For the Panthers, Wednesday was something of an annual training camp checkpoint: The first day in pads.
Now granted, they weren’t in full pads -- that will come Friday, followed by a scrimmage Saturday (closed to the media but likely open to some important donors, Pitt supporters, etc.) for a couple of the other annual training camp checkpoints -- but it was still time to get out, get some hitting in and do something considerably more reminiscent of “real” football.
“It becomes more of a football game, it becomes faster,” coach Pat Narduzzi said before practice.
This first pads, or “shells,” practice likely holds a little more weight for the freshmen, who have yet to get a taste of just how big of a jump it is from high school to college football.
Narduzzi was confident that his players would be ready to do some hitting -- whether it be freshmen, seniors or somewhere in between.
“I think it’s just a little bit more thinking because we’re not used to it yet, but it’s all going to come together,” highly touted freshman Jordan Whitehead said of putting some pads on rather than just shorts and T-shirts. “Just taking it day by day. Every day we have meetings, after this we’ll have meetings, so just keep getting smarter on the field and keep getting smarter off the field.”
While Whitehead and his fellow newcomers can’t compare the intensity of training camp’s early practices to those of last year, junior linebacker Matt Galambos certainly can, and to him it’s almost a whole different atmosphere.
“The entire coaching staff, the amount of energy they have each and every day, whether it’s in a meeting or whether it’s the strength and conditioning guys when we’re lifting or whether it’s practice, every single guy has a ton of energy and it really trickles down to us,” Galambos said after practice. “It feels like every time we’re practicing now it’s just a lot more energetic and more enthusiastic.”
From Narduzzi making sure Galambos was doing his part in a mere defensive walk-through, to helping one of the smallest players on the team learn how to stop a ball-carrier, the energy from the staff was easy to see in the practice’s early viewing window for media.
At one point, when the players were rotating from drill to drill, a group of mostly special teamers came to a drill in which a ball-carrier and defender go one-on-one near the sideline. The guy with the ball is trying to get past the defender, whose goal is to drive the ball out of bounds. Defensive line coach Tom Sims sort of chuckled when he saw guys like kicker Chris Blewitt and punter Ryan Winslow entering the drill, but Narduzzi was there and found a way to make it productive by teaching Blewitt the best way to force a potential return man out of bounds (though in this case the player with the ball was the 6-5 Winslow).
That could certainly come in handy for the 5-foot-9 Blewitt some day down the road, and perhaps trying to help make a tackle will turn out better for him than it did recently for another Pittsburgh kicker.
Other observations:
* Not a whole lot worth dwelling on depth chart-wise, but perhaps the biggest -- literally -- story line on that front was on the defensive line. Returning starter at defensive tackle Darryl Render has been under the weather lately, so with him on the sideline, the two first-team tackles were 300-plus-pounders K.K. Mosley-Smith and Tyrique Jarrett. Chris on Tuesday mentioned the possibility of those two working together and that the coaching staff seems to like it, so that seemed to be the case again Wednesday.
* In the secondary, another position battle we’ll continue to keep an eye on is at strong safety, where Jevonte Pitts again lined up as the starter Wednesday morning, but will likely be pushed throughout camp by Pat Amara and, one would have to assume, Whitehead.
* Speaking of Whitehead, he looked just as impressive -- if not more -- with pads on as he did Monday and Tuesday without pads. I his college-ready physique will again stand out, especially among the other freshmen, once the full pads go on Friday.
* Also on the depth chart front, in the ongoing and likely endless battle at receiver, Elijah Zeise and Zach Challingsworth lined up at the two spots with the second-team offense. Chris James was the running back with Nate Peterman under center.
* The coaches had each unit (first team, second team, freshmen) run a few 11-on-11 plays early in the morning just to get acclimated to having some pads on, but no real standout moments from what I could tell. The freshmen unit tried a pass to Tre Tipton, but he couldn’t quite haul in a tough catch near the sideline. They also handed off to running back Darrin Hall and ran a jet sweep to receiver Gentry Ivery.
* One of the early portions of practice focuses on special teams and specifically return drills, and here were the guys taking most of the returns Wednesday: Tyler Boyd, Whitehead, Quadree Henderson and Tipton. Avonte Maddox and Ivery were also involved in some capacity at various points, but I didn’t see Rafael Araujo-Lopes get much return action, as he had the first couple days.
* One other note that I would deem return-related came during the same drill in which Narduzzi gave Blewitt some defensive wisdom. Maddox, a cornerback by trade but also a contributor on the kick return team last season, showed off some nice cutback moves trying to get past his defender along the sideline, so Narduzzi joked that he might have to get the ball into Maddox’s hands on offense, maybe run some jet sweeps for the 5-9 cover corner.
* Visiting camp again was new athletic director Scott Barnes, who warmly greeted the media and watched practice -- with 100-plus players on the field, he made sure he had a roster in hand.
* Also in attendance was Class of 2017 Steel Valley running back DeWayne Murray, who spent some time watching James Conner and the other running backs take handoffs.
We've got video up on the site from Narduzzi (https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1791604) and Whitehead (https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1791621) with a couple others on the way.
I also hope to have an article on Galambos' development in conjunction with the rest of the linebacking corps as they and the rest of the defense work on learning the new system.
Now granted, they weren’t in full pads -- that will come Friday, followed by a scrimmage Saturday (closed to the media but likely open to some important donors, Pitt supporters, etc.) for a couple of the other annual training camp checkpoints -- but it was still time to get out, get some hitting in and do something considerably more reminiscent of “real” football.
“It becomes more of a football game, it becomes faster,” coach Pat Narduzzi said before practice.
This first pads, or “shells,” practice likely holds a little more weight for the freshmen, who have yet to get a taste of just how big of a jump it is from high school to college football.
Narduzzi was confident that his players would be ready to do some hitting -- whether it be freshmen, seniors or somewhere in between.
“I think it’s just a little bit more thinking because we’re not used to it yet, but it’s all going to come together,” highly touted freshman Jordan Whitehead said of putting some pads on rather than just shorts and T-shirts. “Just taking it day by day. Every day we have meetings, after this we’ll have meetings, so just keep getting smarter on the field and keep getting smarter off the field.”
While Whitehead and his fellow newcomers can’t compare the intensity of training camp’s early practices to those of last year, junior linebacker Matt Galambos certainly can, and to him it’s almost a whole different atmosphere.
“The entire coaching staff, the amount of energy they have each and every day, whether it’s in a meeting or whether it’s the strength and conditioning guys when we’re lifting or whether it’s practice, every single guy has a ton of energy and it really trickles down to us,” Galambos said after practice. “It feels like every time we’re practicing now it’s just a lot more energetic and more enthusiastic.”
From Narduzzi making sure Galambos was doing his part in a mere defensive walk-through, to helping one of the smallest players on the team learn how to stop a ball-carrier, the energy from the staff was easy to see in the practice’s early viewing window for media.
At one point, when the players were rotating from drill to drill, a group of mostly special teamers came to a drill in which a ball-carrier and defender go one-on-one near the sideline. The guy with the ball is trying to get past the defender, whose goal is to drive the ball out of bounds. Defensive line coach Tom Sims sort of chuckled when he saw guys like kicker Chris Blewitt and punter Ryan Winslow entering the drill, but Narduzzi was there and found a way to make it productive by teaching Blewitt the best way to force a potential return man out of bounds (though in this case the player with the ball was the 6-5 Winslow).
That could certainly come in handy for the 5-foot-9 Blewitt some day down the road, and perhaps trying to help make a tackle will turn out better for him than it did recently for another Pittsburgh kicker.
Other observations:
* Not a whole lot worth dwelling on depth chart-wise, but perhaps the biggest -- literally -- story line on that front was on the defensive line. Returning starter at defensive tackle Darryl Render has been under the weather lately, so with him on the sideline, the two first-team tackles were 300-plus-pounders K.K. Mosley-Smith and Tyrique Jarrett. Chris on Tuesday mentioned the possibility of those two working together and that the coaching staff seems to like it, so that seemed to be the case again Wednesday.
* In the secondary, another position battle we’ll continue to keep an eye on is at strong safety, where Jevonte Pitts again lined up as the starter Wednesday morning, but will likely be pushed throughout camp by Pat Amara and, one would have to assume, Whitehead.
* Speaking of Whitehead, he looked just as impressive -- if not more -- with pads on as he did Monday and Tuesday without pads. I his college-ready physique will again stand out, especially among the other freshmen, once the full pads go on Friday.
* Also on the depth chart front, in the ongoing and likely endless battle at receiver, Elijah Zeise and Zach Challingsworth lined up at the two spots with the second-team offense. Chris James was the running back with Nate Peterman under center.
* The coaches had each unit (first team, second team, freshmen) run a few 11-on-11 plays early in the morning just to get acclimated to having some pads on, but no real standout moments from what I could tell. The freshmen unit tried a pass to Tre Tipton, but he couldn’t quite haul in a tough catch near the sideline. They also handed off to running back Darrin Hall and ran a jet sweep to receiver Gentry Ivery.
* One of the early portions of practice focuses on special teams and specifically return drills, and here were the guys taking most of the returns Wednesday: Tyler Boyd, Whitehead, Quadree Henderson and Tipton. Avonte Maddox and Ivery were also involved in some capacity at various points, but I didn’t see Rafael Araujo-Lopes get much return action, as he had the first couple days.
* One other note that I would deem return-related came during the same drill in which Narduzzi gave Blewitt some defensive wisdom. Maddox, a cornerback by trade but also a contributor on the kick return team last season, showed off some nice cutback moves trying to get past his defender along the sideline, so Narduzzi joked that he might have to get the ball into Maddox’s hands on offense, maybe run some jet sweeps for the 5-9 cover corner.
* Visiting camp again was new athletic director Scott Barnes, who warmly greeted the media and watched practice -- with 100-plus players on the field, he made sure he had a roster in hand.
* Also in attendance was Class of 2017 Steel Valley running back DeWayne Murray, who spent some time watching James Conner and the other running backs take handoffs.
We've got video up on the site from Narduzzi (https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1791604) and Whitehead (https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1791621) with a couple others on the way.
I also hope to have an article on Galambos' development in conjunction with the rest of the linebacking corps as they and the rest of the defense work on learning the new system.
