I’ve waited until spring practice is a third finished before chipping in an article because now we have something of substance to talk about as far as playing actual football goes.  There seems to be a different attitude around the Southside these days.  Gone is the jumping up and down and swearing things are going to fantastic, dammit!!

This version is business, business and more business.  There doesn’t seem to be much false bravado by either the players or the staff.  It feels like that all know that there is a long road to hoe to get back to what a good, solid program is and they want to do it the right way.

Paul Zeise reports hard hitting and fundamental football… “Pitt is playing football again, at least football the way people here in Western Pennsylvania want to see it played.”  That and the OL is shaping up to be the ‘smash mouth’ run blocking unit that PITT and Pittsburghers love to watch.

Our new OL coach, Jim Hueber will take no crap this year judging from his first interview.  You have to laugh just a little when a new coach states that “we have some kids who may not want to be here”.  This coming after we just had a whole coaching staff who ‘didn’t want to be here’.  Perfect!

Now, about that pesky pass blocking…

That said, the reports out of camp are pretty typical interviews and post-practice press conferences – that is if you can actually sit and listen to one of Chryst’s from start to finish.  I really like Paul Chryst and think he’ll be just what we need but it is tough to watch him answer the questions thrown at him when you can tell he really doesn’t want to be there anyway.

PITT is again putting out a nice spring practice website this year with a slew of articles and interviews after each practice.  Here is the March 20^th version.

Some surprises have surfaced so far in how the staff is rotating the kids into the two deep.  Two recent transfers who are eligible to play this year are positioning themselves to grab starting spots this season.  Cullen Christian and Ray Vinopal, both ex-Wolverines and DBs, have played well enough to garner serious consideration from the coaching staff.

Vinopal at Safety is a surprise for me a bit but he did start six games and had 33 tackles and an interception for Michigan.  He got a nice P-G write up the other day.  Christian also played a lot at UM and he’s playing well now that he’s off the scout team.

Our familiar WRs are banged up and not practicing during the 7-7s and 11-11s so the staff has had a chance to get some of the unsung kids out there.  One who has been standing out is Brandon Felder, another transfer, who has been showing his speed and getting some deep balls.  Yes, that’s what I said – deep balls. Guess who was throwing them?  I’ll give you one hint  (while you are there check this out).

Another guy who is making a move for the WR two deep is Brendon Ifill who asked to switch off from DB with this new staff.  He caught a 45 yarder from Sunseri today so we have to give some credit to that QB also.

Isaac Bennett is cementing his #2 RB position and IMO that competition will be the most interesting thing to watch in summer camp.  We all know that if Ray Graham is healthy he’ll be RB1.  But can we be sure that the much heralded Rushel Shell will waltz in and grab that RB2 position?  Zeise says this about Bennett:

“ I know it is a foregone conclusion that Rushel Shell is going to walk on to campus and become the first guy off the bench – if not step in front of – behind Ray Graham but don’t be shocked if Bennett is still the back-up when the games begin. I think he’s a very good player, he runs hard, he is more physical than you think.”

If we can decipher what Zeise actually means then I’ll agree with Paul here.  We saw some of what Bennett could do when he came into a tough situation with a totally demoralized OL last season.  Bennett is taking 1^st string reps now and give this kid some players with energy and desire in front of him then let him run and we’ll be happy with the results.

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned so far is what is happening with the FB position.  It may be one of the more integral positions on offense with this staff but there hasn’t been any news on who is taking reps there that I’ve seen.

Our new DL coach, Inoke Breckterfield and his wife are happy to be in Pittsburgh with this staff and he’s ready to get the kids lean and mean. Here he chimes in about the DL in this interview.  Slow down the video a bit and you can actually understand what he says.  Note: My wife is Hawai’ian and when I asked if she knew Inoke Breckterfield she said “ Ain’t no island boy with that last name,  you stupid Haole!!”  Haole is not a term of endearment, let me tell you.

One area when Breckterfield can earn his salary (and all that travel money) is by getting T. J. Clemmings to play to potential…

“We’ve got him over the tight end,” Breckterfield said. “You’re a tight end killer and that should be your job. It’s about him getting nasty and knocking that guy back and owning that block. We’re working with him on that, but T.J.’s very athletic. I just have to get him nastier. I’m going to coach him hard.”

Good luck with that coach, we are counting on you.  If you can do this one thing you’ll quiet all those naysayers who thought getting someone to coach WPIAL kids from 4,655 miles away was sort of crazy.

Let’s not forget Dan Mason who is making a rather awe inspiring comeback from a lower leg amputation to fight for a starting spot at MLB.  We know he was intense, but to bite your own leg off for a chance to get back on the field is truly unique.  Here is a good article about Mason and Ejuan Price from the Trib.

We’ll find out more as the second third of the spring camp unfolds but I do think that some fears have been assuaged with what has taken place so far.  “Buy In” is an overworked and trite phrase so maybe ‘satisfied’ is more appropriate in describing how the PITT players have taken to this last change.  I’m sure they are glad to be doing something as simple as playing football given the crap they have had to endure over the last 14 months.   It’s a good start and IMO a way forward to getting this program back to some sense of normalcy.