expecting to see:
Marquis Williams and M.J. Devonshire backed by A.J. Woods and Ryland Gandy.
- Safety is a little more interesting, as we’ve discussed throughout spring camp. Javon McIntyre is the top boundary safety with Florida transfer Donovan McMillon behind him. But at field safety, the battle between Phillip O’Brien and Stephon Hall has been one of the top position competitions all spring. O’Brien seems to be ahead of Hall for the time being, but that is subject to change, and the pairings at safety will be really interesting to watch at the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday.
- We’ve got plenty more to say about spring camp, of course, but we’ll leave Thursday’s report with a recruiting rundown, because Pitt had some priority targets on campus for the morning practice.
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