Pitt opened the final week of spring camp in the South Side with an outdoor practice Tuesday morning. Here’s a look at what stood out.
- The first thing to note on a Tuesday practice after a Saturday scrimmage is the jerseys. In case you forgot, the side of the ball - offense or defense - that wins the scrimmage puts on blue jerseys; the losers wear white.
The Panthers’ offense opened spring camp wearing blue, which I thought was curious because, really, what did the offense do to finish the 2023 season as the “winners”? Either way, those blue jerseys promptly went to the defense after the first scrimmage, and on Tuesday - the first practice after the second scrimmage - the defense was still wearing blue.
Which means the defense won again.
- Typically, the scrimmages come down to one thing: turnovers. If the offense protects the ball, it will probably win the scrimmage. If the offense commits turnovers, it will probably lose.
Put another way, if the defense fails to force any turnovers, it will likely lose the scrimmage. If it forces a few, then that side of the ball will probably win.
- The scrimmage outcomes are decided based on points, with each side of the ball earning points from various successes. Obviously, there’s a lot of focus on turnovers, and scoring the scrimmages the way Pitt does emphasizes something that Pat Narduzzi, like most coaches, strongly believes:
Turnovers will win or lose a game. Force them on defense and avoid them on offense, and you’ll be in good shape; do the opposite, and you’ll probably get the opposite outcome.
Most coaches will tell you that, and Narduzzi hammers the point home with the approach to the scrimmages.
So when the defense won the first scrimmage, it did so largely by forcing turnovers. My guess is that Narduzzi will tell us later today that the second scrimmage followed a similar script.
- Actually, that’s not entirely a guess, because we have some visual evidence. I know I bring up those “TAKEAWAY” helmet stickers a lot, but they’re pretty insightful for an tangible record of just how many plays the defense is making (and how many mistakes the offense is committing).
If what I saw at Tuesday’s practice was any indication, the defense got a bunch of turnovers on Saturday.
- By my count, there were more than 40 “TAKEAWAY” stickers on the helmets of the various defensive players. I don’t have an exact number and there’s a reason for that, but that’s clearly a ton of turnovers in 11 practices. Not all of them came from Saturday’s scrimmage, of course, but a bunch did.
- Leading the way with turnovers forced was redshirt freshman Cruce Brookins. The safety from Steel Valley has been one of the most talked-about players in camp this spring, and he’s the reason I don’t have an exact count on how many turnovers the defense has forced.
His helmet is literally cluttered with those stickers. Last Thursday I counted four; today I first thought I saw five, but then I realized more were overlapping each other. He might have had six and maybe even seven.
I don’t know, but it seems pretty remarkable if a redshirt freshman safety has forced seven turnovers in 11 practices.
- The second most that I saw were on the helmets of Rasheem Biles and P.J. O’Brien. The sophomore linebacker and the senior safety had five each, by my count. O’Brien had four on Thursday morning, so he added one more in the last two practices, whereas a bunch of Biles’ stickers seem fairly fresh.
- I know I’ve said in previous years that I was high on the linebackers and that didn’t always work out, but I think the position looks pretty strong right now. There are veterans like Brandon George and Solomon DeShields and a bunch of really promising young players like Biles, Kyle Louis, Jordan Bass and Braylan Lovelace.
Those guys are making plays, too. Louis had three “TAKEAWAY” stickers on Tuesday morning, Lovelace had two and George had one.
- As you probably guessed, Brookins and O’Brien aren’t the only safeties making plays. Donovan McMillon and Jesse Anderson have four turnovers each; I wrote last week about the need for the safeties to get more takeaways, and while Javon McIntyre doesn’t have any so far, Brookins, O’Brien, McMillon and Anderson have combined for 20 (if Brookins actually has seven).
That’s a lot.
- Other guys with multiple takeaways:
Rashad Battle - 3
Ryland Gandy - 2
Jahvante Royal - 2
- One other note on the “TAKEAWAY” stickers:
From what I could see, only three defensive linemen have gotten any through 11 practices this spring:
Nahki Johnson, Jimmy Scott and Nate Matlack.
- Of course, there’s another side to all of this:
The defense isn’t just recording takeaways; it takes two to tango, and the offense is giving them away as well. I’ve wrestled with what to make of this. On one hand, the coaches have been pretty consistent in saying that they’re not too concerned with mistakes this spring; these 15 practices (or 14, since the spring game kind of doesn’t count) are focused on getting the offense installed and getting comfortable with the tempo.
They want to go fast during practice, mistakes be damned, and iron out the details in the film room.
I get that. And I get that turnovers will inevitably be chief among the mistakes that happen.
But still, it’s got to be a little concerning. We don’t know entirely where the mistakes are coming from, but from what we’ve heard, there’s been a pretty sizable amount of both interceptions and fumbles.
The latter is concerning because ball security has little to do with tempo. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re snapping or what kind of offense you’re running; you have to hold onto the ball.
- As for the interceptions, it doesn’t seem like Nate Yarnell has been responsible for most of those, which is good. But given the emphasis on installing the new offense and all of the hiccups that inevitably come with that, I’m inclined to look at the positive:
Pitt’s defense, which wasn’t great at forcing turnovers last season, has been far more active in making plays this spring.
For now, we can keep the focus on the positive side. We’ll see where things are in the fall.
- The draft for the Blue-Gold Game will be held tomorrow, and while it will be interesting to see how the players prioritize their teammates, it’s also going to give us some insight into who is available. As is always the case in spring camp, there are guys sitting out. Coaches tend to err more on the side of caution in the spring and not push the guys who are banged up. That’s especially true for starters and experienced players; the coaches would prefer to have them on the field, but if they are nursing just about any kind of injury, then the staff will hold them out.
Naturally, we can’t talk about injuries. But the list of players not participating in the Blue-Gold Game should come out tomorrow, so we’ll get a look at it then.
- The first thing to note on a Tuesday practice after a Saturday scrimmage is the jerseys. In case you forgot, the side of the ball - offense or defense - that wins the scrimmage puts on blue jerseys; the losers wear white.
The Panthers’ offense opened spring camp wearing blue, which I thought was curious because, really, what did the offense do to finish the 2023 season as the “winners”? Either way, those blue jerseys promptly went to the defense after the first scrimmage, and on Tuesday - the first practice after the second scrimmage - the defense was still wearing blue.
Which means the defense won again.
- Typically, the scrimmages come down to one thing: turnovers. If the offense protects the ball, it will probably win the scrimmage. If the offense commits turnovers, it will probably lose.
Put another way, if the defense fails to force any turnovers, it will likely lose the scrimmage. If it forces a few, then that side of the ball will probably win.
- The scrimmage outcomes are decided based on points, with each side of the ball earning points from various successes. Obviously, there’s a lot of focus on turnovers, and scoring the scrimmages the way Pitt does emphasizes something that Pat Narduzzi, like most coaches, strongly believes:
Turnovers will win or lose a game. Force them on defense and avoid them on offense, and you’ll be in good shape; do the opposite, and you’ll probably get the opposite outcome.
Most coaches will tell you that, and Narduzzi hammers the point home with the approach to the scrimmages.
So when the defense won the first scrimmage, it did so largely by forcing turnovers. My guess is that Narduzzi will tell us later today that the second scrimmage followed a similar script.
- Actually, that’s not entirely a guess, because we have some visual evidence. I know I bring up those “TAKEAWAY” helmet stickers a lot, but they’re pretty insightful for an tangible record of just how many plays the defense is making (and how many mistakes the offense is committing).
If what I saw at Tuesday’s practice was any indication, the defense got a bunch of turnovers on Saturday.
- By my count, there were more than 40 “TAKEAWAY” stickers on the helmets of the various defensive players. I don’t have an exact number and there’s a reason for that, but that’s clearly a ton of turnovers in 11 practices. Not all of them came from Saturday’s scrimmage, of course, but a bunch did.
- Leading the way with turnovers forced was redshirt freshman Cruce Brookins. The safety from Steel Valley has been one of the most talked-about players in camp this spring, and he’s the reason I don’t have an exact count on how many turnovers the defense has forced.
His helmet is literally cluttered with those stickers. Last Thursday I counted four; today I first thought I saw five, but then I realized more were overlapping each other. He might have had six and maybe even seven.
I don’t know, but it seems pretty remarkable if a redshirt freshman safety has forced seven turnovers in 11 practices.
- The second most that I saw were on the helmets of Rasheem Biles and P.J. O’Brien. The sophomore linebacker and the senior safety had five each, by my count. O’Brien had four on Thursday morning, so he added one more in the last two practices, whereas a bunch of Biles’ stickers seem fairly fresh.
- I know I’ve said in previous years that I was high on the linebackers and that didn’t always work out, but I think the position looks pretty strong right now. There are veterans like Brandon George and Solomon DeShields and a bunch of really promising young players like Biles, Kyle Louis, Jordan Bass and Braylan Lovelace.
Those guys are making plays, too. Louis had three “TAKEAWAY” stickers on Tuesday morning, Lovelace had two and George had one.
- As you probably guessed, Brookins and O’Brien aren’t the only safeties making plays. Donovan McMillon and Jesse Anderson have four turnovers each; I wrote last week about the need for the safeties to get more takeaways, and while Javon McIntyre doesn’t have any so far, Brookins, O’Brien, McMillon and Anderson have combined for 20 (if Brookins actually has seven).
That’s a lot.
- Other guys with multiple takeaways:
Rashad Battle - 3
Ryland Gandy - 2
Jahvante Royal - 2
- One other note on the “TAKEAWAY” stickers:
From what I could see, only three defensive linemen have gotten any through 11 practices this spring:
Nahki Johnson, Jimmy Scott and Nate Matlack.
- Of course, there’s another side to all of this:
The defense isn’t just recording takeaways; it takes two to tango, and the offense is giving them away as well. I’ve wrestled with what to make of this. On one hand, the coaches have been pretty consistent in saying that they’re not too concerned with mistakes this spring; these 15 practices (or 14, since the spring game kind of doesn’t count) are focused on getting the offense installed and getting comfortable with the tempo.
They want to go fast during practice, mistakes be damned, and iron out the details in the film room.
I get that. And I get that turnovers will inevitably be chief among the mistakes that happen.
But still, it’s got to be a little concerning. We don’t know entirely where the mistakes are coming from, but from what we’ve heard, there’s been a pretty sizable amount of both interceptions and fumbles.
The latter is concerning because ball security has little to do with tempo. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re snapping or what kind of offense you’re running; you have to hold onto the ball.
- As for the interceptions, it doesn’t seem like Nate Yarnell has been responsible for most of those, which is good. But given the emphasis on installing the new offense and all of the hiccups that inevitably come with that, I’m inclined to look at the positive:
Pitt’s defense, which wasn’t great at forcing turnovers last season, has been far more active in making plays this spring.
For now, we can keep the focus on the positive side. We’ll see where things are in the fall.
- The draft for the Blue-Gold Game will be held tomorrow, and while it will be interesting to see how the players prioritize their teammates, it’s also going to give us some insight into who is available. As is always the case in spring camp, there are guys sitting out. Coaches tend to err more on the side of caution in the spring and not push the guys who are banged up. That’s especially true for starters and experienced players; the coaches would prefer to have them on the field, but if they are nursing just about any kind of injury, then the staff will hold them out.
Naturally, we can’t talk about injuries. But the list of players not participating in the Blue-Gold Game should come out tomorrow, so we’ll get a look at it then.
