First off – our coaching staff has no idea what they are playing with by naming the defense “The NITRO”.  Nitroglycerin is very unstable and tends to blow itself up.  Everything else that gets destroyed is just collateral damage.  Not exactly what you want from a defense whose name should make the opposition think it’s rock solid and impenetrable.   Unless they meant “NITRO” in its other usage, which is a blood vessel dilator for heart angina victims, in that case they should have just called it “The VIAGRA” which does basically the same thing and would be way cooler.

Jerry DiPaola of the Trib-Review has a nice article on the PITT defense… Not a lot of surprises but reaffirms that Aaron Donald is in the starting DL at this point.  He also touched on the culture change from 2010 to now.  These quotes stand out;

Caragein said the players, many of whom were angry when Wannstedt was forced out, have embraced the new coaching staff.  “If we are going to keep harping on the coaching change and be mad,” he said, “we are never going to grow as a team, and we never are going to take the next step to be better.  “Coming together is a great start, and we are going in the right direction.”

This is exactly what we PITT fans need to hear at this point.  But more importantly,  players like Caragein and other multiple year starting seniors have to be pounding that into the heads of every kid on the roster.  It was the worst kept secret in the football program that there was a real lack of leadership in the clubhouse by the senior class last year and that has to change for 2011.

But the best quote maybe this one just because of the visual imagery you can concoct. He’s talking about the beefy defensive players Chas Alecxih and Myles Caragein and says “We like it when big guys are leaders,” Randolph said, “because then the little guys follow.”  Kind of like a couple of Trans-Atlantic ocean liners leaving port and some row boats being pulled in their wake.  I can imagine 5’10” DBs like Antwuan Reed, K’waun Williams and Dan Carafo reading that and cracking up.  Joking aside, the senior leadership was non-existent in the clubhouse last year and it showed.  Just the fact that the staff acknowledges how important it is publicly is a start in the right direction.  Turning around poor attitudes is hard enough, instituting change management while attempting to do so is a very tough task.

Assistant DC Coach Paul Randolph has a great quote also.  It is rather strange and a bit unnerving but we can figure out what he means when talking about DL players Mosely-Smith and Tyrone Ezell”  “They are young,” Randolph said. “That’s the next thing I like about them.  “We are going to continue to get them better fundamentally as they get older and grow hair on their face.”

Todd Thomas has been moved to DB/Safety.  There was talk about him continuing at WR and even playing some RB this spring but he’ll be on the D.  Personally I think he’d be awesome on offense but I’m not watching him play in practice.  He’ll be a guy to keep an eye on though.  He’s a year older than his peer recruiting class and played some very good football at Milford Academy against good competition… at Safety.  So, this move does make sense and don’t be surprised if he rises up the depth chart throughout the training camps.

Some sort-of new names are being bandied about for increased practice snaps on the D; K’Waun Williams, Bryan Murphy Kevin Adams and Buddy Jackson just to name a few guys who Graham has specifically mentioned.

Talking about Buddy Jackson is Graham’s way of playing the Court Jester.  In reading back articles about the last few years of PITT football Graham realized that the PITT fans actually enjoy thinking Jackson is going to ‘turn the corner this year’ so the HC decided to give us another year of floating his name out there publicly.

Look, all the above is really premature as the staff is experimenting and moving people around to see who is the best fit where plus we have some D guys sitting out practices due to injuries… take it all with a grain of salt.  We’ll have more concrete ideas about what to expect on the defense after the team has more practices under their belt.

Odds and Ends

Super Recruit Rushel Shell has turned his back on Ohio State which means absolutely nothing for PITT at this point, although we are in his “Fab Five” apparently.  Here is something for PITT fans to rejoice in though; Penn State has been dropped off his list also. Look for a decision from Shell sometime during his senior year, presumably once he sees how a RB operates in Graham’s offense.  Keeping this type of national top-shelf talent at home was a burr under Wannstedt’s saddle over his six year.  He had his share of five star successes but some huge names eluded him, Terrelle Pryor especially. Should Graham be able to land one in his first full recruiting season would be a real notch on his belt.  Regardless, if PITT can’t get these kids a lot of PITT fans don’t want Penn State to get them either.

Next practice: Saturday, March 19^th with pads.