For those of you in Pittsburgh, don’t forget that tomorrow is Fan Fest at Heinz Field. If anyone is attending, drop me an e-mail afterwards, and I’ll post a report. You know, just on the atmosphere, attendance, how the dance and cheer teams look, what if anything you notice on the field.
From Coach Wannstedt’s comments following afternoon practice.
On being surprised at how quickly camp moved and the fast approaching opener:
I am (surprised), and I did adjust it yesterday a little bit with the scrimmage. I don’t even know what day it is. All coaches are that way; when you get into training camp you lose track of the day, the time, all you know is you’ve got one practice or two. You go through the routine and try to survive from one day to the next with rest and everything. Yesterday I got on the Pitt website and right there is a big clock that counts down the time left until kickoff. A guy can get hurt walking down the steps and we know that, but we’ve got a handful of guys that have taken some hits. We’ve taken over 1,400 snaps since we started training camp. In the four weeks of NFL training camp, you have something like 850 snaps and we have almost 1,400. So we’ve had a lot of plays and I just felt like we should work some of the younger guys and try to do a little bit more controlled stuff. So to answer your question, I am aware of how close it is, and evidence of that showed up in the scrimmage.
Coach Wannstedt stayed vague about how the depth chart is shaping. Not a shock. Still some questions and you don’t want to make it that easy for ND.
According to Coach Wannstedt there were no injuries today, the starters got a bit of a rest, the next several practices will be used to work the 1st team against 1st team. Plus just working on the fundamentals.
A short AP wire story already out on the practice.
That’s why the Panthers rested several starters during Tuesday’s scrimmage and Wednesday’s practice session and gave the backups a chance to shine. Freshmen quarterbacks Bill Stull and Shane Murray got a lot of work. Tailbacks Brandon Mason and LaRod Stephens-Howling carried the load in the running game, and sophomore Derek Kinder stepped up at wideout.
Defensively, second-team cornerbacks Kennard Cox and Reggie Carter played extensively, while linebackers and linemen rotated continually in an attempt to put together a more experienced depth chart.
“We’re just going to continue to shuffle those defensive linemen, though, and I think it’s going to be a situation in which we have to rely on all of them,” Wannstedt said.
“There are guys that stepped up and did a nice job in the scrimmage,” he said. “With most of these young kids, the biggest thing we’re seeing is inconsistency.”
Hence the need to work on the fundamentals.
