Back to the South Side we go…
Pitt was outside Friday morning for the third practice of training camp, and to distinguish Friday from the first two workouts, the players had shoulder pads on, which means a bit more contact, a bit more hitting and just maybe a bit more football.
Here’s a look at what stood out:
- One thing I couldn’t help but noticing wasn’t something I saw; rather, it was something I heard. And that was Pat Narduzzi with a megaphone. That’s not necessarily something new, but Narduzzi was using the megaphone to full effect Friday morning. I don’t know if he flipped a coin before practice, but Pitt’s head coach was giving the players the business through the megaphone.
Maybe he was just cranky or maybe the players were extra sloppy (there seemed to be a bit of that), but Narduzzi and a few of the assistants seemed to make sure they didn’t spare the rod, at least verbally Friday morning.
Training camp is like that sometimes.
- This was my first practice of the summer (Jim covered Wednesday), so I had a few things I was interested to see. One, which I kind of confirmed on Wednesday but wanted to make sure of, is the alignment of the offensive line.
During the ACC Kickoff, Narduzzi made some comments about Blake Zubovic working at left guard and Ryan Jacoby and Ryan Baer battling at right guard. That confused me, since it flew in the face of basically everything we’ve seen for the last few years - up to and including spring camp.
Sure enough Narduzzi got them mixed up. Zubovic is still at right guard and Baer is battling with Jacoby for the left guard spot. Baer, of course, can play guard or tackle, although as Dave Borbely pointed out on Wednesday, they moved Baer to guard in spring camp - only to see Branson Taylor get hurt, which moved Baer back outside to tackle.
- Either way, I’ve said all summer that the two spots on the left end of the line will be filled by some combination of Baer, Jacoby and Taylor, and that continues to be the case. From what I could see on Friday, it looked like Baer opened training camp as the frontrunner at guard ahead of Jacoby, but we’ll see how it shakes out.
- When Jackson Brown transferred from Cal this spring, he told us he saw a future where he and Baer were the bookend tackles. On Friday, it looked like Brown was working behind Taylor as the backup left tackle, so he could find himself on the two-deep this season.
- On Wednesday, running backs coach Andre Powell said the coaches have three top backs and they’re looking to bring along a fourth. At the time, I assumed the top three backs were Rodney Hammond, C’Bo Flemister and Derrick Davis, but I think I was ignoring the trusted veteran Daniel Carter.
On Friday, I watched Hammond take the first set of snaps followed by Carter and Flemister. So it looks like those are the top three, and the search for No. 4 includes Davis and true freshmen Montravius Lloyd and TJ Harvison. I have to say, Carter looks like he has slimmed down a bit. He was listed at 240 last year and is listed at 230 this year; roster heights and weights are what they are, but a 10-pound change indicates some weight loss, even if the numbers are a bit, um, flexible.
So maybe Carter’s dreams of being a tailback could finally come true. I still think Flemister can be a breakout impact player this season, but perhaps he’ll be in a battle for the No. 2 role with Carter, which could be interesting to see.
- We’re going to be constantly watching the receivers all camp as we look for someone to emerge there. On Friday, I saw Konata Mumpfield show some pretty good speed on a sweep where he turned the corner and got up the sideline against Pitt’s top defense.
Bub Means continues to look the part (I think in today’s 3-2-1 Column I said he looked like he was built in a lab). But we need to see consistency in his actual receiver play to buy in there.
The freshmen do look impressive, though. I liked what I saw of Kenny Johnson in the drills on Friday - he needs to do something good to try to get out of wearing No. 35 - and Zion Fowler-El keeps getting talked up by players and coaches alike, which is interesting given the late twists and turns in his recruitment.
The receivers will be an ongoing storyline throughout camp and into the season. I believe Mumpfield and Means can play and I think there’s enough potential in the rest of the group that something good can happen, but it’s a waiting game for now.
- That’s all for now, as post-practice interviews are about to start. But we’ll have plenty of content - photos, videos, articles, etc. - in the hours, days and weeks to come.
Pitt was outside Friday morning for the third practice of training camp, and to distinguish Friday from the first two workouts, the players had shoulder pads on, which means a bit more contact, a bit more hitting and just maybe a bit more football.
Here’s a look at what stood out:
- One thing I couldn’t help but noticing wasn’t something I saw; rather, it was something I heard. And that was Pat Narduzzi with a megaphone. That’s not necessarily something new, but Narduzzi was using the megaphone to full effect Friday morning. I don’t know if he flipped a coin before practice, but Pitt’s head coach was giving the players the business through the megaphone.
Maybe he was just cranky or maybe the players were extra sloppy (there seemed to be a bit of that), but Narduzzi and a few of the assistants seemed to make sure they didn’t spare the rod, at least verbally Friday morning.
Training camp is like that sometimes.
- This was my first practice of the summer (Jim covered Wednesday), so I had a few things I was interested to see. One, which I kind of confirmed on Wednesday but wanted to make sure of, is the alignment of the offensive line.
During the ACC Kickoff, Narduzzi made some comments about Blake Zubovic working at left guard and Ryan Jacoby and Ryan Baer battling at right guard. That confused me, since it flew in the face of basically everything we’ve seen for the last few years - up to and including spring camp.
Sure enough Narduzzi got them mixed up. Zubovic is still at right guard and Baer is battling with Jacoby for the left guard spot. Baer, of course, can play guard or tackle, although as Dave Borbely pointed out on Wednesday, they moved Baer to guard in spring camp - only to see Branson Taylor get hurt, which moved Baer back outside to tackle.
- Either way, I’ve said all summer that the two spots on the left end of the line will be filled by some combination of Baer, Jacoby and Taylor, and that continues to be the case. From what I could see on Friday, it looked like Baer opened training camp as the frontrunner at guard ahead of Jacoby, but we’ll see how it shakes out.
- When Jackson Brown transferred from Cal this spring, he told us he saw a future where he and Baer were the bookend tackles. On Friday, it looked like Brown was working behind Taylor as the backup left tackle, so he could find himself on the two-deep this season.
- On Wednesday, running backs coach Andre Powell said the coaches have three top backs and they’re looking to bring along a fourth. At the time, I assumed the top three backs were Rodney Hammond, C’Bo Flemister and Derrick Davis, but I think I was ignoring the trusted veteran Daniel Carter.
On Friday, I watched Hammond take the first set of snaps followed by Carter and Flemister. So it looks like those are the top three, and the search for No. 4 includes Davis and true freshmen Montravius Lloyd and TJ Harvison. I have to say, Carter looks like he has slimmed down a bit. He was listed at 240 last year and is listed at 230 this year; roster heights and weights are what they are, but a 10-pound change indicates some weight loss, even if the numbers are a bit, um, flexible.
So maybe Carter’s dreams of being a tailback could finally come true. I still think Flemister can be a breakout impact player this season, but perhaps he’ll be in a battle for the No. 2 role with Carter, which could be interesting to see.
- We’re going to be constantly watching the receivers all camp as we look for someone to emerge there. On Friday, I saw Konata Mumpfield show some pretty good speed on a sweep where he turned the corner and got up the sideline against Pitt’s top defense.
Bub Means continues to look the part (I think in today’s 3-2-1 Column I said he looked like he was built in a lab). But we need to see consistency in his actual receiver play to buy in there.
The freshmen do look impressive, though. I liked what I saw of Kenny Johnson in the drills on Friday - he needs to do something good to try to get out of wearing No. 35 - and Zion Fowler-El keeps getting talked up by players and coaches alike, which is interesting given the late twists and turns in his recruitment.
The receivers will be an ongoing storyline throughout camp and into the season. I believe Mumpfield and Means can play and I think there’s enough potential in the rest of the group that something good can happen, but it’s a waiting game for now.
- That’s all for now, as post-practice interviews are about to start. But we’ll have plenty of content - photos, videos, articles, etc. - in the hours, days and weeks to come.
