First off, I apologize for the Rivals.com network outage. Believe me, I’m more frustrated than everyone on this site put together. This is a big day - the start of training camp - and I can’t apologize enough for the delay in getting these practice notes online, as well as photos and videos and more.
And so it begins. Pitt kicked off training camp 2016 in the South Side on Monday, and here’s a collection of news and notes from the first practice.
- First, a word on the coverage opportunities: Pitt lets the media watch the first 30 minutes of practice. On Monday, that window ended up being about 45 minutes, which meant we could see some early-practice walk-throughs, stretching and a few individual periods. There was one additional period of walk-throughs that we also got to witness on Monday, and that period plus the early-practice walk-throughs inform most of what we’ll discuss re: depth charts.
- With that in mind, we got an early look at the way the coaches are lining up the players during those two walk-through periods. The most notable observation was on the offensive line, where the coaches largely followed the personnel they had used during the spring, with Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle, Dorian Johnson at left guard, Alex Bookser at center, John Guy at right guard and Brian O'Neill at right tackle.
That’s a change from what we expected. I expected to see Jaryd Jones-Smith return to the first-team unit at right tackle and to see Alex Officer return to the first-team unit at center; instead, both were on the second team, with Jones-Smith at right tackle and Officer at right guard while Connor Dintino was at center.
I don’t think those assignments will last, and I suspect that changes will be made by the end of the first week. But that’s how they had them lined up on Monday.
- Also on the second team were left tackle Aaron Reese and left guard Carson Baker. There was another unit that was more or less the third team with Tony Pilato at left tackle, walk-on redshirt freshman Kyle Benbrook at left guard, walk-on redshirt sophomore Alex Galiyas at center, Alex Paulina at right guard and walk-on redshirt sophomore Aaron Britton at right tackle. As for the freshmen, Justin Morgan got reps at right tackle, Brandon Ford saw time at left tackle and Bryce Hargrove worked at right guard.
- That line combination worked together during the second walk-through period, separate from the first and second-team units. Thomas MacVittie was the quarterback with that group, and he was flanked by a trio of his classmates at receiver: Ruben Flowers, Aaron Mathews and, in the slot, Maurice Ffrench.
Flowers is a big receiver, but he looks to be of average height next to Mathews, who really towers over everyone. Ffrench is shorter than the other two but taller than I thought.
There’s a long way to go until the coaches decide if any of those three will play this season, but they did have Ffrench catching punts, so that could be his way onto the field.
- As for the first and second-team receivers, it looked like the top group was made up of Dontez Ford, Jester Weah and Quadree Henderson, with Weah potentially being the third in that group. If Weah can catch, that can be an effective group of receivers, in my view.
- Since it was such a topic of offseason conversation, yes, the running backs did work on catching passes out of the slot. So that option looks like it will be part of the offense this year.
- On the defensive side, the top line looked to be what we expected: Ejuan Price, Tyrique Jarrett, Shakir Soto and Dewayne Hendrix. Rori Blair, James Folston and Allen Edwards worked behind Price and Hendrix at end, while Jeremiah Taleni and Shane Roy were the main backups at tackle, although I suspect the coaches gave freshmen Keyshon Camp and Amir Watts reps with the top two groups later in practice.
- Watts and Camp both look like they have a lot of potential. Watts is probably in the neighborhood of 6’2”, but he looks like he can be explosive up the middle. And I’ve heard nothing but positives about Camp, who is already one of the strongest players on the team.
- Another freshman who deserves a mention is Rashad Weaver; I was really impressed to see him on Monday. He’s tall and lean - almost built like a big tight end - and the coaches have him working at defensive end. I think he’s got an outside shot of playing this season and, with further work in the strength and conditioning programs, I think his future is bright.
- That description of Weaver - tall and lean - applies to a whole bunch of the freshman defensive backs, too. Damar Hamlin, Henry Miller, Bricen Garner, Phil Campbell, Therran Coleman - they all look long and rangy and, most of all, athletic. It’s an impressive group, maybe even more impressive now than they were as recruits because, when they’re on the field with other Division I athletes, they look the part. Physically, they fit in.
How they develop mentally will determine how much playing time they get. But so far, they look the part.
- It looks like Henry Miller is still at cornerback for now. He worked there during some of the walk-throughs but then joined the safeties line during individual drills. I think that might have just been a freshman mistake, though, because shortly thereafter he was in the cornerbacks line. Either way, his size - listed at 6’3” - seems pretty legit.
- If Miller might end up at safety, then Phil Campbell might end up at linebacker. Now that I’m getting to see him in person, he’s got a similar body type to that of Cam Bright, who committed to Pitt as a linebacker this summer. I don’t know if Campbell is as fast as Bright - and if he’s not, then he probably shouldn’t be playing safety - but he’s got the same kind of build. And if the safety depth develops nicely, then I could see Campbell making the move.
- And if we’re talking about players who could switch positions, Chase Pine gets a mention. He’s got to be tempting for the coaches, because it’s not hard to imagine him bulking up and moving to defensive end, but if he can keep his speed at his current size, he could be pretty strong at linebacker. Good options all around.
- At one point, defensive line coach Tom Sims was working with a quartet of Weaver, Wheeler, Watts/Camp and Patrick Jones - five freshman defensive linemen. It was a pretty solid-looking group, and I’m sure Sims likes the idea of having those five guys working together in a rotation.
- Speaking of defensive lineman, Zack Gilbert wasn’t practicing, but he was there watching all the drills. The same goes for George Hill, whose career is over but looks like he’ll be taking a role of a student assistant, perhaps with the strength staff. Those guys can’t play, but they’re still part of the team.
- There’s a position battle between Reggie Mitchell and Terrish Webb for the free safety spot. I think Webb is the favorite to win the starting job, but the coaches will have those two seniors battle throughout camp. One interesting note was that Mitchell also lined up for some snaps at strong safety, so he could potentially swing to either safety spot.
- At cornerback, the battle is for the spot opposite Avonte Maddox, and it will probably come down to Ryan Lewis or Damar Hamlin. Maddox is locked in, but it did look like freshman Therran Coleman was working behind him during some of the walk-throughs. The coaches are committed to giving the freshman a shot, and that includes Coleman.
And so it begins. Pitt kicked off training camp 2016 in the South Side on Monday, and here’s a collection of news and notes from the first practice.
- First, a word on the coverage opportunities: Pitt lets the media watch the first 30 minutes of practice. On Monday, that window ended up being about 45 minutes, which meant we could see some early-practice walk-throughs, stretching and a few individual periods. There was one additional period of walk-throughs that we also got to witness on Monday, and that period plus the early-practice walk-throughs inform most of what we’ll discuss re: depth charts.
- With that in mind, we got an early look at the way the coaches are lining up the players during those two walk-through periods. The most notable observation was on the offensive line, where the coaches largely followed the personnel they had used during the spring, with Adam Bisnowaty at left tackle, Dorian Johnson at left guard, Alex Bookser at center, John Guy at right guard and Brian O'Neill at right tackle.
That’s a change from what we expected. I expected to see Jaryd Jones-Smith return to the first-team unit at right tackle and to see Alex Officer return to the first-team unit at center; instead, both were on the second team, with Jones-Smith at right tackle and Officer at right guard while Connor Dintino was at center.
I don’t think those assignments will last, and I suspect that changes will be made by the end of the first week. But that’s how they had them lined up on Monday.
- Also on the second team were left tackle Aaron Reese and left guard Carson Baker. There was another unit that was more or less the third team with Tony Pilato at left tackle, walk-on redshirt freshman Kyle Benbrook at left guard, walk-on redshirt sophomore Alex Galiyas at center, Alex Paulina at right guard and walk-on redshirt sophomore Aaron Britton at right tackle. As for the freshmen, Justin Morgan got reps at right tackle, Brandon Ford saw time at left tackle and Bryce Hargrove worked at right guard.
- That line combination worked together during the second walk-through period, separate from the first and second-team units. Thomas MacVittie was the quarterback with that group, and he was flanked by a trio of his classmates at receiver: Ruben Flowers, Aaron Mathews and, in the slot, Maurice Ffrench.
Flowers is a big receiver, but he looks to be of average height next to Mathews, who really towers over everyone. Ffrench is shorter than the other two but taller than I thought.
There’s a long way to go until the coaches decide if any of those three will play this season, but they did have Ffrench catching punts, so that could be his way onto the field.
- As for the first and second-team receivers, it looked like the top group was made up of Dontez Ford, Jester Weah and Quadree Henderson, with Weah potentially being the third in that group. If Weah can catch, that can be an effective group of receivers, in my view.
- Since it was such a topic of offseason conversation, yes, the running backs did work on catching passes out of the slot. So that option looks like it will be part of the offense this year.
- On the defensive side, the top line looked to be what we expected: Ejuan Price, Tyrique Jarrett, Shakir Soto and Dewayne Hendrix. Rori Blair, James Folston and Allen Edwards worked behind Price and Hendrix at end, while Jeremiah Taleni and Shane Roy were the main backups at tackle, although I suspect the coaches gave freshmen Keyshon Camp and Amir Watts reps with the top two groups later in practice.
- Watts and Camp both look like they have a lot of potential. Watts is probably in the neighborhood of 6’2”, but he looks like he can be explosive up the middle. And I’ve heard nothing but positives about Camp, who is already one of the strongest players on the team.
- Another freshman who deserves a mention is Rashad Weaver; I was really impressed to see him on Monday. He’s tall and lean - almost built like a big tight end - and the coaches have him working at defensive end. I think he’s got an outside shot of playing this season and, with further work in the strength and conditioning programs, I think his future is bright.
- That description of Weaver - tall and lean - applies to a whole bunch of the freshman defensive backs, too. Damar Hamlin, Henry Miller, Bricen Garner, Phil Campbell, Therran Coleman - they all look long and rangy and, most of all, athletic. It’s an impressive group, maybe even more impressive now than they were as recruits because, when they’re on the field with other Division I athletes, they look the part. Physically, they fit in.
How they develop mentally will determine how much playing time they get. But so far, they look the part.
- It looks like Henry Miller is still at cornerback for now. He worked there during some of the walk-throughs but then joined the safeties line during individual drills. I think that might have just been a freshman mistake, though, because shortly thereafter he was in the cornerbacks line. Either way, his size - listed at 6’3” - seems pretty legit.
- If Miller might end up at safety, then Phil Campbell might end up at linebacker. Now that I’m getting to see him in person, he’s got a similar body type to that of Cam Bright, who committed to Pitt as a linebacker this summer. I don’t know if Campbell is as fast as Bright - and if he’s not, then he probably shouldn’t be playing safety - but he’s got the same kind of build. And if the safety depth develops nicely, then I could see Campbell making the move.
- And if we’re talking about players who could switch positions, Chase Pine gets a mention. He’s got to be tempting for the coaches, because it’s not hard to imagine him bulking up and moving to defensive end, but if he can keep his speed at his current size, he could be pretty strong at linebacker. Good options all around.
- At one point, defensive line coach Tom Sims was working with a quartet of Weaver, Wheeler, Watts/Camp and Patrick Jones - five freshman defensive linemen. It was a pretty solid-looking group, and I’m sure Sims likes the idea of having those five guys working together in a rotation.
- Speaking of defensive lineman, Zack Gilbert wasn’t practicing, but he was there watching all the drills. The same goes for George Hill, whose career is over but looks like he’ll be taking a role of a student assistant, perhaps with the strength staff. Those guys can’t play, but they’re still part of the team.
- There’s a position battle between Reggie Mitchell and Terrish Webb for the free safety spot. I think Webb is the favorite to win the starting job, but the coaches will have those two seniors battle throughout camp. One interesting note was that Mitchell also lined up for some snaps at strong safety, so he could potentially swing to either safety spot.
- At cornerback, the battle is for the spot opposite Avonte Maddox, and it will probably come down to Ryan Lewis or Damar Hamlin. Maddox is locked in, but it did look like freshman Therran Coleman was working behind him during some of the walk-throughs. The coaches are committed to giving the freshman a shot, and that includes Coleman.
