Lots of activities and autograph sessions with some past Pitt players. Q&A with the coaches. The game will be televised locally, but does little good for those of us not living in the ‘Burgh. I would have enjoyed a road trip this weekend just for fun, but between family obligations, taxes not done and, well — I think the wife would have beaten me with a tire iron if I had even suggested any more college sports activities — it just isn’t going to happen.
Still, seems like a lot of fun.
Fans will have a chance to interact with coaches and learn about some tactical decisions and why they are made, the recruiting process and a typical practice schedule, as well as some other aspects pertaining to the Panthers or college football in general.
Wannstedt said he is looking forward to the event because he thinks it is a good way to get fans more engaged with the program.
“We just decided we needed to change some things up,” he said. “I’ll talk a little bit about recruiting and the process and the program over all and then we will have Phil Bennett talk about defense and obviously Frank Cignetti, the offense.
“Then it will be open to questions, and that will probably be as much fun for the fans as anything because they’ll get a chance to ask questions about what takes place during practice, game day or halftime or whatever they want to know.”
Of course, one reporter said that odds are very good that the first question will have something to do with quarterbacks, to which Wannstedt quipped, “I’ll defer that one to Frank. That’s why he’s talking.”
Seems like Coach Wannstedt went out of his way to stress to the beat writers that the spring game is not any more meaningful than the other practices. I noticed a similar thing in Gorman’s blog post as well.
Perhaps the biggest misconception revolving around spring drills is the importance of the Blue-Gold Game. In reality, it’s little more than a glorified scrimmage in the eyes of Pitt coaches. And they evaluate it as such.
“We’ll put it in the same category as our last (two) Saturday scrimmages,” Wannstedt said. “We’ll look at the execution and how the players respond that way. It will be an important day for our players, no question about that, but I wouldn’t say it’s really any more important than the last two scrimmages.”
Added offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti: “You won’t see much. It will be real vanilla. We’ll just go out there and run a base offense and, obviously, just try to come out of it healthy.”
There is something to be said for the Panthers putting on their uniforms and performing in game-type situations before fans at Heinz Field.
“Just by being in the stadium and having people in the stands and knowing it’s on TV, that has a tendency to affect some players differently than if we were just up here on a Saturday morning, having a scrimmage in the bubble,” Wannstedt said. “That’s good. That type of exposure has a tendency to bring out the best and, sometimes, the worst in players.
“We need to find that out now.”
I think most fans know that it isn’t any more than a light scrimmage that is the end of a spring fan fest. It’s just a way to help generate more interest in Pitt football. The only reasons it takes on a bigger meaning to the fans is that it is one of the only times they get to see the team at this time, and it is the final practice and scrimmage of the spring.
