Chas will post a NCAA-Pitt v Wisconsin open thread later but let’s get a football fix in for this morning. Good luck Panthers against the Wisconsin Badgers… merely a warm-up for the grand upset of OSU I’m sure.

DiPaoloa of the Trib addresses something that we have talked about regularly on here since the end of January bowl game – filling the need for departing LBs Nick Grigsby and coming up with a new LB two deep lineup.  If you remember the final players in the ’15 two deep were as follows:

Star Linebacker  3 NICHOLAS GRIGSBY (SR*, 6-1, 220) 44 Matt Steinbeck (SR*, 6-0, 210) 21 Jameel Poteat (SR*, 5-10, 215)

Mike Linebacker  47 MATT GALAMBOS (JR, 6-2, 240) 58 Quintin Wirginis (SO, 6-2, 240)

Money Linebacker 30 MIKE CAPRARA (JR*, 6-0, 230) OR 4 BAM BRADLEY (JR*, 6-2, 230) Cornerback

Grigsby has graduated so we’ll see SR Mike Caprara get even more playing time this season.  I have liked this kid every since he was recruited. Pitt fans love WPIAL players and even with the ‘too short” knock on him all he did in HS was to end up as Woodland Hills leading all-time tackler with 350 tackles (note that in this video he’s 207# and now he’s up to 240#)… and that is at a school with a very rich football history.  Plus he’s an exceptional student-athlete which I feel is so important in the locker room – especially for a senior.

Conklin is fortunate to have two seniors, Caprara and middle linebacker Matt Galambos, calling formations and schemes. When Bam Bradley recovers from shoulder surgery, it could be three seniors at a position that demands brains and brawn.

“It’s better to have three linebackers talking than just one,” Caprara said. Caprara, who earned a degree in communications and will pursue a master’s in marketing this year, said he devotes “countless hours” to football on and off the field.

I’m still not sold on Bam Bradley being a starter.  He has been inconsistent over his career at Pitt and has come up with some big plays – but that isn’t enough to be out there for 60 minutes. My pick would be to get JR Quintin Wirginis out the full time – he’s fast, smart and has a nose for the ball.

Galambos will be in the middle again and, with the advent of Narduzzi and Conklin’s coaching, taken big steps in the right direction – pun intended as that was a problem for him as an underclass LB.

One problem with this unit is timely – we have a lot of dings and bang ups to contend with during spring drills:

Conklin’s other concern is the lack of depth at linebacker. Backups Quintin Wirginis and Anthony McKee also have shoulder injuries, and McKee would have received the first opportunity to replace graduated Nicholas Grigsby at the other outside linebacker position. Former safeties Jalen Williams and Oluwaseun Idowu are putting on weight to make the transition.

Note the move of rsFR Jalen Williams from Safety to LB for ’16.  We discussed that exact scenario on here a few weeks ago and it’s a good move.  He’s a bit light at around 210# but is young and I think we’ll see a lot out of him in the next few years.

At the Post-Gazette we have a piece on new OC Matt Canada’s lack of situational awareness since being hired and working on the Southside:

Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Canada found himself “looking around like a lost dog” during his first few drills of spring practice this week.  He’s in a new facility, with new assistants and new drill stations to run to. It’s not hard to see why Canada, whom Pat Narduzzi hired in January to replace Jim Chaney, could feel his head start to spin.

“It takes about a year for a coach to get comfortable,” Canada said after Pitt’s first spring practice Tuesday. “Like today, ‘Where are the drills?’ ”

Well coach, you have only two choices – the outdoor field or the inside facility so just start walking somewhere and you have a 50/50 shot at finding them.  As in any year of Pitt football the approach to our offense will remain consistent as it always has been, and will be, until we get a QB who can carry the offense with his arm:

“We’re an offense that’s going to run the football,” Canada said. “We’re still going to take tremendous pride in running the ball and trying to score as many points as we can.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s no coincidence. Canada made it clear that his goal is not to implement vast changes in his first season. The offense centered around the run last year, and will do so again this season. The biggest change Canada has to implement over the next five months will likely go unnoticed by fans, but is crucial to the offense operating smoothly on game days.

Also from the P-G here is one of four videos they have posted this one s Pat Narduzzi.

Here is the link to the other three.

Mike Vukovcan of KDKA has a piece on our new SO QB Bo Schneider and his excitement to be a Panther.  Note that he isn’t on campus yet and is still enrolled at Central Florida University.

“I knew Coach Canada because he recruited me while he was at NC State.  Coach Canada is a great guy and a smart guy.  I like him because he tells it how it is.  I like that from a coach”, said Schneider.

Schneider says that he plans on finishing out the spring semester at Central Florida and then move to Pittsburgh this summer. The Texas native started 3 games last year for Central Florida but appeared in 8 games.  For the season, he was 54-105, 534 yards and 2 TD’s.

What no one seems to be mentioning is that in addition to those two TDs he also tossed seven INTs.

He runs like a water buffalo apparently.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing Schneider out on the Heinz Field turf anytime soon but this transfer is interesting in that when one comes in usually one departs as we saw when Voytik opted out of competition for Pitt’s starting QB job.

I don’t see Pitt carrying five scholarship QBs: Peterman, Bertke, DiNucci, Schneider and MacVitte… not when we have a 85 scholarship limit overall.

Sooner or later we’ll have to talk about the elephant in the clubhouse in reference to the carousel of transferring QBs Pitt has had over the last five years.  Myers, Savage, Peterman, Voytik, Schneider and if the underground whispers are to be believed, Bertke.

Why we can’t recruit and keep QBs who can play D1 football at a better than average clip and then keep them on the team is a real problem. The lack of consistency year to year is very detrimental to building a winning program and hurts us both on the field and, I believe, in the leadership department.

The QB is, by default, viewed  by his teammates as a leader and that is how it absolutely should be. Like Tino Sunseri or not, it wasn’t a coincidence that we had three winning seasons over his last three years as a starter.

Whatever skills Tino Sunseri had or didn’t have aside, when that position is filled and there is consistency in that the same player is in that spot then good things happen. Did Sunseri’s sitting on the QB throne make that happen by himself? Of course he didn’t. But the consistency at that leadership position did help.

I think we’ll benefit from having Peterman for a second straight year there but in the long run we need more than one full year of having a starter in that spot and it doesn’t look like that is going to happen anytime soon.

Trivia Time: Who is the latest Pitt QB actually in uniform? Hint – he’s the only one who might be able to actually run with the ball back there.

Half a dozen now…

Speaking of rosters the Pitt SID folks just posted the new 2016 roster .  Not a whole lot of surprises there but as we mentioned in another article there appears to be a lot of young walk-on players this year.  And the all have funky last names like; Benbrook, Adzima, Cunha, Podgorski and Medure.  Sounds like a law firm that specializes in accidental death by pierogi.

Interesting note about the roster at this point: try to find #s 16 and 23 on anyone.  They are being used in practice (see above video) but not on the formal team roster.

Pitt Spring Practice #2
March 17, 2016

VIDEO: Pitt Pro Day – Tyler Boyd improved his stock the other day…

Here is The Pitt News’s take on Pro-Day and an interesting point from our Darryl Render:

To best prepare for Pro Day, Mosley-Smith said players must do different workouts that have specific focuses for the drills — like working out the hamstrings for the 40-yard dash.

Though defensive lineman Render said he embraces those different workouts, it didn’t feel like he was conditioning himself for the gridiron.  “The last couple months I’ve been training to be a track runner and a bodybuilder, not a real football player,” Render said. “I really can’t wait to put on the pads again and get out there and really show what I can do on the field.”

 From Pitt’s Media Department:

Coach Pat Narduzzi Quote Sheet

Opening statement:

“We got day two in. We’ve got our second of three total practices where we have to be in shorts, and we’ll get one in a couple weeks on a Monday after Easter after we come back. So we’ll put the big boy pads on next. I think our guys are looking forward to it. We had some physicality out there today. I guess our guys want to put the pads on, so we had to send someone on some laps today to keep them in line. But our guys were very energetic. Our kids are just so fired up. It just seems like there’s just so much energy out there to learn and to do the right things, so we’re excited where we are as of [today].”

On team energy during the second practice:

“I think the second day is always much better than the first day. I think the first day you’re just trying to see what they do. On the first day you’re just waiting to see what they’re going to do. And then I think as coaches I’m always more excited for the second day than I am for the first day. But the second day, you’re looking for them to get better. You know what they did yesterday, so you’re just looking to push buttons and get them ready for the next day. I didn’t think they were quiet at all today. I didn’t have to re-call them up and get them ready to go at all. That’s kind of their ‘M.O.’ They’ve been ready to go.”

On linebacker Mike Caprara:

“I think, last year, he was trying to find himself, and I think now he knows who he is and what he’s done, and I think he’s ready for the next level. We’re out there in the last period, and he recognizes something within our formations, and he barked it out. And I yelled out to [defensive coordinator] Coach [Josh] Conklin and [linebackers] Coach [Rob] Harley and said ‘Hey, you’ve got one guy who’s telling people what’s going on,’ which is good to see because I’m just listening to what he was saying and I knew the play because I had the paper [script] on me and he was 100 percent correct. He saw what the offense was doing. And he only saw it one other time, that they lined up in a formation package and he said, ‘Hey, watch the [name of given package and play].’ He’s got the ability to do a lot of different things, and I’ll take those smart guys. He does a great job.”

On the versatility of his linebackers:

“We’re going to find the best three guys, without a doubt. There’s enough versatility where we’re going to make it that way. But we’re always going to find the three best linebackers, and then who’s the fourth, who moves in for the fifth, and then sixth. You hope to have six or seven. I’ve gone through a season having four or five. You like to have seven that are some good special teams guys but we’ll be OK. We’ve got some guys who are banged up. We’re just being smart to not put them through contact stuff right now because we don’t have to beat anybody in May. They’ll be good to go in fall camp.”

On contact during spring practices:

“My philosophy on contact is to have as much as you can. [My philosophy] hasn’t changed at all. The game is a contact game. If you coach it in any other way, you’re losing something. It’s not basketball, it’s not soccer. It’s football. You’ve got to have contact, but you’ve got to coach it the right way. You can’t have cheap shots. You can’t have players with their heads down who are going to get hurt or hurt somebody else. It hasn’t changed, and we’re going to get in as much contact as we can. When the NCAA says we can tackle, then we tackle.”

On moving Jalen Williams and Seun Idowu to linebacker from defensive back:

“It’s a permanent thing. As a matter of fact, Seun was moved down probably halfway through the season last year just to get him ready to go. Seun didn’t come into camp last year. I wish he would have. He missed a lot of practices. But that’s a permanent move for both of them (Williams and Idowu). Both of them will show improvement, and both of them probably showed improvement today. I’m interested in seeing where they are after 15. I think it’s a good move for both of those kids.”

On wide receiver Tre Tipton:

“First of all he’s a great kid. He’s smart. He’s got a lot of swagger to him. I think it starts there. He’s got a ton of athletic ability. I think he’s going to be a great player for us. I think when you watch the spring game on the 16^th, I think you’re going to say, ‘Woah, who’s that [jersey] number two.” I keep telling him that it’s about being tough. You’ve got to make it through the 15 days. One of our goals is to get all 15 practices in. You can’t get better with the yellow jersey on. If he gets through 15 that means he’s mentally and physically toughened up and able to make it through, but I think he can do big things. He’s explosive, he’s got great hands, he runs great routes, he can get off the press. He’s a great football player and he needs to show it on the field.”

On having a wider distribution of touches among the receivers this year now that Tyler Boyd is gone:

“I think it happens naturally. I think it goes with the part of offense of what you’re trying to do, who you’re trying to get it to, what your run game is like and how your offense is set up. The offense is a little bit different from what it was last year, not much different. We try to keep a lot of things the same, so we’ll see. We like to get the guys the ball, and you demand reps and snaps and catches by doing your job. And, obviously, Tyler is a guy who we targeted a lot and handed the ball off to because he demanded those. He worked for those because he knew that, once he got the ball in his hands, he’d do something with it or he’d catch it. Guys have to prove that they want the ball and should get the ball.”

On having untested options at wide receiver:

“I don’t think it’s in bad shape at all. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty excited with what I’ve seen over the last two days. But I always think that. In shorts, receivers catch the ball really well. I think the big time is when they’re going to get hit, whether they’re going to get hit immediately or later. Once the pads go on, you can really tell who can play.”

On Tyler Boyd’s pro timing day:

“Tyler had a great pro day. He actually had another workout this morning with the Carolina Panthers and did a great job out there, didn’t run a 40 or anything. Tyler really needed to come in here—and I don’t watch ESPN for the combine, but I watched bits and pieces of it—but he put on eight pounds before the combine. Most guys usually lose weight. J.P. [Holtz] yesterday was down weight. Artie Rowell probably lost about 12 pounds. Everybody loses weight so they can run a faster 40 time for the combine. So he put on weight, and he wasn’t necessarily worried about the 40. So that’s a good thing. He’s more worried about playing football and he’s a great football player. I think he made some money yesterday by going out there and running the 40, which is all that he had to do. And then when you watch his ball skills and him work out, he’s special catching the ball. You can hardly hear the ball touching his hands.”

On the performance of other Pitt players on pro timing day:

“There’s a lot of guys out there. Nicholas Grigsby. You look at Lafayette Pitts, who had a great day yesterday. I could mention a lot of them. David Murphy did a great job of snapping. J.P. Holtz as well. There’s a lot of guys out there who will find their ways to camp. Will they make it? Will they get drafted? I don’t know. I don’t sit in on the personnel meetings. Some guys chose to stay here with [Pitt strength and conditioning] Coach [Dave] Andrews and really did well, and some guys chose to get trainers across the country and enjoy the sun, but I was impressed with all of them and what they looked like.”

On recent communication with NFL scouts and coaches:

“Yeah, you get phone calls, and a lot of them will save the comments for when they get here and watch them and do a face-to-face, but you never know.”

Defensive Coordinator Josh Conklin Quote Sheet

On observations after two days:

“We have a long way to go, I know that. I feel like we’ve had really good effort right now and the guys have been trying hard to do what we want them to do. However, in terms of what we want to do defensively, we’ve got a long way to go right now.”

On injuries at the linebacker position:

“It’s got to be the next guy up. We have a converted safety in Jalen Williams coming down to play the Star, and another converted safety in Oluwaseun Idowu playing Star. It’s going to be a bit of a painful process this spring in term of getting those guys to play at the level we want them to play at. It’s obviously a bit of a concern, as well as depth for us. We want to get some guys healthy but it’s a great opportunity for some of the younger guys to develop at some really important positions.”

On moving Shakir Soto from end to tackle:

“We need to become more athletic at the defensive tackle position. We didn’t get the production we needed from those guys, especially on the inside. It’s a major focus and major emphasis for us. We lost a couple guys in there that were decent players for us. We feel like he will give us more athleticism in there, but we have to get more production from those guys as it’ll help us in the run game. It’s not where it needs to be.”

On the balance between installation of new things and focusing on improvement:

“We don’t put in a bunch of new stuff, it’s more of making what we have better. We’ve put in some adjustments, but in terms of all that our guys are just in the second year of the system getting more comfortable with it. Their attitude and effort in doing so has been really good.”

On safety Jordan Whitehead’s potential going forward:

“You would hope it would be a lot in terms of his improvement. He has a lot of natural skill and he played off of that last year. The big thing for him is making everything tighter, his keys tighter, and his reads tighter, where everything slows down for him. With that, we hope he will be more productive going forward.”

On the versatility and leadership of linebacker Mike Caprara:

“He will probably line up under all three positions in the spring. He can play the Mike, the Money and the Star. He’s at Money right now. He and Matt Galambos have done a really good job leading it, especially from the linebacker position, which is where you really want it as far as making the calls and the checks. He’s been really good.”

On defensive end Dewayne Hendrix looking ready to contribute this year:

“He looks like a Division I college football player. He’s an SEC defensive end. When you look out there, there’s a marked difference in terms of what he looks like. That’s what they look like. For me, as far as getting the depth and the guys we need to get, that’s what you want them to be. Speed matters, strength, power, and all that. Our job is to get him there and hopefully he will. He’s got all the skill sets to be an important player for us, schematically as well.”

On depth at defensive end:

“When Rori Blair gets back I think it’ll be good, and Dewayne Hendrix is a good addition to that. We need to develop some of the younger guys like James Folston. He has to come along. The biggest thing with those interior guys right now and even the defensive ends is playing with an attitude. Getting a relentless attitude that we want to play with. Getting an energy and a knowledge of the game, and we’re getting there.”

Wide Receiver Tre Tipton Quote Sheet

On his first spring practice:

“The first spring practice was really good. As a team we worked really hard. Came off really fast and going into a new system everybody is catching on really easily. I feel like we’re going to be pretty good this year.”

On the receiving corps without Tyler Boyd:

“Honestly, personally, I see us as we’re about to be the next best receiving corps. Everybody was looking at Tyler Boyd, but our goal next year is you can’t guard any of us. If you want to double team me, or Jester Weah or Quadree Henderson, it’s going to be tough for you because we have other people working inside the system. It’s not so much who’s the next Tyler Boyd or Larry Fitzgerald, it’s going to be who’s the best receiving corps and we feel like we are.”

On the possibility of more targets throughout the receiving corps:

“It makes everything exciting to be honest with you. We saw how fast the ball is moving and everybody is getting a chance to get the ball. It seems like everyone can do something with the ball in their hands and is feeling more comfortable. Now everybody is going out there and doing what we’re supposed to do and what we should have done last year. Now that Tyler Boyd is gone, he’s gone but he still comes back and pushes us to get better. It’s going to be interesting.”

On how he feels this year compared to last year in training camp:

“I feel so much more comfortable. It feels like everything has slowed down and the teammates that we have make it feel easy. Everything this year is a lot easier than last year and the pace of it is easier. I’m starting to learn more football, not just going off of athleticism but football I.Q. now. Learning the schemes and reading the coverage, it’s all become a lot easier.”

On his strengths as a wide receiver:

“I’m getting really good at reading the cornerback and the safety. I’m not the fastest guy on the team but I feel like I’m one of the [sharpest] guys. I can see something, coach will tell me something, and I kind of like to make it my own. I like to call myself a chemist like I work in a lab or something. I try to learn and then make it my own.”

On the message Tyler Boyd gave to the receivers:

“Compete. Go out there and compete, and win. Everybody knows Tyler is a hard worker, but he’s also the best competitor I’ve ever met. So he tells us to go out there and compete, and not only compete but win. That’s the game plan. We can’t let him down. Everybody is asking what we’re going to do without Tyler. If we don’t live up to that standard and look past that standard, then we’re letting him down. We plan on living up to that standard and surpassing that standard. We need to make sure that everybody knows that even though we don’t have Tyler we’re still ready to go out there and handle our business.”

On senior receiver Dontez Ford:

“Dontez is definitely a leader. He’s an old guy, he’s been around a long time and he’s the only one of us that actually started last year. Learning how he takes care of business is a big opportunity for us and a big way for us to learn from him.”

Defensive End Dewayne Hendrix Quote Sheet

On sitting out the 2015 season following his transfer:

“Starting off it was pretty tough, but I just had to look at the bigger picture. I know it would make me better. It feels good just getting back. I have a lot of work to do. We’re still working.”

On why Pitt is a better fit for him than Tennessee:

“Mainly the coaches and the defense that we run, I feel like I will be better here. It’s a lot easier playing a nine technique rather than a six technique. Six technique is a lot harder with your head up, while as a nine you’re outside and basically just have to contain.”

On his development over the past year:

“I feel like I’ve got a lot better. I feel a lot more comfortable out there as well.”

On what his motivation was over the last year:

“I just had to look at it like I had to help the team. I couldn’t look at it like I’m not playing so I’m about to just go fifty percent instead of one hundred percent. I know if I gave my all it would help the offense and help the team, and that’s all I want to do.”

On why he chose Pitt:

“When I decided to transfer, I didn’t know where I wanted to go. A good buddy of mine, quarterback Nate Peterman played a big part in it. As I started to take more and more visits here, I really started to like the place.”

(Editor’s Note: – With all that is going on I’ll be continually updating these articles once i post them up first thing in the morning.  I like to get something up early so you all can get right on it but I keep writing stuff even after it is first published… )