I know it is beating a dead horse about the poor coverage from two dailies, but it is frustrating. For Scout and Rivals, it is tremendous. Providing more reasons why people should subscribe. For the record, I hold no involvement or paid subscription to either site, primarily to avoid any conflict or accusations that I am scraping their premium content.
While the Post-Gazette appears to be moving (probably smartly from a business standpoint) to putting more of its sports coverage into the “Plus” paywall, they are setting it up for disappointment with regards to Pitt. What enticement is it for Pitt fans to pay when clearly they are not putting much effort into covering spring practices? They made the strategic decision to put Pitt football beat writer, Paul Zeise, onto the NCAA Tournament, and has generally skipped having anyone else do much with the spring practice.
As for the Trib. I don’t know what to say. They don’t have that excuse but new guy Pat Mitsch hasn’t filed much. Not sure if Grupp is b-ball only now. Gorman was a good beat writer, but almost as important, he was ambitious. That produced more material. He provided great infodumps in his blog.
So, even though there is a week of practice left, very little has been learned without having a paid subscription to PantherLair or PantherDigest.
Well, I’ve vented. On to what there is.
PantherLair’s Chris Peak tosses some free content out there. Tristan Roberts is healthy and definitely improves depths and could be a help on passing downs.
Roberts missed all of 2009 with a shoulder injury.
“I missed all of last season, so I felt like I was kind of little out of it,” Roberts said after practice Thursday. “Then when I first came back, I was definitely a little out of it. I had to get back into making all my reads and hitting people and getting used to my shoulder.”
Roberts began spring camp working as a backup on the weak side, but the combination of Williams dealing with a minor injury and Roberts improving his own play has led to first-team work.
“Greg Williams is limping a little, so I’ve been getting some of the reps; we’re kind of going back and forth to see who’s more consistent, I guess,” Roberts said. “After the scrimmage they said I was doing good and they wanted to see what I could do with the first team because it’s always different playing behind a different d-line.”
Several years ago, Roberts was the subject of much hype, both from the coaches and from camp observers. But the promise and potential he showed never materialized to the extent that he could win a starting job, and the shoulder injury further side-tracked his career.
I admit, I had almost forgotten about Roberts, yet here he is a redshirt junior and still with time.
Other guys, while not likely to be starting barring injuries, are looking to make sure they get rotated in at the defensive end spots are Shayne Hale and Brandon Lindsey.
“When Jabaal’s not in there and we’re limiting Romeus, we need Brandon Lindsey and Shayne Hale to come on,” Wannstedt said. “We really do.”
Both Lindsey and Hale were linebackers in high school, Lindsey at Aliquippa and Hale at Gateway, and both were moved to defensive end after starting their Pitt careers at linebacker. Now that Pitt is holding Sheard out of contact drills, the two are using the extra work to try to stand out.
“I know I got a real good opportunity in front of me,” Lindsey said. “But I just got to try to get better every day and not let there be too much of a drop-off from when Jabaal’s in the game.”
Jabaal Sheard has a cracked bone in his hand, so he is limited to non-contact drills only.
New cornerback Saheed Imoru started out strong in spring practices, but is now struggling a little.
“The positive is that everything that we saw him do on tape at the junior college, he’s done here,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said during the first week of spring practice.
Lately though, Imoru has cooled off a bit, and now he hopes to battle through his slump and elevate his game.
“The first couple of days I was doing real good, and then this last week has probably been my worst week here. And I need to pick it up a lot,” Imoru said.
Adjusting to defensive coordinator Phil Bennett’s system and playing with more emotion are two of the necessary improvements that Imoru noted.
Having to go at it with Jonathan Baldwin most days — while great practice — has to take a toll on the confidence and how good you look.
Over on the offensive side, Mike Shanahan is considered the possession receiver in the offense. This despite his size, speed and athleticism. In part because that is how almost every white WR gets labeled. The other and just as important reason is that compared to Baldwin, that is what he is.
Shanahan’s role in the offense might be labeled as a “possession” receiver because, as Wannstedt notes, Shanahan has the ability to hurt teams that underestimate his athleticism.
“He’s a big guy who, because of his basketball skills, can position you,” Wannstedt said. “If they’re going to double-team Baldwin and leave Shanahan one-on-one, the guy covering him is going to have to go up and be able to make a play on the ball, or [Shanahan] is going to beat you.”
Even though he excelled in the role of short-yardage receiver last season, Shanahan does not like being labeled a possession receiver. He said offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti has a plan to use all of his skilled receivers.
“It turned out last year that I was making third-down conversions. The big plays were going to Jon,” Shanahan said. “I think that’s just how it worked out. Coach Cignetti knows our strengths and weaknesses. He will utilize us the best he can. If it works out like that again, it will. If not, I’ll be making big plays, too.”
Praise continues for Greg Cross and his conversion to WR. Still a big question mark as to whether he will ever get on the field.
Bad news from the same article is that Aundre Wright, who converted to cornerback from WR because of depth issues hurt his knee and will have surgery.
Meanwhile Todd Thomas has officially been cleared academically to go to college. He will be enrolling for the summer session in May. The Cat Basket wants him immediately converted to safety.
