No complaints about a solid 2-hour infomercial for Pitt football. It was fun to watch and nice to just enjoy it rather than try to analyze every little thing and go into heavy angst. It was a spring football scrimmage. The last one of spring practice. The biggest goal should have been to make sure no one got hurt.
Plenty of key players saw little or no time — McKillop, McCoy, Kinder, Mustakas, Collins, Jacobson, Davis and Pinkston — and 7 others didn’t suit up for the game. Plus there are freshmen that will be expected to be in the mix come August. As Coach Wannstedt said in the broadcast and was amply apparent, the defense was bland and didn’t really come hard against the offense too often.
Still, this was the chance for the coaches to get an idea of a rough depth chart and arguably the offense getting to have a chance will help with the confidence.
“Our offense, I thought, needed that,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who did color analysis for the NFL Network telecast. “At our practices this spring, for the most part, our defense probably had the upper hand more times than not. It was good to see our offense respond in that fashion.”
I have no doubt that if this hadn’t been the final scrimmage/practice of the spring that the defense would have been lit into for the way they played. Maybe it was just because they had to lay back up front, that it disrupted them and took their edge. It’s just that the defense I’ve been reading all spring about hardly looked it.
The thing about the spring game is that it does give players a chance to really get noticed. Buddy Jackson, Mo Williams, Shariff Harris and Dorin Dickerson definitely took advantage from what was seen in the Blue-Gold game.
I’m guessing Harris suddenly seems the most intriguing. The redshirt freshman running back made his case to be the #3 RB. Heck, there are plenty of fans probably ready to pencil him in at #2. Kevin Gorman at the Trib can feel good for having a piece on Harris the day before the scrimmage.
“I can see improvement from when he started Day One until where we are, Day 13,” running backs coach David Walker said. “His thing is, he’s a big, physical runner. He got his shoulders turned downhill at times and made it tough for people to hang onto him.”
Despite a strong training camp, when his running style raised eyebrows, Harris was the odd-man out last season and took a redshirt. Turns out, it was the best thing for him. Not only did Harris develop his 6-foot-1 frame from 190 pounds to 225, he matured as a student and an athlete.
“I wasn’t ready last year,” said Harris, who was asked to elaborate. “Reading the defenses and the offense and knowing my plays. I wasn’t ready to play college football.”
He looked ready yesterday.
Dickerson looks very comfortable at the TE spot. Maurice Williams was able to use his size and speed well against the corners.
As for the QB spot, it is still Stull’s. Greg Cross brings a lot of excitement but right now he is a situational, Tim Tebow-in-his-freshman-year change of pace, special package QB. That’s good and will help Pitt’s offense a lot. He’s not, however, going to be the starter on August 30.
Bostick and Smith both looked good. Of course, with the limited pressure they had time. Something neither had last year (in every sense of the word).
Gene Collier joined with those intrigued by Cross.
“I’ve never been in a stadium this big; I loved it, loved the crowd, loved the atmosphere, and I can’t wait to play here in the fall,” said Cross, whose 29-yard scramble up the middle and 37-yard strike to Maurice Williams in the second half were the longest plays of the night.
“All of the quarterbacks are pulling for each other, and we’re all trying to move the team down the field. We’re all about winning.”
There was little doubt what Cross was about when he got to Fort Scott Community College in Kansas two years ago, because suddenly a program that had lost 24 consecutive games started winning more often than not. When he was done, Cross had led Fort Scott to 16 victories in two seasons and into the Valley of the Sun Bowl, where he threw for two touchdowns and ran 85 yards for another.
“When I first got there and the coaches saw how athletic I was — I mean I’d played all kinds of sports my whole life — they told me I was trying to be so perfect as a quarterback that it wasn’t working,” Cross said. “They told me just to be myself. Just to have fun.”
Pitt’s offensive coaches should have plenty of fun when they sit down and talk about this because Cross is so fast that he could serve as an occasional fuel injector for Matt Cavanaugh’s standard offense. With steady development in August added to his qualifications, he could be something much more.
Then there are the awards to the players at the end of spring practice.
Wannstedt announced the winners of the Ed Conway Award, annually presented to the most improved players of the spring. This year’s recipients were junior tight end Dorin Dickerson, junior receiver Cedric McGee (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Plantation) and junior defensive tackle Mick Williams.
Pitt also presented its freshman Academic Award, which was shared this year by defensive lineman Myles Caragein (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) and offensive lineman Chris Jacobson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks), both graduates of Pittsburgh’s Keystone Oaks High.
