Both beat writers have similar stories, post-Blue and Gold Game, about some of the positions on Pitt’s depth chart. Gorman at the Trib, looks at the positives on the defense with Scott McKillop and Aaron Berry coming in to replace H.B. Blades and Darrelle Revis.
“I hope that answers a lot of questions that anybody had with Aaron and me replacing Darrelle and H.B.,” McKillop said. “So, for me and Aaron stepping up this spring, I think that showed everyone that we could play, too.”
Um, not to be too hard on the kid, but all the two have proven is that they are at the top of the Pitt depth chart at their positions. Not exactly unexpected. Most of the story is on Aaron Berry and his competitive attitude.
“I feel I can cover anybody in the country,” Berry said. “That’s the attitude you have to have as a DB. As long as you don’t get beat deep, you should be fine.”
Although Berry is generously listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, he hasn’t shied away from contact in run support, either. That is occasionally worrisome for secondary coach Chris Ball, who wants to see Berry concentrate on his strengths and not try to emulate the 200-pound Revis.
“With Revis leaving and that spot open, he was the best candidate ability-wise,” Ball said. “He’s got great quickness and athletic ability. He’s not a real big kid, so we’ve talked about how his game has to be a little different than Revis’ because Revis had good size. He’s got to get stronger and learn to play big. He’s got to learn to cover people more with his speed than his body.”
It’s a certainty that he will see a lot more balls thrown his way than Revis did. I don’t think Pitt fans are going to have any problem with his attitude or desire.
The Zeise article for the P-G looks more at the areas that are still wide-open. QB, the other linebacker spots and center are all unknowns.
The center position also is wide open and could require some juggling of positions.
Senior Chris Vangas and sophomore John Bachman were expected to battle for the spot, but Vangas hasn’t advanced as fast as the coaches would like and Bachman has been slow to recover from various injuries. Wannstedt hinted Saturday that senior tackle Mike McGlynn might be moved to help that position.
Yeah, that doesn’t make anyone nervous at all.
Even before the Spring Game, OC Matt Cavanaugh said that the QB spot would be unsettled and that both Smith and Stull had plenty of work to do.
“We need one of them to step up and have a great summer camp,” Cavanaugh said. “The goal is for one of them to make it an easy decision. Kevan is really getting his first look at some things because this is really just his first spring, but if he keeps progressing like he is progressing, there will definitely be some competition.
“The bottom line is one of them in the course of the next few months is going to have to really separate himself and show he can consistently make the right throws and right reads before we’re ready to make a decision.”
Barring a bad injury, it will be about 4+ months before we know.
