The first scrimmage of the “Grand Graham” era was held today. The earth did not shake nor did fire rain down from the heavens, but the 1st team offensive players had very few turnovers (two by the 1st & 2nd string combined) so that is a good thing.
The defense won the day so it’s 3-3 coming into the backstretch. I was going to say coming into the November elections but any political references on here elicit pretty strong comments so I’ll try to refrain. It’s a Tea Party thing I’m sure.
I get the feeling that because Graham is so bland about what he’s using as a progress benchmark that all that he’ll comment on in these first few weeks is that it’s still about the basic “Three-Ts” fundamentals in this new offense; tempo, terminology and turnovers, at least so far.
There is another issue of the “Graham-O-Grams” which are his quotes, posted on the Spring Insider website. Todays are pretty honest and revealing with some interesting points that he offered, albeit somewhat depressing from the outside looking in:
“We didn’t exactly move the ball like we usually do and we had a lot of negative yardage and assignment issues during practice, but overall I thought the guys responded well. We had a good first scrimmage and I am impressed with the guy’s attitudes I think they are buying into the way we are doing things and our different teaching techniques. We are moving at turtle’s pace right now so things are still slow but we will continue to focus on increasing the tempo.”
The ‘take-away’ here is that the kids are still in the learning phase. And here is something that raises either expectations or goose bumps depending on your outlook when you read it:
“Coach Magee and I have seen where these players need to be and the end result that needs to be reached. The players are way ahead of where we expected them to be at this time. This system is hard to implement because it is so technical and difficult, which is why a lot of coaches abandon the idea of it. This system is difficult to teach and that is why it is so hard for players to execute”.
Reading this I advise against taking the points in PITT’s first two games. Just kidding! The world could look pretty rosy come August.
Where you can really see the staff’s baby step approach is in the juggling of the two-deep lineup which changes from practice to practice. What is obvious is that the position coaches are getting just about every kid they have into the two deep so they can at least get eyeballs on them in a semi-formal setting. Really, the listed two-deeps so far are just unbelievable as far as any indications of what we’ll see come September. Case in point: Jake Delmonico ran with the first string today at WR. Granted, his grandfather had the best restaurant in Manhattan for the last 150 years, but still…
There were a couple other walk-ons there that you just know are going to fade away as time goes on. I think it’s a way of letting the kids get a feel for what they will be working for over the next months. Maybe a kind of way to say thanks also.
Sunseri was with the first team and Myers with the second, sharing snaps with Gonzalez. It looks like Sunseri may hold trump here through the spring camp at least. If so, that’s OK, but I wonder if that means he’ll be a lock come summer training sessions. From all the reports coming out of camp he’s doing well, as hard as that is for me to type.
One point to note is that Graham doesn’t have an actual Offensive Coordinator. Is this an oversight or budgetary concerns? There are a couple of co-coordinators (say that three times quickly). Regardless, whoever is calling the offensive plays during the practices isn’t dialing up the deep ball very much. Only one shot was taken downfield today and it was Sunseri missing on a deep overthrow… who would have guessed? It is a bit surprising that Myers, who has been the QB2 and who has impressed with his arm throughout most of the drills, hasn’t been tasked to air it out much.
This cements the idea that Graham is still in the embryo stage when it come to the offense he wants to install. If indeed he’s going with Sunseri at this point, and that may be, he’s concentrating on practicing the things that Sunseri does well. Not a bad thing to do as the onus on this offense isn’t the deep ball but the short, quick passing game.
The offensive line is still a work in progress but it looks like our JC transfer, Zenel Demhasaj, is looking good at the center position. Not the prototypical size for a college center at 6’7” and 322 lbs but who’s counting. If he can get the ball back to the QB in the shotgun on a consistent basis he’ll win the job. Other than that it’s too early to tell who will fill in for the departed Jason Pinkston. Gaskins, Cory King and Rotheram have been swapping time on the OL and we’re sure that will play out at a later date.
The inside LB corps is still the Walking Wounded. It looks as though we’ll see Todd Thomas at either the Spur position or dropping back to a defensive back spot. Whatever. I just want to see this kid on the football field. Having Greg Williams and Dan Mason practicing would make us feel a lot better about the LBs.
Odds and Ends:
Pat Bostick wrote another installment of Inside the Huddle (his 3rd). This one does a nice job of explaining Coach Graham and Coach Patterson’s defense. It is surprisingly easy to read and not overly esoteric as some writers are when describing the intricate details of football formations and systems. Usually my eyes glaze over in about three paragraphs with these things but this is a fine read. In it he says what we all hope comes true:
Creating confusion before the snap is one thing, but once that ball is snapped, you must cash in on the opponent’s vulnerability. From the sound of it, Pitt plans on being aggressive defensively. This defense lends itself to exotic blitzes (think Dick LeBeau), and an aggressive style of play, from the defensive line on back to the secondary. I expect to see some big plays from the Pitt defense this year.
Good… so do we, but we’ll also be satisfied in a lack of big plays against the defense.
PITT’s SID was gracious enough to offer me a Media Pass for the Spring Game and an additional practice before April 16th. I’ll try to get up to PGH so that you readers can have a bit more detailed and actual facts to read and maybe some background also. It was a nice gesture on the SID’s part and I appreciate it. I asked him if he could arrange a porta-pottie on the sidelines for me as I’ll have drunk about ten beers before the Spring Game starts but I don’t think his offer goes that far.
By the way, if you like spirited discussion on PITT football Tony Greco over at The Ironhead Lounge message board has been doing a great job writing about PITT football for the last year. It a subscription site but well worth the few dollars per month to get the skinny on what is happening with the program.
I am thinking of doing the next few articles in established author’s voices. Kind of like this:
Ernest Hemingway;
There was a practice today. It was on the Southside. It was fast and bloody. There would have been dust in the air if the turf wasn’t fake. The coach yelled and screamed. No one looked at the coach. Sunseri was nervous and it showed. His guts won the day but it cost him. He played ball again. Why can’t he throw over 25 yards?
Or ee cummings;
pitt held a practice today that stunk it was sloppy and glorious at the same time but the coaches yelled and screamed Sunseri was nervous but his guts won the day but it cost him he played ball again and told the coaches he didn’t want to throw deep again and please don’t ask a second time.
What do you guys think?
Next practice: Tuesday, March 29th;
Oh well, moving on … It appears business as usual, the defense is ahead of the offense in the 1st scrimage. BTW, was there a telling phrase in today’s Trib account of the scrimmage? … ‘Sunseri the clear No. 1 QB ..’ Probably way too early to annoint anyone but nonetheless very interesting.
Chas, Graham praised the play of L Nix, Jacobsen and Gibbs … and the other two projected starters Sacco and Rotheram didn’t participate. So hopefully you can get a good nights sleep for the time being.
I do think Sunseri is becoming the clear starter and as much as I joke about him, I’m OK with that. IMO the factor that will determine his success is more on the offensive coaching staff adapting to his talents than having him adapt to what they want. Round peg, square hole type of thing.
But if Graham wants a QB in the shotgun that makes quick throws, Sunseri can do that very well I think. I’m just hoping that instead of just completing the passes he can hit the kids in stride this year. We left an awful lot of YAC on the field last year with his passes.
“When do I see a player score a goal? I can’t believe my eyes with old Sunseri.”
Or if you prefer Haiku after I get to watch a practice:
I fall down on turf
I find myself really hurt
football in my eye
Nice job with limited info. PITT fans are starving for a few witnessed details of performance so I hope that PITT becomes more liberal in their access. You can only stay clandestine for so long before folks get tired.
Please, please, please take advantage of the token press pass given to you. We need more withnessed details.
As for sunseri. Big time players adapt to situational change. I am hoping that Suneri adjust and something tells me that he will. Everyone should want the young kids to succeed. He had moments of high success last year so the potential is there.
The O line must be an area of focus for this coaching staff. I noticed that you made comment about he shot gun. I presume that a no huddle offense will run a majority of snaps from the shot gun so I agree that being a 6-7 center will have litte impact on the mechanic (i hope).
Nice coverage so far. BTW – don’t get gimmicky on us with the “authors voice”. Be yourself 🙂
The Pitt basketball season ended in a very disappointing way, as all of you know. But after watching the weekend’s games I have come to a few conclusions:
First,the last 2 losses (as disappointing as they were) were to 2 teams that are now in the Final 4.
They lost to UConn in the Big East tournament by 2 points and to Butler by 1 point in the NCAA tournament. Both of those teams have can’t miss #1 NBA draft picks on them – Walker and Mack. Pitt has no one who is even considered likely to be drafted this year – or next for that matter.
2nd, the NCAA tournament has very little to do with how you played all year long. It is about how the team is playing right now that counts, not how they played in the previous three months. The season is a process and the teams that get hot at the end win and those that don’t lose. Obviously, Butler and VCU were not among the nation’s best teams all year, but they both are right now!
3rd, in the aftermath of Pitt’s loss to Butler, all the so-called experts said that Jamie Dixon was outcoached by Brad Stevens. That may or may not be true, but after watching games this week, it seems to me that Coach K. was outcoached by Sean Miller, Miller was outcoached by Calhoun and Calhoun had been outcoached by everyone in the Big East for most of the season (they were 9-9, I think). To this I say, bullshit!!!
Remember, the coaches are at the mercy of 18-21 year old kids. As talented as they are, those kids lose their poise and their minds from time to time. Regardless of what we think, the coaches don’t always control what the kids do on the court. No matter what decision the coach makes, the players ultimately decide things.
4th, Billy Donovan has been to the Final 4 three times. Despite his experience, his team looked thoroughly confused and discombobulated at the end of the game last night and his Senior star, Chandler Parsons, looked like he had never played before. Their last two shots were rushed – unnecessarily – in my opinion. After the game, Brad Stevens (the winning coach) said he was completely outcoached by Donovan throughout the game and especially at the end!!!! The kids decide things!!
Finally, one of these seasons, Pitt will have the right combination of stars (as in 2009) and role players (like this year) and they will be playing their best in March and they will achieve the Final 4. When that happens we will all be very happy. But we all need to remember, that the Final 4 is a very difficult achievement. The fact remains, we have been in the NCAA’s 10 years in a row, and that means we have had a chance every year for a decade!!! Enjoy the journey and remember, nothing is guaranteed!!
Thanks for reading.
Roger, you are spot on. Many of us should feel much better given Butler’s and UConn’s performance.
I read that after a series of losses Butler players got a spanking by Mack and they’ve been 9-0 since.
And, while Pitt had the benefit of the Ireland trip to be in midseason form so early, Lamb was just a puppy then and didn’t blossom into UConn’s 2nd GTG until late in the season.
Finally, Raftery paid a big tribute to Pitt last night by relating what Walker told him: “When we beat Pitt, we knew we had something special”
UConn has the 2nd longest win streak at 9 games; Butler has the longest at 13 … Pitt ran into the 2 hottest teams and lost in the final second to both.
Also, don’t worry, I’ll use my own voice. If you notice the time stamp on that article it was 1:00 am on a Saturday night, which should tell you that I was having fun with it.
Reed: Sorry your fine football work keeps getting hijacked by basketball talk. But, I guess what I said above applies to football too.
Keep up the great work. I’m enjoying your reports.
“Some things I think I think!”
about Pitt Basketball.
Just witnessed one of the greatest upsets in NCAA History with VCU all over Kansas…I think….
1. Guard play is #1 in advancing in the NCAA’s
2. When Pitt lost to St John’s some were very worried that Pitt was declining in play, much like every season….THEY WERE Right
3. Teams that win and advance in the NCAA’s are peaking at tourney time, not declining. Jamie Dixon is going to really have to re-think his philosophy and strategy if he wants to get out of this 8 year fall. Being “Team January” will no longer cut it.
4.While Pitt was declining in play…we still had the talent to win…we just ran into an unbelievable Butler team who could win it all.
5. Pitt is usually the team who runs into (VCU) the hot shooting 3 team in the conference and gets down so far, we cannot come back.
6. Pitt will never advance to the final four without at least one and probably two playmaking guards who can hit threes and create shots.
My biggest dissappointment with Pitt was Wannemaker who paralleled his decline with Pitt’s team decline. Still haven’t see a reason.
7. If you think we hurt after our game (and we did), see the photo of the Kansas players outwardly crying on the bench as well as the fans in the stands.
8. UConn wins it all again and the BEC walks away with all the bragging rights.
9. I hate UConn! Go Butler!
As a #1 seed, is it worse to lose on a ridiculous foul with .8 left in regulation or to get smoked by a #11 seed?
Dan72: I think that “minor” wrist injury suffered against Nova affected Wanamaker. He didn’t seem as strong to the hoop with his left hand, a big part of his game as you know.
Steve- worse to lose on a ridiculous foul. But if you add the qualifier ‘Elite 8 game smoked by #11 seed or ridiculous foul in the round of 32’ I’ll pick the ridiculous foul. At least when you’re smoked you don’t have a sudden massive letdown, as Cleveland fans know very well (and Bills, which I am a fan of). But being on the cusp of the achievement of your sport (Final Four) and having it taken away would be worse. But it’s hard to feel sorry for Kansas fans. We have it much worse.
All kidding aside, this year proves what the NCAA tourney is. A single elimination tournament where anything can happen and judging your entire season on how you perform in said tournament is asinine. There’s no secret to success in this thing, it’s mostly luck.
As for those who say that Pitt peaked in January. I would argue that the scheduling gods did Pitt some favors. Pitt got G-Town when they were playing really bad ball, they got Cuse without Joseph and they got a young UConn team playing their first conference game of the year. I would argue that this team despite their Big East title this was never an elite team that looked good early because they had a back-loaded schedule. That said it still hurts because they we’re good enough to still be playing.
lol at 2am.