Scrimmage #2 is in the books and because PITT won’t have any more formal scrimmages today was the last chance some players had to ‘audition’ under game conditions for a spot on the two deep. It was evident the kids had this in mind because it was a spirited and intense day.
As opposed to the 183 play run through last week in cloudy and cool conditions, the staff had the team run a split session, 129 play workout today. The weather got pretty warm after 10:30 and it was the culmination of a solid week of two-a-day practices so prudence was used to avoid any more injuries.
Play began at around 9:15 and wrapped up at 11:30. It was well attended and actually it looked like there were more people there yesterday than for the Spring Game. That may have been due to it being “Old Cranky It Was Better In My Day Players” day for football alumni. That and a lot of parents brought their kids.
Training camps have a rhythm to them and this week we saw the defense rebound from last week when the offense carried the day. There are a lot of different scrimmage reports that get into the observations and numbers, the new Post Gazette PITT beat writer, Sam Werner, has one out on his Redshirt Diaries Blog. Steve Finn, who covers PITT for the Panthers 24/7 website has a comprehensive report out also. Pat Bostick did a nice video piece on the Alumni Day and especially interesting is what Johnny Majors has to say about the new staff.
The common themes are that the defense won the day with stifling front four run work and our LBs and DBs provided run support as needed. Contrary to most of camp when the offense, particularly Isaac Bennett, has been moving the ball steadily and ripping off long gainers there was just no real offensive consistency out there today.
Rushel Shell was on the sidelines again today. Supposedly he has a back problem but no one is talking. Regardless of the reason, he’s not getting reps which isn’t helping his pre-scrimmage situation as standing behind Graham, Bennett and Crockett in the RB depth chart.
I don’t think the lack of big running plays today is a great area of worry though. It may be just the opposite. I’m not sure the PITT OL and RBs are going to face a defensive front four as quick and aggressive as who we have facing them in practice. Donald, Clemmings, Ezell and Lippert/Mosley-Smith are quality guys. We know what Donald brings out there; he has an excellent chance to grab All-American honors if he keeps on with his progression so far in his career.
