Week Four of spring camp 2023 came to a close Thursday with Pitt’s 12th practice of the spring in the South Side. The rain pushed the team back into the indoor facility after spending the last few practices outside, but there were a few things to notice during the morning session.
- I’ll start with the turnovers. I know this has been a theme in revery spring camp report, but I think it’s interesting. There were two new “TAKEAWAY” stickers that I saw on Thursday morning: safety Javon McIntyre and cornerback Noah Biglow.
That wasn’t the first turnover forced for either one of those guys. McIntyre now has two to his credit, while Biglow has a team-leading four.
- McIntyre is in line for the starting boundary safety job left open by Brandon Hill, and he’s also learning the field safety spot so he could play either one, which allows the coaches to consider more options when it comes to finding the best safeties to put on the field.
If McIntyre can only play boundary, then the options are limited to Stephon Hall, who has had a really good camp, and P.J. O’Brien, who is apparently now going by Phillip, so I’ll have to adjust that.
But if McIntyre learns both safety spots, then Hall and O’Brien are joined by Florida transfer Donovan McMillon, who is primarily a boundary safety, as competition for the other spot next to McIntyre. I don’t know how much cross-training is being done with the safeties other than McIntyre, but he’s learning both and that versatility creates options.
- Biglow is an interesting guy to me. Pitt’s got three top corners returning - Marquis Williams, M.J. Devonshire and A.J. Woods - and while they took the vast majority of the snaps, there’s a need for at least one more guy to step up. Granted, Williams Devonshire and Woods combined to play 1,628 defensive snaps and all of the other corners on the team saw less than 120, according to Pro Football Focus, the Panthers also stayed remarkably healthy at corner last season. Devonshire and Woods played all 13 games and Williams missed just one (the Rhode Island game).
That kind of consistency is probably unlikely to repeat. Pitt can survive on a three-man rotation at corner, but if somebody gets hurt, the Panthers will need another corner to fill out the rotation.
Ryland Gandy gets a lot of the praise from the coaches, but nobody has forced more turnover this spring than Biglow; it would seem like he could/should be in the mix, too.
- Here’s the latest updated list of players who have been officially recognized as forcing turnovers through the first 11 practices of spring:
Noah Biglow - 4
Phillip O’Brien - 3
M.J. Devonshire - 2
Samuel Okunlola - 2
Javon McIntyre - 2
Dante Caputo - 2
Dylan Bennett - 2
Donovan McMillon - 1
A.J. Woods - 1
Marquis Williams - 1
Ryland Gandy - 1
Tamarion Crumpley - 1
Bam Brima - 1
Nick Lapi - 1
Elliot Donald - 1
Isaiah Neal - 1
- I should mention that I haven’t entirely ruled out the possibility of Donovan McMillon moving to outside linebacker; he’s got the size to play Star and his athleticism could make him a weapon there.
- At the same time, there are some intriguing young outside linebackers vying for spots. Braylan Lovelace has been really impressed as an early-enrolling true freshman, and one guy we haven’t mentioned much is Kyle Louis. The redshirt freshman athlete from New Jersey was limited to just four games last season after an injury. He has been somewhat limited this spring, too, but I’ve heard there are some high expectations for what he can do when he’s on the field and fully healthy. I don’t know if he has the build to play Money linebacker, which tends to be a more “in the box” position that blitzes and works a lot against the run. He’s a little on the shorter side - at least compared to a guy like Bangally Kamara, which is probably not a fair comparison - but he’s got the athleticism to play the Star linebacker spot, and he could be in the mix for the backup job.
- Speaking of backup jobs, it’s looking more and more like Ryan Baer isn’t going to be in one this season. Or, if nothing else, he is pushing really, really hard for a first-team role. On Thursday, it looked pretty clear that Baer was working at first-team left guard ahead of Ryan Jacoby during the early-practice drills we were able to see.
I don’t necessarily take that to mean a full-blown depth chart shakeup has taken place. But we’ve said a bunch of times this spring that Baer is pushing for a spot on the first team, either at tackle or guard, and those efforts are not in vain.
Worst-case scenario, Baer is the first lineman off the bench at every position other than center. Best-case scenario, he keeps pushing and Jacoby and Branson Taylor elevate their game and give offensive line coach Dave Borbely some tough decisions to make.
- Pat Narduzzi mentioned on Tuesday that true freshman B.J. Williams had been having a good camp and was working at second-team center, so I kept an eye out for him on Thursday and, sure enough, that’s where he was. Terrence Moore played left tackle - a switch for him that was probably partially due to Williams and partially due to Baer forcing his way onto the first team.
- Here are some of the recruits who visited practice Thursday morning:
- We'll have photos, videos, quotes and more from Thursday's practice later today.
- I’ll start with the turnovers. I know this has been a theme in revery spring camp report, but I think it’s interesting. There were two new “TAKEAWAY” stickers that I saw on Thursday morning: safety Javon McIntyre and cornerback Noah Biglow.
That wasn’t the first turnover forced for either one of those guys. McIntyre now has two to his credit, while Biglow has a team-leading four.
- McIntyre is in line for the starting boundary safety job left open by Brandon Hill, and he’s also learning the field safety spot so he could play either one, which allows the coaches to consider more options when it comes to finding the best safeties to put on the field.
If McIntyre can only play boundary, then the options are limited to Stephon Hall, who has had a really good camp, and P.J. O’Brien, who is apparently now going by Phillip, so I’ll have to adjust that.
But if McIntyre learns both safety spots, then Hall and O’Brien are joined by Florida transfer Donovan McMillon, who is primarily a boundary safety, as competition for the other spot next to McIntyre. I don’t know how much cross-training is being done with the safeties other than McIntyre, but he’s learning both and that versatility creates options.
- Biglow is an interesting guy to me. Pitt’s got three top corners returning - Marquis Williams, M.J. Devonshire and A.J. Woods - and while they took the vast majority of the snaps, there’s a need for at least one more guy to step up. Granted, Williams Devonshire and Woods combined to play 1,628 defensive snaps and all of the other corners on the team saw less than 120, according to Pro Football Focus, the Panthers also stayed remarkably healthy at corner last season. Devonshire and Woods played all 13 games and Williams missed just one (the Rhode Island game).
That kind of consistency is probably unlikely to repeat. Pitt can survive on a three-man rotation at corner, but if somebody gets hurt, the Panthers will need another corner to fill out the rotation.
Ryland Gandy gets a lot of the praise from the coaches, but nobody has forced more turnover this spring than Biglow; it would seem like he could/should be in the mix, too.
- Here’s the latest updated list of players who have been officially recognized as forcing turnovers through the first 11 practices of spring:
Noah Biglow - 4
Phillip O’Brien - 3
M.J. Devonshire - 2
Samuel Okunlola - 2
Javon McIntyre - 2
Dante Caputo - 2
Dylan Bennett - 2
Donovan McMillon - 1
A.J. Woods - 1
Marquis Williams - 1
Ryland Gandy - 1
Tamarion Crumpley - 1
Bam Brima - 1
Nick Lapi - 1
Elliot Donald - 1
Isaiah Neal - 1
- I should mention that I haven’t entirely ruled out the possibility of Donovan McMillon moving to outside linebacker; he’s got the size to play Star and his athleticism could make him a weapon there.
- At the same time, there are some intriguing young outside linebackers vying for spots. Braylan Lovelace has been really impressed as an early-enrolling true freshman, and one guy we haven’t mentioned much is Kyle Louis. The redshirt freshman athlete from New Jersey was limited to just four games last season after an injury. He has been somewhat limited this spring, too, but I’ve heard there are some high expectations for what he can do when he’s on the field and fully healthy. I don’t know if he has the build to play Money linebacker, which tends to be a more “in the box” position that blitzes and works a lot against the run. He’s a little on the shorter side - at least compared to a guy like Bangally Kamara, which is probably not a fair comparison - but he’s got the athleticism to play the Star linebacker spot, and he could be in the mix for the backup job.
- Speaking of backup jobs, it’s looking more and more like Ryan Baer isn’t going to be in one this season. Or, if nothing else, he is pushing really, really hard for a first-team role. On Thursday, it looked pretty clear that Baer was working at first-team left guard ahead of Ryan Jacoby during the early-practice drills we were able to see.
I don’t necessarily take that to mean a full-blown depth chart shakeup has taken place. But we’ve said a bunch of times this spring that Baer is pushing for a spot on the first team, either at tackle or guard, and those efforts are not in vain.
Worst-case scenario, Baer is the first lineman off the bench at every position other than center. Best-case scenario, he keeps pushing and Jacoby and Branson Taylor elevate their game and give offensive line coach Dave Borbely some tough decisions to make.
- Pat Narduzzi mentioned on Tuesday that true freshman B.J. Williams had been having a good camp and was working at second-team center, so I kept an eye out for him on Thursday and, sure enough, that’s where he was. Terrence Moore played left tackle - a switch for him that was probably partially due to Williams and partially due to Baer forcing his way onto the first team.
- Here are some of the recruits who visited practice Thursday morning:
- We'll have photos, videos, quotes and more from Thursday's practice later today.
