The LBs / Defense
I tend to concentrate on the offense when I watch practices mainly because I understand that side of the ball’s responsibilities more so that the defenses. That said – here are some observations, and opinions, on the Defense.
rsJR Eric Williams is going to be a good Safety and I think he will bounce JR Vinopal out of the starting spot opposite Jason Hendricks. He’s a bit thin at 6’3” and 215 but he closes well and knows how to play that position in regards to seeing how the play will unfold. He seemed to always be around the football. He might show some real star power back there this year.
rsJR Todd Thomas absolutely laid out SO TE J. P. Holtz on a running play and stood over him screaming “Pancake!” for a while. Those two scramble it up a bit in practices and Thomas looks to continue his sound progression at that Weak Side LB position.
rsJR Anthony Gonzalez really surprised me out there at Strong Side LB. He understands how the play will develop, probably the switched QB in him, and just glides to the ball avoiding blocks. He’s one of those players who looks like he isn’t putting any effort into running but gets there damn quick. I really didn’t think this was going to be a good move for him but everyone I talked with said he was probably going to start this season.
The other LB position in the Middle has been solidly grabbed by rsFR Mike Caprara. He’s impressed the watchers and it looks like the staff wouldn’t hesitate to get him starting time should Shane Gordon’s injuries keep him from practicing or playing. I asked a group of WPIAL HS coaches about Caprara and they went crazy describing how good he was at Woodland Hills. One coach said they had to game plan around him in his FR year.
Caprara came into the program at around 6’0” and 200 lbs. He’s at least 6’0 (maybe 6’1”) and probably up to at least 225 now, he’s pretty stocky even if a bit short. You can hear it when he hits someone though. I believe he’ll be a good one for us if not this year then he’ll shine the next three seasons. It may be sooner than later though.
BTW – not one person I spoke with thinks Dan Mason will return to the football program let alone see any playing time this season. Not sure what the story is there, everyone is very tight mouthed which make me wonder, but it appears this staff is going in a non-Mason direction, at least as far as I understand.
We are in a world of hurt if DEs Durham and Lippert see substantial playing time. This position will be the Achilles Heel of our defense this season. True FR Shakir Soto has been in the two deep along with Bryan Murphy. Murphy and Lippert are returning players who really haven’t done much over their careers at PITT and Durham is an unknown since he played his one college year at FB for OSU.
All the above give 100% out there and made some good plays but it might just be a case of the talent ceiling these kids have. Put it this way; word on the street is that Luke McLean might be forced into a lot of action as a true FR.
(Note: Ex-LB LaQuentin Smith was moved to DE from the interior for Thursday’s practice and it looks like he’ll be kept there.)
The DL looks good with Donald being his own great self hard to tell much with him as the coaches are sitting him out for the bulk of most practices, after all it isn’t like they have to see what he can do.. I’ll say this publicly right now – Tyrique Jarrett is the Next Big Thing on the DL and you can take that to whatever bank you want to.
Say what you will about Aaron Donald being our best defender last year, rsSO Layfaette Pitts gave him a good run for the money in 2012 and hasn’t slacked up a bit.
Misc.
I don’t pay much attention to the actual characters on the OL until the last two weeks of summer training camp so I have nothing of substance to report there… sorry. Rumor has it that Clemmings is filling space until Dorian Johnson arrives at the Southside facilities on his golden chariot. Even as a true FR he’ll most probably grab that Right Tackle starting job.
One thing about the OL though, Huebner came out about as pissed off as one could get and just laid into the offensive lineman after each play. The only time he shut up was when Bisnowaty tried to debate a point with him. Huebner was so shocked he couldn’t say anything for a while then regained consciousness with “Don’t you f*cking argue with me buddy!!” repeating that phrase more than once.
As a matter of fact I thought the tenor of the whole practice was much more intense than any I saw last year in either the spring or summer sessions. Whether that was in response to the events that unfolded last week of because they still have to winnow out four scholarship I don’t know – but there wasn’t any joking around between Staff and players like I’ve seen before.
Edit: My article yesterday about the offense was pretty critical about the two competing QBs so it was nice to read this in Sam Werner’s Redshirt Diaries first this this morning regarding yesterday’s practice.
“Tom Savage looked a lot sharper today. He seems to have some good timing down on a post route and threw a couple of beautiful corner touchdown passes to Ronald Jones, who has also come on since returning from injury earlier this spring.
“I thought for a while he was holding on to the ball,” Pitt coach Paul Chryst said. “It kind of goes without saying, when a quarterback’s in rhythm, he’s got a better chance and one of the things that cause you to not be in rhythm are the quarterbacks not understanding something, the quarterback getting fooled on a coverage or a receiver off on what he should be doing. I think a couple plays specifically, I think he learned from Tuesday and was able to think a little bit better.”
I’ll follow up with an article about what happens at the Spring Game next Friday, until then HTP!
Of course, th DL may be a different story although there is some talent but maybe not enough depth
Too bad the Trib and the Post-Gazette don’t have a fraction of your insight.
Go Pitt!
AZ and AZ State and the ACC all outhers are open
to him.
then i get from the trib or the post.
they both do a better job then the news papers
thanks reed.
keep them comeing .
but you know what i cant get out of my mind is
basketball is dixon going to be able to hook us up with a JC center or a JC power foward.
i know the JC center is to vist april 12.
but untill dixon hooks us up with 3 more players
for next year i will be on pins and needles .
you can go here but not there it is nothing new.
if you read the outher poats this ass hole posta you will see he writes for the west cost and has at least 7 posts abought AZ or A State or cal
he is most likey a frend of TG.
if you will remmber 3 years ago joe pa would
not let a QB transfer at all .
and there was no stink abought that but some people just have it in for pitt you must know that
or they have it in for pittsburgh.
you know what i say fuck him and the horse he rode in on .
However, for the life of me, I don’t see how this will benefit Pitt one bit. If anything, it is bad PR …. as we have already seen.
but maybe they think tampering took place
he does not come out and say it but if you read between the lines.
and like i said no one said shit when joe pa did
not let the QB transfer.
it is not miller bis i think that is the man who wrote the post and as i said most of his storys deal with the west cost.
but like i said jerry d from the trib has a story
in the paper read it i think there might have been tampering read between the lines.
dipaola
the heading pitt was smart to block former coachs
from wooing shell.
Shell submitted four schools. ASU, UA, CAL and UCLA.
So, there are four schools he wanted to go too.
Pitt blocked two of them. Go to CAL or UCLA, they were on his list to begin with.
Enjoy!!
In a year or two, he will be back, going to WVU or PSU or OSU.
Things “won’t work out” on the West Coast, and he will be “back in the news” in W.Pa.
called who so better to be safe and block him.
if he is as good as he thinks he is ucla or cal will take him.
hell he has what 100 schools to pick from in the USA
except the ACC and AZ or AZ STATE.
if that isent good enough for him what can i say
may be he should have stayed home with his kids and wife insted of running away from them.
which is what i think is the reason for this.
I hope we have a great defense to offset our growing pains when we have the ball.
HTP!
what is on my mind is dixon going to get us a jc center and a power foward or will we be playing with
10 men on are team next year.
p.s. I want to apologize, about a month ago, I suggested you might be trolling just to get reactions. I may have apologized before, but after seeing your basketball posts the past week or two, you are a true Pitt fan, who does not wear blue and gold glasses. I actually agreed with many of your posts, not sure what I was debating about with you a month ago.
You’re too the point and don’t walk on eggshells, nothin’ wrong with that.
Anyhow, my apologies!!
p.s. because some of us don’t wear those glasses, does not mean we love Pitt any less than the most die hard blue and gold glass wearer.
Just different points of view.
Alex from Ann Arbor, Mich., writes: Ted,Your article about Rushel Shell’s transfer reveals a lack of research on your part. Pitt’s transfer policy has been consistent for the past 15 years. The University of Pittsburgh has never allowed transfers to schools with multiple former Pitt staffers. While the merits of this can be argued, this is an issue that needs to taken up with the NCAA as a whole, not just Pitt. If I remember correctly, in a previous article about Todd Graham leaving Pitt for ASU you told Pitt fans to get over it while not bringing to light the issue in college sports where college Presidents can freely lure coaches away from signed contracts. In other words, when Graham came to ASU there was no mention of the underlying NCAA issue at hand but when Shell transfers to ASU you are calling Pitt fans to take action against this problem that is an NCAA problem. It appears that you might be the one who needs to “get over” the fact that Shell won’t be joining ASU or AZ unless he wants to pay his own way.
Could not have said it better. Just because Miller blogs for ESPN does not make him right. He also is a punk to not only come down on Pitt, especially HCPC, but makes a pitiful call for Pitt fans to make a plea to Pitt to free RS.
Miller is delusional. What the he** is he trying to be a “Transfer Blocking Abolitionist”! He is nothing more than a blogging hack spewing drivel for the sake of the team(s) he covers. And doing it all in the name ESPN. Truly pathetic…
Also his completion percentage as an 18 freshman means little. Hims starting as a freshman and leading Rutgers to a Bowl and win means more.
He is older and more mature now and once he gets his feet wet with spring and fall camp I think he will be the best QB Pitt has had for several years (although that will not be hard/ let’s hope for best QB in decades)
The ESPN “writer” was an idiot… interesting the comments basically trash the guy too.
One thing I get from this report is that this staff seems to be astute in terms of now moving kids into positions where they excel… another good reason for me to keep drinking the koolaid on Chryst.
Looks like you’re not in Hopewell anymore.
Graham at ASU treated Pitt like garbage and Pitt is and should never be put in a position where it has to feed the Graham family.
People sign non compete agreements all the time and they last far longer than 1 year.
Sorry, I stand with Pederson on this one. You use us and then the people who abuse us are going to profit? Not on my watch.
UCLA and CAL? ha! What an effin joke. Those are real universities. He wouldn’t last 2 months at either place.
on the short list of schools for Shell. My bet is WVU.
Sam Werner of the PG is terrible. Provides little or no insight.
Obvious that Pitt sports are a low priority for the PG.
Just last August, Lloyd Carrrington, recruited by Graham, transferred frm Pitt to ASU. Maybe Pitt felt a bit deceived since his was reason was to be closer to his ailing dad (in TX), but could have easily blocked him to ASU, but did not.
There havs been others who haven’t been blocked but because they weren’t blocked, it wasn’t news so we didn’t think about it.
Pitt has benefitted by transfers coming to Pitt; in fact, both Graham and Chryst has brought previous Tulsa and Wisc commits/players to Pitt, not to mention all the guys from Michigan that followed Tony Gibson here …. our pegged starting safety, Vinopal, being one of them.
In the long run, I just think it’s a bad policy to deter transfers who don’t want to be here unless there are serious wrongdoings involved.
As for Miller, although he’s entitled to his opinion, he appears to be a low-blow artist, and makes no comment on the apparent poor reasoning of Shell in the first place.
I still don’t understand why everyone in the media has handled his story with kid gloves. Other than Madden who has probably gone too far the other way. I haven’t heard or read what he has said, but can imagine knowing his genre.
Also, would it surprise anyone that RichRod might be involved in breaking a rule?
Otherwise Wbb makes a lot of sense, what goes around comes around. Let him go to the ACC so we can kick his ass on the field. Or to PSU, I don’t see him getting any special treatment there.
The only reason RS is perceived by most in the media as a victim is because of his recruiting offer list and their bowing at the altar of FBS football.
I am old school on this like many on here. You don’t want to be like the rest of the team, you can leave. BUT it is on our terms based on our policies as we deem fit to use them.
Hey life is not fair, most people get over that part of life…
FWIW, I agree that there are valid arguments both ways on the Shell issue
But he does look to be built well, and appears to be a good rebounder.
FRANKCAN – The difference between what I do and what the beat writers do is pretty simple – I don’t ‘front’ for anyone but myself and a blog… and of course that blog’s readers and commenters.
While at practice there were conversations between myself and Sam Werner of the P-G, Chris Peake of Rivals, Tony Greco of Scouts and Jerry DiPaola of the Trib on a lot of PITT football issues and one of the topics was the fact that I don’t have my hands tied as they do to some extent.
I understand where they have to reel in their emotions because what they are doing is ‘journalism’ whereas what I do is expressions of my opinions and speculations. Really is a big difference.
I can see where he can provided immediate frontcourt help next year … which of course is much needed
I suspected what they told you Reed. You and me being in the military understand our hands being tied by your superiors. I suspect some if not all of them feel the same way. You have to be a good soldier and follow orders irrespective of your opposing view in the situation…
Everyone should know that by now, I hope.
Ok now about the LB corp, I see no mention of Ejuan Price, who was a 4 star transfer/or decommmit from Ohio State.
What’s the deal with him and how did Gonzo move ahead of him, I mean I like Gonzo but it’s not like he ever played LB before. Price was supposed to be a stud. Or is he another Gateway (?) bust.
Also if Gonzo, Caprara & Thomas are the starting LB’s, that is a very small, light group of LB’s.
Which means the D-Line better be excellent at tying up as many opponent O-linemen as possible.
Again what’s the deal with Ejuan Price ?
What is interesting is that there is absolutely no mention of Mason at all and when I asked around it was like no one wanted to talk about it. Student privacy issues I suppose. I’ve no idea what’s going on.
As far as the D-Line this may open eyes a bit…From Werner’s Redshirt Diaries:
“Tyrone Ezell spoke a little after practice about how the technique of the defensive line has changed this year under new defensive coordinator Matt House. Specifically, Ezell said the linemen are taught to play more square this year, whereas last year they were supposed to dip their shoulder and get upfield. My first inclination is that this puts more of an emphasis on defensive linemen occupying blocks, rather than making plays, and let the linebackers make the tackles.
“It’s a huge difference from last year,” Ezell said. “Here, they want our shoulder pads to stay more square and attack the center or guard, play up on two gaps.”
The OL & DL did straight up one on one drills facing each other and trying to move the unmovable object – that is just what Ezell is talking about.
I want to express my appreciation for all of the cooperation among most of my fllow bloggers but I have to do what is best for me.