Sorry for the lack of writing but family circumstances are taking up almost all my time.  When I can I’ll try to get something out every few days…

In addressing of the more glaring weaknesses of the 2011 PITT squad Zeise of the P-G interviews Tony Gibson regarding the stable of cornerbacks we have.  The coach is happy with K’Wuan Williams, Antwuan Reed and, perhaps surprisingly, Buddy Jackson…

He said Jackson has made the most improvement, but that is mostly because he took most of the snaps in the spring while Reed recovered from a concussion.

Gibson said. “I think, looking back, the fact that Antwuan was out in the spring is the best thing that happened for us, because it gave Buddy a real opportunity to take all of the reps and to gain some confidence and really get himself to the point where he is ready to play.  “We know what Antwuan can do, there is plenty of film on him, but Buddy needed to have a spring like he did to really get on his way.”   And from Jackson himself we hear a pretty standard response:  “This is my redshirt senior year, this is it. I’m going to take it all in, be coachable and try to compete every single day.”

Well, his laughing in the Head Coach’s face on the sideline when getting yelled at for blowing a play may lead to this next quote…

Gibson said he had heard — and read — a lot about Jackson’s work-ethic and toughness issues. He also said did not know what to expect from Jackson but has been pleasantly surprised and does not expect that to change.

Good if it holds true, but a two of three CBs being Jackson and Reed doesn’t necessarily project a confident crew.  Newcomers Pitts and Carrington will push for playing time and probably end up in the two deep at least.

Zeise has also written a good in-depth piece on the first two days of camp in his Redshirt Diary and there really isn’t much to add to it.  He addresses almost every position set and does confirm a few things that we’ve talked about over the off season though.

Especially of interest to me is the battle for the Spur position:

As for the linebackers, the outside linebacker (or Spur) has been Greg Williams backed up by Todd Thomas and that seems to be where both will end up by the time the season rolls around. Williams needs to get into shape and when I say that, I don’t mean he is out of shape as in, he didn’t work out or he was lazy over the summer. It is just that he did not participate in the spring so he is still trying to get used to the pace of practice and speed of everything. But he looks like he will be able to thrive in this system, just from what I’ve seen the past two days at the two full practices I’ve observed.

I expect Todd Thomas to be the starter there at some point during the season, or at least get a substantial amount of playing time.  Each year we read about Williams and, save a few dramatic plays, he seems to be a bit disappointing.

Sunseri is set at QB1 and if there is competition it will be for the backup position, and Zeise almost exactly echoes our thoughts on here from before on this subject:

Mark Myers and Anthony Gonzalez are fighting for that second spot and right now Myers has the edge because Gonzalez is suspended for the first two games. But I will say this – the more Gonzalez works, the more I watch him, the more I think he could actually be a quarterback in this system. He still doesn’t throw as well or as consistently as he needs to, but we are seeing some better throws from him and it seems like he has worked on his arm strength. Myers is a pure quarterback who can throw the ball extremely well – but again, in this system, they’d like a guy who can run as well, which is what Gonzalez brings to the table.

This coaching staff really liked what Gonzalez did in the spring and truly wants at least a serviceable run & passes QB for this offense.  But again, as I stated before if I had my druthers I’d want to keep a strong passing game in there if possible.

Not surprisingly Dan Mason has to have a miracle happen to get back to playing in games this season.  Zeise is the first to mention the possibility of Mason not ever playing again and that was tough to hear.  The Trib-Review devotes a full article to Mason’s circumstances and goes more in-depth in the issue.

As critical as I have been with our previous coach on certain issues, even I wouldn’t lay the blame for this on Wannstedt’s shoulders, I think he goes too far:

Actually, the injury wouldn’t have occurred in that game if former Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt had followed through on his threat not to use Mason. Eleven days earlier, Mason was demoted from the first team for being in a car with former Pitt running back Jason Douglas, who was arrested on DUI and aggravated assault charges after hitting a pedestrian on the South Side.  Mason didn’t start the game, but he entered before halftime. He was injured while helping make a stop on third-and-9, forcing a punt.

Finally Graham Training Camp Insider has a nice first day post-practice speech from the HC to the players.  On notable thing is he stresses that we have “a mature team” which is nice to hear.  He is a lot less over the top with his sayings in this also.  Maybe all the labels for everything are just for us fans and he’s talking to the players as young adults.