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March 28, 2011

SPRING PRACTICE REPORT #6; Follow up

Filed under: Uncategorized — Reed @ 6:39 am

I didn’t have a chance over the weekend to watch any post-scrimmage videos so I held off on commenting on them until now.  Saturday was ½ practice and ½ scrimmage. So in essence it was 1/2 of a scrimmage.  Graham said the 1st string ran 56 plays, the 2nd string ran 26 and the 3rd string ran 9. Hmm, looks like he’s expecting PITT to run 181 plays on offense per game… obviously something was off there.

One thing to note: There has been a lot of discussion regarding Todd Grahams ‘hucksterism’ in his talking about PITT football so far.  In a sense he is a salesman and his product is PITT football.  However, it seems as time passes and the practices get more intense his style in these interviews is starting to become more casual and informative.  It’s a welcome change because when Graham talks actual football, with the refreshing honesty that he does, it is pretty interesting.  In any event we are getting more ‘face time’ with this staff then we ever did with the old.

He held two interviews on Saturday afternoon, a solo one which was an actual reporters interview directly after practice ended in the Southside facility indoor practice field (10:53 long) which was very candid and another staged one from the clubhouse accompanied by the DC Coach Patterson and the OC Calvin Magee (7:21 long).  Both these videos had some substance and I’ll combine the info imparted for ease of writing.

A main point Graham made was that the defense ‘dominated’ but that the offense still made strides in what the staff wants them to do.  TOs were a part of that as was the ability to get the ‘no-huddle- timing down.  Now the O is getting plays off in 15 seconds – the target goal is five seconds between plays.  He also said “I have to turn my back when the 2nd and 3rd string is out there (jokingly) because of how slow they are.  That is to be expected I think.

Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette has this in his article:

The goal today was not to plan, it was to run the base offense,” Magee said, “and we will grade really hard on the execution part of it. I want to see how we execute the offense [on film], not necessarily scheme, but the base stuff. And it picked up at the end. “We’ve got to get a little faster, they understand it, but they have to give us the pace that we want.”

At one point in the scrimmage, the Panthers were getting snaps off in about 15 seconds (from whistle to snap), but, as the day wore on, they slowed down. None of it was fast enough to please coach Todd Graham. “It went like I thought it would, I think we made a lot of progress,” Graham said. “We were at a turtle’s pace right now, I know you don’t think it is, but it is, we’re slow right now.”

The technical aspect of signaling in plays needs work but that was expected also.  Today was the first day they practiced it. They made the point that the ‘High Octane” offense still begins with the basic premises of communication and execution that you see in any offense and that will always be emphasized.

In that solo video, after being asked about what PITT was doing compared to the first program the coach had run the offense, Graham spent some time talking about how they are interacting with the team regarding the instituting of the new offense.  He stated that the staff has told the players “Trust us (the staff), we’ve done this before and it will get better with every practice”.  I’m sure this must be frustrating for the kids out there who have been so used to, and did well in, the DW pro-style offense over the last years.

The “Inside Zone” running game did well today with Ray Graham breaking of some big runs.  Again, Coach Magee singled out Des Brown for his play. The inside zone game will ‘define us’ as the offense will be predicated on a strong running game.  OC Magee said that the O had eight ‘explosive’ plays yesterday – which I believe means plays over 25 yards.

With that Graham said the OL was playing well and mentioned Nix, Jacobson and Gibbs.  Lippert moved into the 2nd string center position for a bit and played well according to Patterson.

Graham mentioned one play which didn’t go so well.  It was a mental error in a scripted a 3rd and 2 scenario where they were positioning for a FG.  Sunseri held the ball too long and took a sack.  He also singled out Sunseri and Ray Graham for praise in how they are practicing this spring.

DC Patterson was happy with the defense’s work, all except for creating TOs which didn’t happen (both good and bad I suppose).  Graham mentioned that they specifically put some ‘young bucks’ (Donald, KK Smith and Ezell) up into the 1st string DL to motivate Alecxih and Caragein and it worked. The defense had 9 TFLs by the 1st team defense and 10 by the 2nd

He said that while there are differences in this defense than last year that would be mostly the 3-4-4 alignment and how aggressive they are in putting pressure on the QB with blitzes. The point that the LBs are still learning the new defense was made and one can’t help but think we won’t see any real difference in that until G. Williams and Todd Thomas gets on board either.  It sounds like Thomas is being considered for that Spur position when he can get back on the field.

Paul Zeise has a bit on the defensive goals:

Patterson said Pitt’s defense will have three goals every game: Nine tackles for losses (which it accomplished Saturday), seven three-and-outs (they had four) and three turnovers (they had one).  The goal is simple: If Pitt forces seven three-and-outs and gets three turnovers that will be 10 possessions where the defense will have completely shut down the opposing offense.

So those are the main points from Saturday’s videos and articles,  I advise taking 11 minutes and watching the interview Graham did from the indoor practice facility after the scrimmage.  It’s a good look at “Graham unscripted” and gives a real view of his actual thoughts about how the program is going.

BTW, Graham’s Mom is jazzed about the season.  Hear that, Vegas?

Odds and Ends”

The Pitt News has an article on the QBs:

The quarterback position is a lot like the head coach position. You will either get praised or critiqued pretty hard. You are the face of the program. For our system, the best players in the end will be on the field.” Graham keeps saying that and we’ve yet to see anyone but Sunseri take a 1st string snap though.

Pat Bostick is getting a lot of air time and having his writing published as the newest member of PITT’s Sports Information Dept. (an internship I believe).  He did a nice long interview with Chris Peak of Rivals.com on 93.7 The Fan radio yesterday morning.  It has pretty interesting stuff about the differences between the old and the new offenses.  He also talks about the “Play Entry” (signaling) communication system for getting the play from the sideline to the QB and then to the O players.

Next practice: Tuesday, March 29th.





” .. scripted a 3rd and 2 scenario where they were positioning for a FG” — please tell me it ain’t so! (Sounds quite a bit like the Tyler Palko slide play to me except that was a 3rd and 8.)

So the offense has a goal of having more snaps than the opponent, and the defensive goals are Nine tackles for losses, seven three-and-outs and three turnovers …. hope they realize what the ultimate goal is!

Comment by wbb 03.28.11 @ 7:20 am

If Sunseri is qb we are doomed if competion is wide open how come he is the only one that runs with first string. If myers leaves i wont blame who wants to sit behind Sunseri when you know you are better then him Sunseri has no arm no touch on throws Myers has a great arm. Myers should say see you i am out of here just like joe flako did he knew he was better than the qb dave kept is history abought to repeat it self.

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 12:41 pm

FRANKCAN…Just for the record, two different coaching staffs evaluated the QBs at Pitt and both put Palko ahead of any of the competition…The players are graded in practice. If Joe Flacco would have out performed Palko in practice, he would have had the job. The same goes for Luke Getsy. The new staff has no loyalty to any player. If Sunseri out performs the competition in practice, he will get the starting job.

Comment by HbgFrank 03.28.11 @ 1:04 pm

Maybe but they were wrong on palko werent they Flacco was mutch better and i seam to think to remember that there was some thing going on in that decision that was not based on competition some promise made to palko or his dad wasent that in a story flacco wrote or some how flacco was lied to abought something seams i read something does any one remember the story.

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 1:33 pm

Flacco may have been lied to that he would get a chance to win the job (don’t knwo) but bot getsy and he knew that Palko was in the fold and higly regarded … remember he played in the US Army all-american game.

Especially Getsy, I remember that Harris was going to take away his offer from him when Palko had committed but Getsy said that he wanted to compete. Then, when Palko won the job, Getsy asked to be released and was not granted one.

Palko actually had a prety good career .. in fact, he had really good stats and was very productive in his senior season although the team finished at 6-6 (the defense, especialy the run defense, was putrid that year)

Comment by wbb 03.28.11 @ 2:01 pm

I remember now you are right Flacco was told he would have a chance to win the job and he out played palko he thought so and most of team thought so and when they gave job to palko he felt he was lied to and the rumor was abought a promse made to palko i read it in the PG i think

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 2:18 pm

Some news Penn State has 4 football commits for 2012 already we have none.

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 2:22 pm

amazing, this past year PSU didn’t get their 4th recruit until about August (while Pitt was doing oh so well)

Comment by wbb 03.28.11 @ 2:25 pm

I don’t remember or undertand that ‘most of the team thought so’ about Flacco beating out Palko. This is similar wo what Steve had mentioned about (Freshman) Myers supposedly beating out Sunseri last year … yet, as we stand today, Sunseri is the clear-cut No. 1

I’m sorry .. I follow Pitt FB closely and have not been made aware of these allegations until now.

Comment by wbb 03.28.11 @ 2:29 pm

Wbb i did not say it was true just said i read it in newspaper from a flacco interview his side of the story of course but based on how things have turned out in the NFL for them both of them he must be right.

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 2:53 pm

Some news WVU has 3 football commitments for 2012 and as i said before penn state has 4 south florida has 2 louisville 2.

Comment by FRANKCAN 03.28.11 @ 4:02 pm

Reed, Those critical of the “hucksterism” don’t remember Johnny Majors in early 1973 constantly talking about “Pride & Enthusiasm” in every other sentence…. Kinda like “explosive speed”. Majors was viewed a snake oil salesman and looked upon with great skepticism by many. That is until his team took the field and started winning. Like Graham, Majors told everyone he had the best assistant coaches. Turns out he was right. Also did not hurt to recruit Tony D either! Point is, all the high brow types though he was a Tennessee hayseed. Sure proved them wrong and engineered a program turnaround that was one of the greatest in cfb history. After a 1-10 season before he arrived, Majors changed the attitude & culture (folksy sayings and all) and had a winning record in his first season largely with kids he did not recruit. 3 years later a national title. Hope we should be so lucky with Graham.

Comment by AZPANTHER 03.28.11 @ 10:40 pm

AZPANTHER – I’m stating to think something along those lines may be happening. Maybe not in 2011 because I think there will be growing pains, but down the line when Graham gets his personnel on board it could be very interesting.

If one takes a minute to look behind the Graham facade and listen to his talking about actual football it seems as if he has a real vision in place.

Comment by Reed 03.28.11 @ 11:52 pm

If Tinny, is getting all the snaps with the 1rst team offense, this is just more of the same.
It would seem despite a management change (Graham for Wannstedt), legacy trumps all. And that is exactly how things work in business, politics and sports. There is no open competition at all and like someone else said, if I was Myers, I would be transferring out, since he won’t play until his junior year unless Tinny completely flames out(guys like him are allowed just enough success to merit the job) or gets hurt.
Suddenly I’m not excited at all about Pitt football.

Comment by melvinbennett 03.29.11 @ 2:58 pm

The main focus for recruiting this year for Todd Graham’s staff should be landing Rushel Shell from Tony D’s alma mater, Hopewell. He has the potential to be a dominant college football player from the outset and could be Graham’s Tony Dorsett.

Comment by PatMac 03.29.11 @ 2:59 pm

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