Practice No. 2 of training camp is happening in the South Side. Here are some news and notes from the morning session:
- I think there was some rotation in the offensive line groupings on Tuesday. We didn’t see as much of the line working together as we saw on Monday, but I did see Aaron Reese taking some reps at second-team right tackle, which is where Jaryd Jones-Smith was working on Monday. So I think the coaches are moving guys around a little bit.
- One move that has happened is that Mike Herndon is no longer practicing with the offensive line, as it looks like the redshirt sophomore has returned to the defensive line. He was signed as a defensive tackle recruit in the class of 2014 and moved to the offensive line prior to the 2015 season. He was working on the second team this past spring and is even listed as an offensive lineman in the media guide, but I suspect the loss of Justin Moody precipitated a move back to defense for Herndon.
- A few people have asked if Moody’s departure increases the likelihood of a freshman defensive tackle getting on the field. Usually, my answer is no, only because I think the chances were already high of someone like Keyshon Camp or Amir Watts - and potentially both - playing this year. Moody didn’t make much of an impact during his career at Pitt, and I think the coaches were more excited to see about the potential of the freshman.
- To that end, I kept an eye on the defensive linemen again on Tuesday as they did a few drills that show some basic non-pad skills like explosiveness and quickness off the ball. To that end, Amir Watts looks ready to play. He is really quick out of his stance, and as you’ll see in some video I shot, he’s as good in that department as some of the upperclassmen.
Camp, on the other hand, seems to be a little tentative. But at the risk of being reductive, I think Camp’s game is built on power and Watts’ skill is speed. Again, that’s overly simple about the two players, who are both really talented, but that’s where they seem to be at this point. Of course, both of those skills will be tested for real when they put on full pads Friday.
- Speaking of Friday, I’m also anxious to get some reports of how the young defensive backs perform when they can finally hit (and be hit). Watching a few drills today, I was really impressed with Therran Coleman’s athletic ability. I think we all understood that, as high school seniors, Coleman had more athleticism and speed than Damar Hamlin, but Hamlin was more refined in his technique.
But when you watch drills like some that I saw on Tuesday - and we’ve got some video coming - you see how quickly Coleman accelerates and how he explodes into a tackle. Hamlin is the sure thing to play this season, but I wouldn’t rule out Coleman. He really impressed the coaches this summer - and they were already excited about him - and I think he could find his way onto the field if he keeps up with the playbook.
We talked a lot last year about how the coaches didn’t really rotate at cornerback at all. Part of that was due to not having too many good options for a rotation. This year, they’ll have more than a few good options.
- I posted video of Thomas MacVittie connecting with Maurice Ffrench, and a few things stood out to me about that video. The most notable, to me, was Ffrench’s play in reaching out to pull in the touchdown grab. He is really fast; that has been evident. But if he can make plays like that in practice, especially when they put the pads on and scrimmage, then he’s going to work his way up the depth chart.
The other thing that stood out was the pass from MacVittie. It wasn’t great, as you could see. Ffrench made a great play because the ball was almost out of reach, and it was a less-than-tight spiral on top of that. MacVittie has a bit of a hitch, but I think we knew that he had some mechanical things to develop.
Still, his size is legitimate - although he’s a bit skinny - and while the hitch isn’t going away, I’ve seen him throw better passes than that one in the last two days. He’s still kind of raw as a quarterback, but he’s got time to develop.
- Otherwise, the quarterbacks have been about what we’ve seen in the past. Nate Peterman is the best and most polished of the group. Ben DiNucci still has his own unique throwing motion. Manny Stocker is okay and was spending some extra time working on throwing on the run on Tuesday. And Bo Schneider looks like he has a decent arm; I would like to see some more live work from him to see how he throws under pressure.
- I know I’ve been writing about the freshmen a lot in these first two days, but right now, they’re kind of the most interesting element of what we get to see. After all, we have all spent the last year or two writing and talking about these players - the freshmen - so seeing them on the field and practicing with Pitt is pretty notable to me. As the week continues and we see how the coaches are moving the pieces in the two-deep, we’ll get into the upperclassmen more.
- Today is Media Day, so Pat Narduzzi will speak at 1:30 pm and then we’ll have access to the offensive and defensive staff and select players from both sides of the ball later in the afternoon. So look for a lot more articles, videos and photos as the day goes on.
- Also, I taped a bonus edition of the Panther-Lair podcast for this morning to get some reflections and reactions to the first day of camp. Click here to check that out.
- I think there was some rotation in the offensive line groupings on Tuesday. We didn’t see as much of the line working together as we saw on Monday, but I did see Aaron Reese taking some reps at second-team right tackle, which is where Jaryd Jones-Smith was working on Monday. So I think the coaches are moving guys around a little bit.
- One move that has happened is that Mike Herndon is no longer practicing with the offensive line, as it looks like the redshirt sophomore has returned to the defensive line. He was signed as a defensive tackle recruit in the class of 2014 and moved to the offensive line prior to the 2015 season. He was working on the second team this past spring and is even listed as an offensive lineman in the media guide, but I suspect the loss of Justin Moody precipitated a move back to defense for Herndon.
- A few people have asked if Moody’s departure increases the likelihood of a freshman defensive tackle getting on the field. Usually, my answer is no, only because I think the chances were already high of someone like Keyshon Camp or Amir Watts - and potentially both - playing this year. Moody didn’t make much of an impact during his career at Pitt, and I think the coaches were more excited to see about the potential of the freshman.
- To that end, I kept an eye on the defensive linemen again on Tuesday as they did a few drills that show some basic non-pad skills like explosiveness and quickness off the ball. To that end, Amir Watts looks ready to play. He is really quick out of his stance, and as you’ll see in some video I shot, he’s as good in that department as some of the upperclassmen.
Camp, on the other hand, seems to be a little tentative. But at the risk of being reductive, I think Camp’s game is built on power and Watts’ skill is speed. Again, that’s overly simple about the two players, who are both really talented, but that’s where they seem to be at this point. Of course, both of those skills will be tested for real when they put on full pads Friday.
- Speaking of Friday, I’m also anxious to get some reports of how the young defensive backs perform when they can finally hit (and be hit). Watching a few drills today, I was really impressed with Therran Coleman’s athletic ability. I think we all understood that, as high school seniors, Coleman had more athleticism and speed than Damar Hamlin, but Hamlin was more refined in his technique.
But when you watch drills like some that I saw on Tuesday - and we’ve got some video coming - you see how quickly Coleman accelerates and how he explodes into a tackle. Hamlin is the sure thing to play this season, but I wouldn’t rule out Coleman. He really impressed the coaches this summer - and they were already excited about him - and I think he could find his way onto the field if he keeps up with the playbook.
We talked a lot last year about how the coaches didn’t really rotate at cornerback at all. Part of that was due to not having too many good options for a rotation. This year, they’ll have more than a few good options.
- I posted video of Thomas MacVittie connecting with Maurice Ffrench, and a few things stood out to me about that video. The most notable, to me, was Ffrench’s play in reaching out to pull in the touchdown grab. He is really fast; that has been evident. But if he can make plays like that in practice, especially when they put the pads on and scrimmage, then he’s going to work his way up the depth chart.
The other thing that stood out was the pass from MacVittie. It wasn’t great, as you could see. Ffrench made a great play because the ball was almost out of reach, and it was a less-than-tight spiral on top of that. MacVittie has a bit of a hitch, but I think we knew that he had some mechanical things to develop.
Still, his size is legitimate - although he’s a bit skinny - and while the hitch isn’t going away, I’ve seen him throw better passes than that one in the last two days. He’s still kind of raw as a quarterback, but he’s got time to develop.
- Otherwise, the quarterbacks have been about what we’ve seen in the past. Nate Peterman is the best and most polished of the group. Ben DiNucci still has his own unique throwing motion. Manny Stocker is okay and was spending some extra time working on throwing on the run on Tuesday. And Bo Schneider looks like he has a decent arm; I would like to see some more live work from him to see how he throws under pressure.
- I know I’ve been writing about the freshmen a lot in these first two days, but right now, they’re kind of the most interesting element of what we get to see. After all, we have all spent the last year or two writing and talking about these players - the freshmen - so seeing them on the field and practicing with Pitt is pretty notable to me. As the week continues and we see how the coaches are moving the pieces in the two-deep, we’ll get into the upperclassmen more.
- Today is Media Day, so Pat Narduzzi will speak at 1:30 pm and then we’ll have access to the offensive and defensive staff and select players from both sides of the ball later in the afternoon. So look for a lot more articles, videos and photos as the day goes on.
- Also, I taped a bonus edition of the Panther-Lair podcast for this morning to get some reflections and reactions to the first day of camp. Click here to check that out.
