Speculative, but still a little worrisome.
For the third day in a row, tailback Rashad Jennings did not dress for practice. He is being “rested” — which is coachspeak for Jennings is nursing some undisclosed injury. Jennings, who walked off the practice field with no outward signs of injury, was not permitted to speak with reporters.
Could just be some tender ribs. At least it doesn’t appear to be an injury in the legs. Or it could actually be nothing. It just means one more thing to watch at practice today — if someone could. Practice this afternoon is a closed session.
Coach Wannstedt said he won’t name the starting tailback, though, until after Monday or Tuesday because he wants to see how Jennings looks back in practice.
Two different types of puff pieces today — game and personal.
H.B. Blades gets the game puff piece. A piece that talks about his play, how good a player and leader on the field he is and such. For Blades, it also means talking about his move from strongside (SAM) linebacker to middle linebacker. Something he is actually quite happy about despite national recognition following an outstanding season last year.
Blades said his football intelligence comes naturally, but he has had to work at developing a good football sense because he knows he isn’t as blessed athletically as many players.
“Some guys, [understanding the game] comes natural and with me it comes natural as well because of my genes,” he said. “At the same time, I used to go to football meetings all the time with my dad and my uncles and I got to see things at a college and professional level. That helps me now because I learned how to read things. It is not only the ones who go out and run fast or make hard hits who make the plays.
“If you go out and make three hard hits and that’s it, what have you done? You have to play smart, you have to be consistent and be smart. If you are smart, it makes you that much faster, and even if your opponent is faster than you, you can still beat him because you are going to get to where he is going before he does.”
Blades said he was happy for the opportunity to play as a freshman and sophomore, but he always believed he was better suited play middle linebacker than outside linebacker.
“I am a very physical player. Everybody knows that and I love to get after it,” he said. “This year it is going to be more downhill for me and I’ll be able to play a lot more fast and being physical, and that will be good for me because this is what I am better suited for.”
Blades was also one of the very first players to openly support Coach Wannstedt’s hire — because of his uncle and father’s experiences from Miami. The article also points out that swapping Session and Blades to SAM and middle respectively will allow Session to go for the big hit and use his speed — which he prefers — while Blades, who is more technically sound, can focus on stuffing the run and tackling.
The personal puff piece is for John Pelusi, his sister Jamie and of course their father. Both are at Pitt. Jamie is a scholarship, star goalkeeper — yes, soccer. John Pelusi was the starting Center on the ’76 Pitt team and also is on Pitt’s Board of Trustees. Last year, Pelusi being slow to commit to Pitt was an indication of Coach Walt Harris’ lame duck status. Now he and his sister are carrying on the grand Pelusi name at Pitt.
In some other player news, Joe Flacco is still not in any college. He hasn’t appeared at Delaware.
The AP preview story on Pitt I noted in passing earlier in the week, keeps getting picked up in larger online outlets.
Finally, a sportswriter decides to list the top starting college QBs in the country from 1 to 119. It is based on his guess of “how each of these guys will produce in his offense” not talent. He also lists the back-up for some reason.
7. Pittsburgh = Tyler Palko, Bill Stull = Palko flourished last season, but will Dave Wannstedt curtail him?
If he’s ranked at #7, I’m guessing the guy doesn’t think the coaching staff will curtail him.
