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Pitt Football Practice Sights and Sounds: Week 11

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PITTSBURGH — The Pitt football team spent Tuesday morning preparing for their Week 11 visit to Virginia Tech this coming Saturday.

On a cold Pittsburgh morning, the Panthers brought a ray of sunshine to the practice field in the form of their bright yellow throwback helmets. Pitt typically practices in the helmets they will wear on game day, so there’s a good chance the Panthers will wear their away throwback uniforms that they debuted in September against Penn State.

Wide receiver Rafael Araujo-Lopes catches a pass and turns upfield in practice. — ALAN SAUNDERS

On the field, cornerback Avonte Maddox appears close to a return. Head coach Pat Narduzzi said on Monday that he thought Maddox could have played last week against North Carolina, but he wasn’t sure about him being able to cover with the cast he had to wear. But Maddox was doing just that on Tuesday, while wearing a brace over his injured right arm.

Pitt CB Avonte Maddox waits his turn for a drill. — ALAN SAUNDERS

On the other had, safety Damar Hamlin, who left Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury, was not seen at practice on Tuesday. In his place, Jordan Whitehead moved from the boundary safety to the field safety and Dennis Briggs played boundary safety. Phil Campbell and Bricen Garner worked with the second team. Pitt’s injury report doesn’t come out until Thursday, but Hamlin’s status definitely seems questionable for Saturday.

Here’s the Pitt defensive backs in a tackling drill on Tuesday morning:

Another returning face was seen at Pitt practice for the first time in a while as injured linebacker Quintin Wirginis worked out with the squad. Wirginis will probably take a medical redshirt on the year and not attempt a comeback, but it’s a good sign for his readiness for the spring that he is already able to participate some in practice.

Senior linebacker Quintin Wirginis warms up before practice. — ALAN SAUNDERS

TEACHING THEM UP

Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge has been impressive in his first season since coming to Pitt after spending the last three years as the head coach at Florida Atlantic.

Partridge inherited a young group of defensive lineman and the progress made by players such as James Folston and Rashad Weaver has been dramatic. But Partridge isn’t stopping. Even in Week 11, he was working with the defensive linemen on a new drill on Tuesday, and he stopped everything to explain it. Check out a cool teaching moment:

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Check out all the rest of the sights and sounds of Pitt’s Week 11 practice.

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker
 
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