The last practice was yesterday. Tonight is FanFest at Heinz Field. Unlike previous years there won’t be any practice to watch. All the other bells and whistles — autographs, music, cheerleaders, live media interviews, kids’ stuff — barely a half-speed practice.
“Tomorrow we have FanFest so we’ll get down to the stadium in the afternoon and give the guys a chance to get in the locker room and do the pre-game warm up and do limited work on the field. We’ll still throw the ball around a little bit and give them a taste of what it’ll be like come game time. So, I think we’re right on schedule at this point. I’m glad we’re not playing Saturday; we’re not by any means ready to play a football game. We have to clean some things up in all phases and we have to get a little better in all phases. We have time, and we will. But, I think we’re right where we need to be at this point.”
I’ll be curious to find out what kind of turnout will take place, especially with the weather being overcast and possible rain all day.
Coach Wannstedt also addressed the return game. Something Pitt struggled with last year.
On Aaron Smith and Cameron Saddler concerning punt return drills:
“I thought we started off the season doing a poor job with our return game in general. We ended up first in the Big East in punt returns, but we started off not very good and so we did spend more time with that and we tried to create more situations where they would have to make decisions and handle the ball under pressure, and they’re both doing a good job. Right now we probably have four or five guys that can do it, Aaron Smith and Cam Saddler would be the top two.”Concerning kickoffs:
“We got Cam back on kicks, we’re working Aundre Wright, and we’re working Dion Lewis. We have Antwuan Reed back there. We haven’t finalized anything yet.”
Losing Saddler in training camp last year was a big hit to what was expected in the return game. As long as his ACL is healed and he trusts it, I am expecting him to have a significant impact in the return game.
In case you somehow missed it, Bill Stull is the starting QB.
Stull has earned the right to start the opener against Youngstown State, but it is clear that coach Dave Wannstedt will not have a problem going with either of his reserves should Stull struggle early.
“I’ve never been around a training camp where we rotated two and three guys with the first group like we did,” Wannstedt said yesterday on the final day of camp. “Tino had as many snaps with the first group as Billy. Pat Bostick got a share of them. They’ve all improved.
“Pat has gotten a lot better. Tino has shown us the type of player he will be. And has Billy made big strides? I would probably say no. But has Billy performed to the level where you can say he is the starter? I would say yes.
“I’m just trying to be about as honest about it as I can. He has 13 starts under his belt, so he’s our starting quarterback. I feel good about the other guys and I feel good about Billy.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from the coach a week and a half before the season starts.
No. It isn’t. It also doesn’t suggest a coach ready to pull the plug on Stull if he flounders. Barring an injury, Stull is going to be the starter all season unless he absolutely fails. Slightly below average and he still starts.
Rod Rutherford sees parallels.
But Stull knows Rutherford rebounded from a slow start as a junior to throw for nearly 2,800 yards along with 22 touchdowns, silencing any calls for Palko, the U.S. Army All-America from West Allegheny.
“It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one,” Stull said. “It’s nice to know that positive things are possible.”
The cries for Palko were loud and persistent after Rutherford was intercepted three times in a win over Ohio in his first career start, followed by a 14-12 Week 2 loss to Texas A&M in which he fumbled in the final minute.
Rutherford persevered and led Pitt to a bowl win in 2002 over — ironically – Oregon State, the same school that is a big reason Stull is on the hot seat to begin with.
Yeah. About that. Palko was a major get, beyond being local. He was one of the top QB recruits nationally. There was some impatience to immediately get him out there, but it was a little more mixed after only a couple games. In the Stull-Sunseri situation, it is about an overall sense that Stull has already shown what he has and is over a full season. And, um, that has been lacking.
I hope Lucas Nix is getting all the bad stuff out of the way before the season. He missed more than a week with a leg infection and then left the final practice early.
Right tackle Lucas Nix collided with a teammate during 11-on-11 drills and left practice with a “burner,” Wannstedt said. Redshirt sophomore Dan Matha filled in for Nix with the first-team offense. Tight end Nate Byham (concussion) and defensive tackle Mick Williams missed both practices, and nose guard Gus Mustakas was held out of the afternoon session.
I really, really hope they are just being extra cautious with Byham. It’s gone from him sitting out with “headaches” to calling it a concussion.
Ray Graham is going to be on the two-deep depth chart. My prediction, is that it will list him OR Chris Burns as the number 2 back behind Dion Lewis. He really came on in the final week of camp.
Graham was asked what has changed in the past week and he said he has relaxed and started playing football the same way he did in high school.
“When I was in high school I didn’t have to read a big playbook,” Graham said. “I just practiced. Now you have to know your assignments because every play counts. I have to know where to be.
“The athleticism is always going to be there. It’s just the mental part, knowing my assignments that I need to continue to work on.”
Getting the ball spread around to the potential playmakers in a meaningful way will be the thing.
Q: Do you think we’ll see more of the traditional screens to the running backs this season, especially since Ray Graham seems like he can be a real playmaker when he touches the ball?
ZEISE: Yes, Frank Cignetti has said he really likes the screen pass because it takes advantage of one-on-one matchups in the open field and because it is another way to get the ball to one of your playmakers. And I think both of the young tailbacks as well as Chris Burns have shown an ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and do some things with it. Cignetti seems to want to make this a big part of the offense so it will be interesting to see how that develops.
Just as long as it isn’t a bubble screen. That play tends to take a year off of the lives of the guys at Cat Basket each time it is run.
Only a few of the freshman will see action this year. Dion Lewis, Ray Graham and Dan Mason seem like the only locks at this point. I really don’t think Jason Douglas will get out there, despite Coach Wannstedt saying he’s on the bubble.
Kevin Gorman liked most of what he saw from Pitt in training camp.
Wannstedt said Pitt went into camp with objectives of being well-conditioned, handling physical practices and working on its execution.
Check. Check. Incomplete.
The Panthers appear to be in great shape. There are very few fat bodies on this team, as opposed to the one Wannstedt inherited in 2005 or even the group strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris inherited in ’07. And those filled with flab won’t see much playing time, if any. And Wannstedt called this his most physical training camp since taking over at Pitt, so physical that several starters were given time off the last few days.
“We’ve been beating up on ourselves for four weeks now,” Wannstedt said. “You can tell that the guys are looking for something new. It’s time to turn our focus on another opponent.”
As for the execution … the Panthers aren’t there yet.
“I think we’re right on schedule at this point,” Wannstedt said. “I’m glad we’re not playing on Saturday. We’re not by any means ready to play a football game. We’ve got to clean some things up in all phases, we’ve got to get better in all phases. We have time and we will.”
The place kicking battle remains undecided. I don’t think we will know until Pitt releases the depth chart for the YSU game. Or it could still be split with Dan Hutchins taking the PATs and short kicks while Kevin Harper takes it from 35+.
I can’t wait for Bill Stull to throw screens. I am waiting for his patented move where he throws the ball 5 feet directly into the ground. Can’t wait.
I’m also a little worried about Byham as well. I actually wouldn’t be upset if they sat him for the YSU game just to give him the extra week to deal with these symptoms. They’re going to need him much more down the road than they will against YSU and possibly even Buffalo.
Speaking of which, not sure if anyone saw it, but Buffalo RB James Starks is out for the year after deciding to have surgery on an injured shoulder. Starks is projected to be one of the top ten backs available in next year’s NFL draft. Starks racked up 97 yards against us last year on 20 carries.
Don’t expect Buffalo to be a push-over just because Starks is out for the year. Gill says he has a herd of great running backs. And yeah, it has been noted but overlooked, see frankinshamokin 08.25.09
As long as the talent plays with passion and heart…
Under Matt Cavanaugh, a screen pass was a quick bullet to the wide receiver for a bubble screen. Passes to the running backs in the flat were meant to be caught with the running back at full speed so there would be a lot of yards running after the catch, thus making the passes very difficult to complete.
Under Cignetti, the passes to running backs I saw in the spring game were thrown with the backs STOPPED and TURNED BACK TO THE BALL. Makes for a much easier target and Stull actually completed a couple.
All this leads me to believe that Cignetti is much more adept at knowing how to handle the college kids and not forcing Stull-shaped pegs into NFL-quarterback shaped holes.
HTscriptP
First, I think KKev is right on in terms of the screens. They can be a very effective weapon if they are utilized in the correct fashion. I hope that Cignetti will more commonly utilize the traditional screen to a RB, rather than the bubble screen that Cav seemed so fond of. The key will be whether the players (including Stull) can sell the deception, and whether they can avoid overusing it as in years past.
Second point – as Snala states, the team with better talent should win if they play with passion and heart, but they also need the proper coaching. In years past, all too often the Panthers would get a double-digit lead on an inferior team, and then turtle up and essentially try to run the clock out (even if they got that lead in the first half). This is a generally accepted strategy in the NFL, but in modern college football, it usually doesn’t work. Teams have to keep scoring points to win, particularly since it is not unusual for both teams in any given game to have matchup problems. I am not advocating running up the score, but if Pitt gets up by 2 scores, I’d like to see the coaches remain aggressive, at least until late in the game.
Why not? What irritates me, however, is when a coach keeps his starters in with a big lead instead of giving more plyers opportunities to get into the game. This is college and not the pros. Regardless of who is playing, however, they should be trying to score and trying to keep the other team from scoring.
USC is going to start a true freshman at QB.
I’m not comparing the programs at Pitt and USC directly, or the quality of the QB’s for each team, but it is interesting that the #4 team in the country is willing to entrust the most important position on the field to a true freshman, while Pitt continues to insist that freshmen as a general rule are not ready to contribute. Note that this type of decision is not out of the ordinary for Pete Carroll.
Just sayin…
Dion Lewis a true freshman has been named starting tailback before this season begins and it took only couple of games before Shady as a true freshman got the nod.
So don’t be too frustrated because not starting freshmen usually indicates team depth and means that there are more capable players on the team. Zeise points out that Tyrone Ezell will almost assuredly be redshirted and that five years ago, he would have not only been put on the field and asked to contribute, he might have been the unit’s best player.
The thing that frustrates me the most are the ultra-talented players who despite the best efforts of the coaches and their teammates never come close to playing to their potential.
