Chase Adams has a good interview with Big East Basketball Report.

Pittsburgh, according to Chase were chosen over “Marquette, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas State and Miami of Ohio” (Pitt and Texas State offered scholarships), for a variety of reasons.

“Close to home,” said Adams of the attractiveness of Pitt. “It’s a great program. The coach (Jamie Dixon), he’s had a lot of success. They have a lot of returning players, but need a little bit more experience at point guard.”

His coaches from his summer team and old high school coach helped steer him towards Pitt. Good to read the implications of Pitt being a good place for kids from the Baltimore area. He comes to Pitt this week for year.

He and Dante Tayler just finished up in the DC Kenner League. Taylor had a slightly harder time.

Coming into the Big East, Taylor is known as a banger capable of finishing and filling lanes, while also rebounding and scoring in the half court via jump hooks and put backs. His Kenner League performance did nothing to dispute that scouting report, as Taylor, a McDonald All-American did all the above.

The difference when playing against older, stronger players is that Dante didn’t excel constantly; there were times when he faded in and out. He also couldn’t bull his way to the cup as easily as he did on the prep level at National Christian (Oxon Hill, MD). Expect him to develop a go-to and counter moves, plus more strength at Pitt, enabling him to impact conference play.

At least he already has an idea that it won’t be as easy as high school.

I couldn’t help but take note that Eloy Vargas would be academically ineligible at Florida this coming year. He was injured for much of his first year and then did little last year. Now, he apparently is bailing on Florida.

Sources indicate that former Florida forward Eloy Vargas has received his release and is on campus at Kentucky.

The 6-foot-10 native of the Dominican Republic battled an injury last season and barely played.

Sources indicated that Donovan was not happy with Vargas’ work ethic and also that Vargas’ academics are suspect.

I guess Orlando Antigua still likes him.

Just a reminder of luck and the vagaries of recruiting. Even for the big talent. Sometimes you get lucky for the ones who turn you down at the end.

A 4-star, best player in Florida, top-26 national player with a very high ceiling. Pitt seemingly had him until  a late swoop-in by Florida coming off of back-to-back national championships.

Vargas was a big miss for Pitt, Dixon and Antigua. Another big  player that Pitt and Dixon couldn’t close the deal on landing.

Now he will hope to salvage some of his college time. I’d be surprised if he actually ends up at Kentucky. He doesn’t seem to fit them at this point (and I don’t even know if they have a scholarship to offer).

As for observations from the scrimmage, well that is where the beat writers’ blogs come into play. The posts are chock-full of good bits, and I’m not going to provide annotations of them. Everyone takes different things from them, and later we really find out what was foreshadowed.

The obvious thing that jumps out is that the scrimmage featured bad QB play all-around and Coach Wannstedt decided to just skip it.

The one thing you have to understand about a controlled scrimmage is that the play-calling can and will be manipulated by the coaching staff, which makes training camp scrimmages no different than the dog-and-pony show in the spring called the Blue-Gold Game.

So, for those hoping that the second scrimmage would create separation in the quarterback competition and force Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt to play backup Tino Sunseri ahead of starter Bill Stull, think again.

Wannstedt, after all, is the one calling the shots.

When it became evident that Pitt’s passing game wasn’t going well — Stull was 2 of 7 for 3 yards, Sunseri 4 of 10 for 36 — Wannstedt made it a day to focus on the running game. Smart move. Instead of Pitt fans walking away wondering why star receiver Jonathan Baldwin hasn’t caught a pass in two scrimmages, they marveled at the elusive open-field running of freshman tailback Ray Graham.

“Of the quarterbacks, I don’t think anybody really did anything bad,” Wannstedt said. “I don’t think anybody did anything to make you jump up and down, partially because of the limited number of passes we threw today and the emphasis being on the running game.”

Bostick was 3 of 4, but was working with 2nd and 3d teams. It seems he might be headed for a redshirt year at long last.

Bostick has worked exclusively with the second- and third-team offense this week, and it appears that he’s headed for a redshirt year. Neither Wannstedt nor offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. has mentioned as much, always counting Bostick when talking about quarterbacks, but Bostick addressed the idea when asked about it Saturday.

“I’m open to it,” Bostick said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking. I can’t read minds. I’m not too concerned about it. I’m just concerned with getting better every day. Those decisions are out of my control. I go out there every day, try to improve. Whatever decisions are made, those are the decisions that are made. If the redshirt’s in the back of their mind, OK. If not, OK, let’s move forward. I just try to take it all in stride.”

No, not too much to figure whether to try and read between the lines or simply take at face value.

Zeise looks at seven items from the scrimmage. He really seems high on Graham because of his ability to make the big play running the ball, Aaron Berry has looked really good and the depth is really far better than it ever has in years (something Gorman also noted). Then there was this bit.

The right tackle position is the only shaky position on the offensive line and mostly because the starter is a sophomore (Lucas Nix) who needed a lot of work but spent the past four or five days watching with a leg infection. And even before he got hurt he was swimming a little bit, though trying to block Jabaal Sheard would make a lot of guys look shaky. There is no question, however, that Nix needs to get back and work his tail off over the next two weeks in order to get ready to play. If he does come on, the line will be pretty good as the other four guys, and in particular Jason Pinkston and John Malecki, are playing really well. And that is regardless of who emerges at left guard because both Chris Jacobson and Joe Thomas have played solid throughout camp.

Nix is starting to make his way back on the field, but the infection is scary. No one has uttered that dread word of locker room/athletic infections to this point (rhymes with laugh), but you can bet it is being monitored and watched closely. Just get Nix healthy and healed first, then worry about getting him back up to speed.

After a day spent shuttling around home improvement and paint stores arguing discussing color gradients over which I don’t really care and color choices for a Corian countertop, I’m glad to get back to blogging practice reports. I realize there might be a potential liability issue with the power tools and lawn tractors, but the profit margins would be huge for Home Depot or Lowe’s if they stuck a small bar right next to the paint or kitchen design centers.

The day after the Saturday scrimmage was very light, non-contact. So not much there other than Tony Tucker’s continued excused absence for “personal reasons.”

The status of redshirt sophomore defensive end is still unresolved, as he was excused for the sixth day of training camp to deal with “personal issues.” It’s not a disciplinary matter, and Wannstedt wasn’t sure whether Tucker will rejoin the team but said Tucker is welcome back.

“I don’t know if it’s going to work out or not. There’s been some personal issues going on with him,” Wannstedt said. “We’re trying to help Tony in any way that we can.”

The clock, however, is ticking.

“Obviously,” Wannstedt said, “it needs to be resolved here pretty quick.”

Well, the scrimmage seemed to resolve nothing in terms of the depth chart. Left guard is still a position that is “officially” still up in the air.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said that the competition between Thomas and Jacobson will continue at least through this week because the two are so close.

“Physically they are really very, very close,” Wannstedt said. “Chris is still making some inexperience mistakes that Joe has not made. So in my mind it is a little bit like [safeties] Andrew Taglianetti and Elijah Fields, they are both starters, they are both capable, but if we were playing tonight, Joe Thomas would probably be the starter.

“But we have two weeks before we play so we will see, but Joe had a good scrimmage and it really right now is just experience versus inexperience.”

It’s Joe Thomas at this point. Experience matters more to Wannstedt. We all know that.

As for safety, Elijah Fields is apparently freelancing a bit too much for the coaching staff. That’s the only explanation for Andrew Taglianetti apparently getting the nod at the moment. Tags does not have the physical gifts or size of Fields, but he is more disciplined and much like Scott McKillop, just makes plays. Fields on the field gives Pitt better size in the secondary and speed, but if the coaches don’t trust that he will play smart enough and stick to his assignments he won’t get the starting nod.

Robb Houser seems to have re-established himself to be the starting center. Like last year, it’s the lack of anyone behind him that makes it an unnerving thing.

Q: How much depth is there at the center position? How big of a deal is it if Robb Houser goes down?

ZEISE: I’d say considering the back-up is a walk-on, Alex Karabin, there isn’t much. Not that Karabin isn’t a good player or capable, just that it speaks volumes that none of the scholarship guys they have can beat him out. Karabin is athletically pretty good, but he is a tad undersized and I think if Houser went down the coaches would consider moving John Malecki over to center and putting Joe Thomas into Malecki’s spot.

Which, in light of the way C.J. Davis played there when he had to move over there after Houser went down seems to be less of a concern. The problem is what that does to overall depth. The O-line still remains a very thin unit and losing depth by moving Malecki would mean if any other lineman went down, the drop-off would be that much more dramatic.

Especially since Lucas Nix has been out for a bit with a leg infection.

“I think that Greg Gaskins made a lot of progress last week. He closed the gap a little bit on Lucas Nix. It’s not Lucas’ fault, he’s hurt, but he has to get back with it.”

The kicking game actually seems to be okay. Dan Hutchins has been named the starting punter (no surprise), and is still battling Kevin Harper for placekicking duties. Some concern over Harper’s accuracy, but not his leg.

“There’s no question that Harper’s got the strongest leg. If we were attempting any 50-plus field goals, he gives you the best chance to make it because his leg is so strong,” Wannstedt said. “But, as we all know, field goal kickers make their money kicking between the 30s and 40s.”

I’m still picking Harper to get placekicker duties. He has been nearly as consistent as Hutchins in shorter yardage, but he is close. I just don’t see Wannstedt being very comfortable using two kickers depending on the yardage. He wants consistency in the units.

On to running backs, where Ray Graham did not fumble and had statistically the best day.

Graham, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound freshman tailback from Elizabeth, N.J., put on a show by picking up 152 all-purpose yards and scoring two touchdowns in Pitt’s second scrimmage of training camp Saturday.

“I’m real excited with what Graham did,” Wannstedt said. “Now, will he know what to do? Will he hold onto the ball and do all the other things to trust him in a football game? That is still up for evaluation, but the statement he made today is: ‘I have the ability to make guys miss.’

“He did some Shady moves out there today.”

At this point it is Dion Lewis and then Ray Graham for the two-deep at tailback.

Dan Mason appears poised to grab the middle linebacker spot — if not starting playing there a lot more than the coaches expected this season.

Another true freshman who made a strong case to crack the two-deep depth chart was middle linebacker Dan Mason, a Penn Hills High School graduate. Mason has been one of the standouts throughout camp and yesterday had a team-high six tackles, including two for a loss.

“People see if you work hard. I just want to continue to work hard and, if they want to play me [as opposed to redshirt me], then I would be OK with that,” Mason said. “I’ve been playing hard and I am getting it down mentally, so I think I should [play this season].”

Wannstedt said, “We played Dan Mason with the second unit today and he showed up. He is going to be a player, we know that.”

The beat writers both envision Mason playing middle and Adam Gunn moving outside to play with him. That makes sense to have the experienced Gunn out there with a playmaker like Mason in the best spot.

Nate Nix is happier playing at DE.

“Because of injuries we moved Nate to defensive end and he made some plays. After practice he asked me if he could stay at defensive end, and I said he could. Coach Gattuso is excited to have him.”

Given the depth all across the D-line, this is not a major move, but if it puts the players in their best spot to help and be their most productive then it is a good move.