After a few cooler days, Pitt faced a hot one for Tuesday morning’s practice as the Panthers move through Week Three of training camp 2017.
As Pat Narduzzi said Tuesday morning, these are the dog days of camp when one day runs into the next and the players probably have little concept of what day it is outside of Saturday (scrimmage day), Sunday (off day) and Monday (the day after the off day).
“We’re at practice 13 and this is the dog days of camp right now,” Narduzzi said. “This is when some guys will fall flat on their face and some guys will rise to the top.”
We’ve mentioned some players in the past few days who seem to be rising to the top, as Narduzzi said. Damarri Mathis, for one, has gotten multiple mentions from the head coach and is looking more and more like a freshman cornerback who will see the field in 2017.
Mathis is smaller than his fellow freshman, Jason Pinnock, who is a little taller and a little bulkier. But he said Monday he likes the press coverage Pitt uses and thinks it’s a good fit for him.
“That’s a thing I like to do,” he said. “I’m an aggressive-type corner. It fits me good.”
And it probably makes things a little easier for a young player. Josh Conklin pointed to cornerback as a position where freshmen might have a clearer path to the field, and Mathis said he thinks that the reliance on press coverage can also help in that regard.
“I think it does make it easier to play press because you eliminate a lot of routes; there’s not as many routes that you can run. Rather than playing off, they can pretty much pick you apart and do whatever. I like the aggressive style of defense.”
Mathis, Pinnock and the rest of the cornerbacks definitely get their fair share of challenges daily in practice. Whether it’s facing the speed and size of Jester Weah, the quickness of Quadree Henderson and Maurice Ffrench or any of the other skill sets in Pitt’s receiving corps, the cornerbacks are well-tested.
Mathis said he has been working on the first team in recent practices, which gives him a lot of work against Weah, and I’m bringing this quote into the conversation for a reason.
“It’s been pretty challenging as a young guy just learning a lot,” Mathis said. “Playing a receiver as strong as Jester, you have to be on point with your technique. You have to watch a lot of film on him and you just have to study him as a player to get better.”
The word that sticks out there is strong. That’s not the first time this camp I’ve heard someone refer to Weah’s strength as a primary attribute of his - maybe the primary attribute. And that has stuck out to me, because we all know about Weah’s speed and we can see that he’s got good size; strength is not something we’ve talked about much or heard about much. But apparently that’s what sticks out a lot to the players on Pitt’s team.
So in addition to being fast and big, Weah is also pretty strong, it seems. Sounds like a complete package.
- You probably saw the interview with Josh Conklin on Monday; if you didn’t, check it out here:
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/conklin-on-the-safeties-the-dl-youth-and-more
Lots of good stuff there, but this quote stood out to me:
“You know, Bricen Garner right now has really had a phenomenal camp. He’s probably been the best, I would say, just in terms of consistency, knowledge. He’s got a good feel for the package, he communicates well. And when a guy starts to communicate with everybody else around him, you know he understands what he’s doing and also understands what the offense is doing and is starting to put the whole picture, you know, big picture together.”
That’s some mighty praise for the redshirt freshman safety from Central Catholic, and it feeds into a line of thinking I’ve been dwelling on recently:
The depth at safety is really shaping up to be something impressive. I put this breakdown in another thread but I think it’s relevant to mention again. Here’s what Pitt’s scholarship safety roster looks like in camp:
Dennis Briggs - redshirt junior
Jordan Whitehead - junior
Jazzee Stocker - redshirt sophomore
Phil Campbell - redshirt freshman
Bricen Garner - redshirt freshman
Henry Miller - redshirt freshman
And that doesn’t include Damar Hamlin, who has been limited while the coaches are being cautious with the lingering injuries that have dogged him for the last few years, or Paris Ford, who has not arrived yet and might not get to Pitt until the end of the camp.
Even without those two guys, you’re talking about a group of six players, with four of them having at least three years of eligibility remaining (including 2017). And all four have gotten a lot of praise from the coaches in camp - genuine praise, it seems.
Plus, there’s a nice balance at the position between field safeties (Whitehead, Stocker and Garner) and boundary safeties (Briggs, Campbell and Miller) with a few guys like Whitehead, Stocker and Miller having the ability to play either spot.
The only thing those four younger players are lacking is experience (Stocker played in 11 games last year, mostly on special teams, and that’s it for the group). But as they get some experience, the safety position should look better and better.
- A quick note to follow up on a thread that was posted yesterday.
The expectation for redshirt junior fullback George Aston is that he will return from his ankle injury later this season. That’s not written in stone; injuries can heal in different ways and nothing is definitive or predictable. But the expectation is that he will be back, possibly by midseason.
- Aaron Mathews was at practice again Tuesday morning, but he wasn’t wearing pads. That’s his second non-pad practice, so he should be able to put on shoulder pads Wednesday and Thursday and be in full pads for this Saturday’s scrimmage.
- The same goes for Kollin Smith, the freshman track athlete who has joined the team as a walk-on. He had some special guests at Tuesday’s practice: head Pitt track coach Alonzo Webb and assistant coach Alonzo Webb III.
- I mentioned in yesterday’s camp report that the center position appears to have a legitimate competition between Connor Dintino and Jimmy Morrissey, and Narduzzi said this morning that a few players are in the mix there.
“I would say there’s three, four,” Narduzzi said. “(Alex) Bookser took snaps yesterday at center. [Alex Officer], we know, can do it. And obviously Morrissey and Connor are working there. So it’s - we’re always going to find our five best guys.”
So we have more of what we’ve talked about a lot: versatility on the offensive line and the option to move guys around. And now I’m wondering about Bookser at center; he spent time there in the spring of 2016, so there’s some experience (in practice, at least). If the group of the five best includes Bookser, Brian O’Neill, Officer, Jaryd Jones-Smith and grad transfer Brandon Hodges - ahead of Dintino or Morrissey - maybe the coaches could look to have Jones-Smith and O’Neill at tackle, Hodges and Officer at guard and Bookser at center. Just a thought, but it’s good to have options.
- I watched a few punts on Tuesday morning. Ryan Winslow seems to be in midseason form, and I mean that as a good things. His punts were going high and getting a lot of hang time. Kirk Christodoulou didn’t seem to get quite as much hang time on his first three punts - they were wobbly and were on a flatter arc - but his fourth was a beauty. Another year of strength work and technique work should have him ready for the job next year.
- Staying on special teams, I think Cal Adomitis, the freshman walk-on from Central Catholic, is looking like the front-runner at long-snapper. That’s an overlooked position, but good for him if he wins the job as a freshman.
As Pat Narduzzi said Tuesday morning, these are the dog days of camp when one day runs into the next and the players probably have little concept of what day it is outside of Saturday (scrimmage day), Sunday (off day) and Monday (the day after the off day).
“We’re at practice 13 and this is the dog days of camp right now,” Narduzzi said. “This is when some guys will fall flat on their face and some guys will rise to the top.”
We’ve mentioned some players in the past few days who seem to be rising to the top, as Narduzzi said. Damarri Mathis, for one, has gotten multiple mentions from the head coach and is looking more and more like a freshman cornerback who will see the field in 2017.
Mathis is smaller than his fellow freshman, Jason Pinnock, who is a little taller and a little bulkier. But he said Monday he likes the press coverage Pitt uses and thinks it’s a good fit for him.
“That’s a thing I like to do,” he said. “I’m an aggressive-type corner. It fits me good.”
And it probably makes things a little easier for a young player. Josh Conklin pointed to cornerback as a position where freshmen might have a clearer path to the field, and Mathis said he thinks that the reliance on press coverage can also help in that regard.
“I think it does make it easier to play press because you eliminate a lot of routes; there’s not as many routes that you can run. Rather than playing off, they can pretty much pick you apart and do whatever. I like the aggressive style of defense.”
Mathis, Pinnock and the rest of the cornerbacks definitely get their fair share of challenges daily in practice. Whether it’s facing the speed and size of Jester Weah, the quickness of Quadree Henderson and Maurice Ffrench or any of the other skill sets in Pitt’s receiving corps, the cornerbacks are well-tested.
Mathis said he has been working on the first team in recent practices, which gives him a lot of work against Weah, and I’m bringing this quote into the conversation for a reason.
“It’s been pretty challenging as a young guy just learning a lot,” Mathis said. “Playing a receiver as strong as Jester, you have to be on point with your technique. You have to watch a lot of film on him and you just have to study him as a player to get better.”
The word that sticks out there is strong. That’s not the first time this camp I’ve heard someone refer to Weah’s strength as a primary attribute of his - maybe the primary attribute. And that has stuck out to me, because we all know about Weah’s speed and we can see that he’s got good size; strength is not something we’ve talked about much or heard about much. But apparently that’s what sticks out a lot to the players on Pitt’s team.
So in addition to being fast and big, Weah is also pretty strong, it seems. Sounds like a complete package.
- You probably saw the interview with Josh Conklin on Monday; if you didn’t, check it out here:
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/conklin-on-the-safeties-the-dl-youth-and-more
Lots of good stuff there, but this quote stood out to me:
“You know, Bricen Garner right now has really had a phenomenal camp. He’s probably been the best, I would say, just in terms of consistency, knowledge. He’s got a good feel for the package, he communicates well. And when a guy starts to communicate with everybody else around him, you know he understands what he’s doing and also understands what the offense is doing and is starting to put the whole picture, you know, big picture together.”
That’s some mighty praise for the redshirt freshman safety from Central Catholic, and it feeds into a line of thinking I’ve been dwelling on recently:
The depth at safety is really shaping up to be something impressive. I put this breakdown in another thread but I think it’s relevant to mention again. Here’s what Pitt’s scholarship safety roster looks like in camp:
Dennis Briggs - redshirt junior
Jordan Whitehead - junior
Jazzee Stocker - redshirt sophomore
Phil Campbell - redshirt freshman
Bricen Garner - redshirt freshman
Henry Miller - redshirt freshman
And that doesn’t include Damar Hamlin, who has been limited while the coaches are being cautious with the lingering injuries that have dogged him for the last few years, or Paris Ford, who has not arrived yet and might not get to Pitt until the end of the camp.
Even without those two guys, you’re talking about a group of six players, with four of them having at least three years of eligibility remaining (including 2017). And all four have gotten a lot of praise from the coaches in camp - genuine praise, it seems.
Plus, there’s a nice balance at the position between field safeties (Whitehead, Stocker and Garner) and boundary safeties (Briggs, Campbell and Miller) with a few guys like Whitehead, Stocker and Miller having the ability to play either spot.
The only thing those four younger players are lacking is experience (Stocker played in 11 games last year, mostly on special teams, and that’s it for the group). But as they get some experience, the safety position should look better and better.
- A quick note to follow up on a thread that was posted yesterday.
The expectation for redshirt junior fullback George Aston is that he will return from his ankle injury later this season. That’s not written in stone; injuries can heal in different ways and nothing is definitive or predictable. But the expectation is that he will be back, possibly by midseason.
- Aaron Mathews was at practice again Tuesday morning, but he wasn’t wearing pads. That’s his second non-pad practice, so he should be able to put on shoulder pads Wednesday and Thursday and be in full pads for this Saturday’s scrimmage.
- The same goes for Kollin Smith, the freshman track athlete who has joined the team as a walk-on. He had some special guests at Tuesday’s practice: head Pitt track coach Alonzo Webb and assistant coach Alonzo Webb III.
- I mentioned in yesterday’s camp report that the center position appears to have a legitimate competition between Connor Dintino and Jimmy Morrissey, and Narduzzi said this morning that a few players are in the mix there.
“I would say there’s three, four,” Narduzzi said. “(Alex) Bookser took snaps yesterday at center. [Alex Officer], we know, can do it. And obviously Morrissey and Connor are working there. So it’s - we’re always going to find our five best guys.”
So we have more of what we’ve talked about a lot: versatility on the offensive line and the option to move guys around. And now I’m wondering about Bookser at center; he spent time there in the spring of 2016, so there’s some experience (in practice, at least). If the group of the five best includes Bookser, Brian O’Neill, Officer, Jaryd Jones-Smith and grad transfer Brandon Hodges - ahead of Dintino or Morrissey - maybe the coaches could look to have Jones-Smith and O’Neill at tackle, Hodges and Officer at guard and Bookser at center. Just a thought, but it’s good to have options.
- I watched a few punts on Tuesday morning. Ryan Winslow seems to be in midseason form, and I mean that as a good things. His punts were going high and getting a lot of hang time. Kirk Christodoulou didn’t seem to get quite as much hang time on his first three punts - they were wobbly and were on a flatter arc - but his fourth was a beauty. Another year of strength work and technique work should have him ready for the job next year.
- Staying on special teams, I think Cal Adomitis, the freshman walk-on from Central Catholic, is looking like the front-runner at long-snapper. That’s an overlooked position, but good for him if he wins the job as a freshman.
